Great Business Stories

I just love this story - it has everything - Jonathan Abrams, a young, smart coder from Canada, moved to California because he wanted to be at the very heart of the internet boom. And on nothing more than an intuition, a feeling of how things should be online, he comes up with the framework for a social media platform, the very same model that MySpace, Facebook and all the others then learnt from or copied. But Abrams and Friendster were first, and for a brief moment, they were the hottest property in Silicon Valley - Google tried to buy them. VCs were desperate to invest with them - and within just a few months, it all fell apart, leaving the door wide open for MySpace and then Facebook. It’s a fascinating story, enjoy

I’ve wanted to dig into  Packers life for a long time now, because one thing I’ve come to know from over 35 years of reading business stories is that when it comes to big characters with the most drama- the media tycoons always win hands down. And so it is with Packer we’re talking getting into an actual brawl with heavies hired by Rupert Murdoch, transforming televised sport, having his name dragged into rumours about drug trafficking and even murder, winning and losing tens of millions in casinos in London and Las Vegas. Packer was without doubt one of the larger than life figures ever in business and it’s a cracking story, enjoy.

This is the remarkable story of how Agha Abedi built BCCI, a global bank founded in Pakistan that was revered by its ordinary customers and employees. Abedi was seen as more than just a banker- a visionary and philanthropist. But there was a second bank within the bank called the Dark Network, and this secret side of the bank provided special services for corrupt politicians, funded wars, washed Pablo Escobar’s drug money, facilitated the murky dealings of MI6,  the CIA among others and then it all came crashing down from an undercover operation straight out of the movies . It’s a fascinating story- enjoy. 

This, I promise you,  is one of the most audacious and just jaw dropping financial schemes that I’ve ever come across. Two young outsiders initially taking on and beating Cornelius Vanderbilt, the richest man in America and then on the back of their success, they attempt to corner the gold market. It's got everything, political corruption, backroom deals in Albany, a siege in New Jersey, back stabbing and betrayal, and the first Black Friday ever 1869, when the markets crashed and Wall Street descended into chaos.It's a cracking story — enjoy.

This guy is non stop business- even when he’s partying, it’s business. Here’s guy who owned 5 retail stores while still in high school, was making millions by the time he was 18, was CEO of a public company at just  23 and over the last 10 years he has transformed the whole sports licensing and sports fan business through fanatics, a $25 billion company that’s still private. Rubin is just 100% non stop hustling, and I would say he’s the most relentless business person I’ve covered up until now and he makes for a fascinating story- enjoy.

I know what you’re thinking- the Swedish guy who built IKEA- kind of boring - right. But as regular listeners will know by now, I love business, not just the scandals or the high tension battles, but I love finding out how these huge businesses were built, because I know behind every big business is a fascinating entrepreneur, even if they appear outwardly boring- and that’s exactly how it is with Kamprad- this guy is was at one time the richest person in the world, yet at the very same time used teabags twice to save money, and and the way he built his business by not just focusing on cost- which was his obsession, but by watching everything, observing his customers, talking to his staff- it’s fascinating, and of course like every billionaire he had his controversies- it makes for a cracking story - enjoy

Regular listeners will know that I have a special grá as we’d say in Ireland or a love for the whole internet bubble era- it’s when I first got into business and it was such a wild time, and the yahoo story encapsulates this so brilliantly- 2 guys  working on a hobby and within just 4 years their hobby is worth $100 billion, helped in no small way by an unheard of $100 million investment from  Masayoshi Son of SoftBank, they turn down the opportunity to buy Google for just $1 million but do buy lots of other companies at crazy valuations- it’s a cracking story- enjoy. 

Soros’s life is extraordinary. A Jewish teenager who survived the Nazi occupation, fled communist Hungary with almost nothing, and went on to build one of the most remarkable investing careers in modern history.We’re talking about some of the boldest trades ever made. In his most famous bet — the one that led to the label “the man who broke the Bank of England” — Soros personally made around $650 million.But the money is only part of the story. He also gave away roughly $32 billion, becoming one of the most polarising figures in finance and politics.And while we’ll touch on that controversy, this episode is really about the trades — how he thought, how he positioned, and why they were so extraordinary. I love this storyEnjoy.

Karp is, without question, one of the most unlikely, outspoken, and polarising CEOs in the world — a hyperactive, self-proclaimed neo-Marxist and a classical liberal who built Palantir, a software company involved in some of the most controversial government projects of the past two decades.That includes working with ICE, defence contracts with the Pentagon and the CIA, helping Ukraine hold off a Russian invasion, and supporting governments around the world during COVID, all the while building Palantir from zero into a company that today is worth $375 billion.It’s not a simple story. But it is a fascinating one.

 I borrowed the title from a Bloomberg article on Singer where they also described him as aggressive, tenacious and litigious to a fault. I’ve wanted to cover Singer and his firm Ellliott management event since I read the The Caesar’s Palace Coup and the book mainly deals with how Apollo the hedge fund, led by Leon Black who I also did an episode on a few months ago. The book shows how Apollo is the big beast on Wall Street and uses it’s reputation to intimidate other firms and creditors, except for 1 firm- Elliott management founded by Paul Singer. In this episode we find out how Paul Singer built Elliott to become the most powerful and feared activist hedge fund in the world- and feared not just by CEO’s and company boards, but also by countries. This really is a fascinating story- enjoy. 

