Corporate Gossip

Please rate and review this podcast! What ever happened to AOL?! We go all the way back to 1999 (home video included) and meet Steve Case, the CEO of, at the time, the largest technology company in America. High on his own supply, he wrangles Time Warner CEO Jerry Levin into a business noogie and manages to destroy  a third of a TRILLION DOLLARS in shareholder value almost instantly.  TW: murder  Pictures Watch on Youtube  Join the Patreon for the aftershow and tons of bonus content  Thank you to today's sponsors:  Aster + Lupine RainBao Food Truck  Links:  Stealing Time (book) Fools Rush In (book) There Must be a Pony in here Somewhere (book) Gerald M. Levin, Time Warner Chief in a Merger Debacle, Dies at 84 How the AOL-Time Warner Merger Went So Wrong

Please rate and review this podcast! We're back with part two of our series on Open AI (we're done after this one for a while). Everyone's making everything up all the time and no one has any idea what will happen in the future. In this episode, we cover the wild claims made about AI and AGI and how those predictions are being used to justify environmental destruction and human exploitation. Also Sam Altman stands on his tippytoes.  Listen to the aftershow on Patreon Today's sponsors are Darling Beasts, a book by Michelle Gable and The Talent Spot Advertise with us!   Pictures from this episode Submit a good news story by email to our good news correspondent elizabethliu526@gmail.com  Links:  Empire of AI (Book)  ‘There was all sorts of toxic behaviour’: Timnit Gebru on her sacking by Google, AI’s dangers and big tech AI is draining water from Areas that need it most Small Oregon county reckons with fallout from data center scandal Arizona city defeats massive data center project over water, energy concerns Behind the AI boom, an army of overseas workers in ‘digital sweatshops’ TIME100 AI 2024: Mophat Okinyi  

Please rate and review this podcast! CW: Child Sexual Assault  Meet Sam Altman, one of the most powerful men in tech (also maybe evil Pete Buttigieg??) and his posse of boy pests. We take you deep into the bunkers of Silicon Valley to Sam's inner circle to figure out how he became so rotted. Was it insecurity? Napoleon syndrome? OR SCURVY INDUCED PSYCHOSIS ???  Listen to the aftershow on Patreon Watch on Youtube  Today's sponsors are Brick of Chicago and Neurorenew PT Advertise with us!  Pictures from the episode Submit a good news story by email to our good news correspondent elizabethliu526@gmail.com  Links:  You look like a thing and I love you (Book) Empire of AI (Book)  The Worst Hard Time (Book)  Sam Altman Is the Oppenheimer of Our Age Sam Altman’s Manifest Destiny Sam Altman on His Plan to Keep A.I. Out of the Hands of the “Bad Guys”  Leaked OpenAI documents reveal aggressive tactics toward former employees Know Your Rights Virtual Workshop  

Why is it that no one wants to see a hot guy succeed?!!!? This is the story of the three best friends, lead by Bell Air Boy Boss Sean Rad. They created Tinder and became the coolest millennials in LA, hosting parties with Jason Derulo and Kristen Doute and preparing their bank accounts for an influx of cash after being acquired by Match.com. But it's hard to read the fine print on a legal document by the light of a glow-stick! And while they were partying, Barry Diller was scheming from his megayacht. Soon, their viral app would be swiped from under them.  Join the Patreon for bonus episodes! Watch on Youtube  Advertise on Corporate Gossip Pictures from today's episode  10:00 - Intro  23:30 - Corporate Gossip #1: Here, put on this bedsheet and gladiator sandals, we’re going to a COLLEGE TOGA PARTY!! FOR BUSINESS!!  37:00 - Corporate Gossip #2: Business daddy issues  46:00 - Corporate Gossip #3: Tinder founders - “we’re stupid, BUT we’re also sexual harassers, (allegedly)" 51:30 - Corporate Gossip #4: Nanci Jo Sales strikes  56:30 - Corporate Gossip #5: The VC urge to give a bunch of 20 somethings a million dollars and no oversight  1:04:00 - Corporate Gossip #6: Literally Match I Double dog dare you to find someone to be CEO who isn’t a dumb creep 1:12:25 - Corporate Gossip #7: Nasty Grams from Blatt 1:15:00 - Corporate Gossip#8: Follow up & Takeaways  Links:  Mr. (Swipe) Right? ‘Sodomy’ and scandal: Tinder’s thoroughly embarrassing stock-market debut  A Tinder Revenge Story The revolutionary dating app made a lot of people rich. Co-founder Sean Rad didn’t feel rich enough. An Open Letter to Tinder’s Sean Rad from V.F.’s Nancy Jo Sales Thank you to today's sponsors!  Karinas Confectioneries Ellin Lolis    

The CEO of tech company Astronomer was caught at a Coldplay concert canoodling with the head of HR in a video that has since gone mega-viral. And SUDDENLY everyone is interested in what I thought was a niche topic - CEOs behaving badly!!  In this emergency episode, I review the latest in the Astronomer scandal and recap my favorite executive cheating scandals that we've covered on the podcast.  Correction: In an earlier version of this epiosde, I said Friends and ER were on CBS. They were not, they were on NBC. I also said Rupert Murdoch's wife was "Jerry Halloway" not "Jerry Hall." That's because I'm a millenial and I'm always thinking about the Spice Girls.  Timestamps:  00:00 Astronomer  07:25 - Kevin Plank (Under Armour)  13:30 - Sergey Brin (Google) 20:00 - Les Moonves (CBS)  24:30 - SBF (FTX)  26:00 - Jack Welch (GE)  27:20 - Rupert Murdoch (NewsCorp / Fox News)  I also touch on Dov Charney (American Apparel), Eddie Antar (Crazy Eddie), The Insys Sales Reps, and Vince McMahon (WWE)   

Checking in before our OFFICIAL Corporate Gossip Summer Research Break! We'll be back in July with regular episodes. Join us on Patreon  Sign up for the Corporate Gossip Ad program here This Brain Had a Mouth: Lucy Gwin and the Voice of Disability Nation Audubon chapter rejects offer from The Hartford to reinstate coverage BTW - we forgot to mention, but after The Hartford said they'd reinstate coverage, the Audobon chapter told the company to kick rocks! 

For bonus content and discussions on each episode join us on Patreon We wrap up this absolute UNIT of a two part episode by examining the Facebook story by stepping into our proverbial blue sequined rompers and seeing the world behind Mark Zuckberg's baby bangs. BUCKLE UP as Becca and Adam try to figure out - did the accumulation of unchecked power and extraordinary wealth over 20 years take ice cream scoops out of Mark Zuckerberg's brain? OR did his unique position on top of business boy mountain give him the freedom to reveal the curly-haired gremlin that was always hiding within?? Links:  Pics from the episode The Zuckerberg Files It’s Time to Break Up Facebook  How Mark Zuckerberg Led Facebook’s War to Crush Google Plus Mark Zuckerberg Apparently Didn’t Tell Congress the Whole Truth About Facebook An Ugly Truth Careless People Good News: Inside a Union’s Fight Against Trump’s Federal Job Cuts Got good news? Email our Good News Correspondent elizabethliu526@gmail.com

For bonus content and discussions on each episode join us on Patreon If Sheryl Sandberg & Mark Zuckerberg never encountered one another at a Christmas party in Atherton in 2007 would the world have been a better place? Find out as we go ALLL the way back and trace the story of Sheryl Sandberg's Dr. Frankenstein and her Mark Zuckerberg monster. Was there sexual tension between the two of them (no one explicitly has said that but I PICKED UP ON A FEW THINGS!)??. Were either of them good people who were corrupted? Or were they destined to seek power and destroy once they reached the top? What about now? Do they feel ashamed about the lives they’ve destroyed, directly or indirectly? Do they hate themselves more than we could ever hate them? Are there ANY heroes in this story at all? What do you think?! Links: Pics from the episode Why Sheryl Sandberg Quit Facebook’s Meta “When You Get That Wealthy, You Start to Buy Your Own Bullshit”: The Miseducation of Sheryl Sandberg An Ugly Truth Careless People Got good news? Email our Good News Correspondent elizabethliu526@gmail.com  

In 2007, the mecca of hipster paradise was the Etsy headquarters in Brooklyn. Etsy epitomized elder-millennial quirk with a sprinkle of digital delusion, and no one personified the vibes quite like their CEO and founder, Rob Kalin.  But while Kalin and his friends were building a crafters utopia, a ruthless venture capitalist had another plan for the company: destroy it from the inside out and get SUPER rich doing it. Join the Patreon for bonus episodes and discussion!  Pictures now on Patreon (no paywall!) Links: Etsy Wants to Crochet Its Cake, and Eat It Too Etsy Was a Twee Culture Punchline. Now It’s a Wall Street Darling. Etsy CEO says company is escaping ‘race to the bottom’ and getting back to its artisan roots  