This is a story I was completely enthralled by when it broke back in 1995. Leeson’s face was splashed across every newspaper in the days after he disappeared, having brought down Barings Bank by concealing massive losses and then trying to trade his way out of trouble — only to end up losing £827 million- about $1.3 billion.It was nearly 30 years ago now, so I’d forgotten most of the details, which made revisiting it all the more fun. It’s a cracking story. Enjoy.

Like most of you, my perception of Parker was as a reckless party boy who somehow inserted himself into 3 of the most influential internet companies—Napster, Facebook and Spotify. Through the movie The Social Network, he's come to be seen as scheming and duplicitous. But that's not the guy I found when I dug deeper—the real Sean Parker is more nuanced and all the better for it. It's a cracking episode, enjoy.

This has been one of my favourite stories to research — because this story is just that good. It begins with a young engineer running a small construction company, he has an epiphany in the back of a New York taxi.From there, it unfolds through boardroom upheavals, aggressively structured deals, and a long-term vision that never wavered. What sets Arnault apart isn't just the finance or tactics — it's the creativity you rarely see in a business titan.It's a cracking story. Enjoy.

Promoted at just 26 to head AOL’s messaging platform, then spearheaded Facebook's growth helping to grow it from 15 million users to 840 million, buying 10% of the Golden State Warriors for just $25 million, being the public face of SPACs- a move that tarnished his reputation, co-hosting the massively popular All-In podcast, and just in the last few weeks, making billions from a very early AI investment- it’s a cracking story- enjoy. 

Here's a guy who won the equivalent of £350,000 on a horse race when he was just 16 years old, made international headlines at 21 for eloping with the daughter of one of the world's richest men, employed 400 people by the time he was 23, and went on to become one of the most ruthless and cunning corporate raiders in the US during the 80s, and then emerged in the 90s as one of the most prominent anti-globalisation and anti-EU voices, helping to lay the foundation for what would become Brexit. And all the while publicly juggling his time between his ex-wife, his current wife, and his mistress. It's a cracking story – enjoy.

I wanted to dig into Livermore’s story ever since i came across him in the episode we did on short sellers- and what a story this is- he became a full time trader the age of 16, he built his own system that earned him billions in today's money, but so many times he didn’t follow his own system and went broke and bankrupt many times. This is the guy who shorted the 1929 crash and made over $2 billion from it. It’s a fascinating story- enjoy 

Hsieh sold his first company when he was just 26 years old for $265 million. He then built Zappos into an online retailing giant from zero revenue to $2 billion dollars and in doing so he really did revolutionise online business by offering the type of customer service that was unheard of back- free shipping both ways, 365 day returns. He wrote a book that that stayed at number 1 for 27 weeks, and put $350 million dollars of his own money into redeveloping downtown las vagasBut behind the success was a man chasing something he could never quite catch—trying to engineer happiness, and this became an obsession that consumed him.

This is the amazing story of Yoshiaki Tsutsumi (tsoo-TSOO-mee)- who for 4 years solid from 1987-1990 was ranked the richest person in the world, the most powerful and probably revered business person in Japan throughout the 70’s and 80’s. And yet for all his wealth and power, there is very little known about him- but what we do know his rise and very public fall- because there is a big fall, make for a fascinating story- it’s a cracking episode - enjoy

I’m being a bit flippant here because this is a guy who worked hard for his money- he became a millionaire at 31 and then proceeded to build a company that had the most successful IPO opening day in history up to that point, and within 9 months of that IPO he sold the company for $5.7 billion becoming a billionaire- yet astonishingly at the time of the sale that company has revenues of just $40 million. How did he manage that?He then did what every sports fan would dream of doing and bought his favourite basketball team and turned them from also-rans into champions. He hasn’t been lucky all of the time- he’s had tussles with the SEC, got caught up in the #metoo movement, missed out on an investment that could have netted him $4.75 billion, but through Shark tank and other high profile investments, he’s now being mentioned as a potential presidential candidate for 2028. It’s a fascinating story- enjoy.

2001 was Sam Waksal’s year.Seven years after discovering Erbitux — the so-called wonder drug — everything seemed to be falling into place. The drug had made it onto the cover of Business Week, Waksal’s company ImClone’s stock was at record highs, and he was living like a celebrity. There were photographs of him with Mick Jagger, Lorraine Bracco, Matthew Modine. He was best friends with Martha Stewart, dated her daughter Alexis for years, and he’d just sold $111 million worth of shares.To anyone watching, Waksal looked like the golden boy of biotech — a scientist-turned-successful entrepreneur. But within months, he’d be kicked out of his own company, under federal investigation, and eventually sent to prison — dragging others, most famously Martha Stewart, down with him.And of course that moment didn’t come out of nowhere. It started years earlier, and to understand how he got there, we have to go back to the beginning.