Please share this podcast with a friend!  Charlie Javice is another Forbes 30-under-30 uber-genius-startup-founder (see: SBF, Elizabeth Holmes, or Carlos Watson) who spent about 18 months in the warm center of the venture capital fake-it-till-you-make-it circle jerk before the sisal rug gets pulled out from under her. Once she was exposed as a total phony, every investor immediately covered their own ass and scrub the internet of any trace of themselves slobbering all over her. But one investor, JP Morgan's Jamie Dimon, took it a step further, and (in our opinion) weaponized the United States Justice Department to punish Javice for embarrassing him infront of his big bank friends!!!  Pictures from this episode on Substack We're an indie podcast supported by listeners like you! Support us by joining the Patreon, and get two bonus episodes every month! I'm also covering the trial in more detail over there.  Got an idea for a good news story? Send an email to our good news correspondant elizabethliu526@gmail.com  Links:  USA v. Javice How Charlie Javice Got JPMorgan to Pay $175 Million for … What Exactly? Charlie Javice, Millennial CEO Sued by JPMorgan, Was a ‘Namedropping’ Cool Boss The 8 Most Confusing Things About FAFSA Jamie Dimon Says Frank Acquisition ‘Was A Huge Mistake’ After JP Morgan Alleges Millions Of Fake Customers  

This is an episode for our true crime lovers! we're talking about a 2019 GANG STALKING SCANDAL that involves the executives at a fortune 500 company criminally stalking a sweet old couple. What made these executives so mad? The chief executives at Ebay so deeply butthurt about a comment the couple made on their niche ecommerce blog that they crashed-out into a goodfellas-esque, rage fueled paranoid spiral, and orchestrated a highly illegal stalking and harassment campaign against them.  Pics on Substack Join us over on Patreon for bonus episodes twice a month. Right now I'm also attending the trial of Charlie Javice and providing regular debriefs from the courtroom. We are a 100% ad-free community supported podcast!  Links from today's episode (let us know if you need gift links)  Elliott Management letter puts eBay on notice to improve stock performance Inside eBay’s Cockroach Cult: The Ghastly Story of a Stalking Scandal Silicon Valley elite defend nonprofit CEO with dark past - San José Spotlight A Special Message for EcommerceBytes Readers

Please share this podcast with a friend :)  PLUS good news about a health care strike in Oregon! We emerge from the vapor haze of a high school bathroom (how are these kids blowing PERFECT smoke rings??) to tell the tale of two Stanford grads who did what every single-celled-business-ameoba-boy dreamed of doing but was too scared to actually commit to doing - MAKE SMOKING COOL AGAIN!! They undid decades of work by doctors and public health advocates and turned millions of kids who would have never smoked a traditional cigarette into nicotine dependent freakazoids. CA-CHING!! Riddled with RAGING CASES of silliconvalleyitis, Juul's founders market their powerful nicotine delivery device straight to kids while the FDA was taking a well-deserved half-decade nap. They BLITZSCALED their way to a $38billion valuation and made like 50 people a lot of money. But of course, after the BLITZSCALE comes the HYPERFLOP... Research: The Devil's Playbook by Lauren Etter Big Vape by Jamie DuCharme Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. JUUL Labs The Juul Is Too Cool How Juul Got Vaporized Links: See pics on our Substack Join the Patreon Support the pod by buying us a coffee  Record YOUR podcast at Producer Mike's studio! E-mail our Good News Correspondent with good news stories! elizabethliu526@gmail.com 

We're BACK and starting off with an absolute banger! Sit back and enjoy the messy escapades of a bunch of horned up teenagers trapped in adult bodies: 23&Me Founder Anne Wojcicki, Google co-founder Sergey Brin, and A Bald Eagle's worst nightmare, Elon Musk. With cameos from RFK Jr (POST Brain Worm) and the corporate scandal Forrest Gump, Diane von Furstenberg, this episode is the WHOSE WHO of Silicon Valley hanky panky. We also update our listeners on the state of the podcast, including exciting changes around 1:11:00 Catch bonus episodes on Patreon View pictures on our Substack Support the pod by buying us a coffee Check out Mike's new studio!  Links:  The Doyenne of DNA Says: Just Chillax With Your Ex O.K., Glass: Make Google Eyes As 23andMe Struggles, Concerns Surface About Its Genetic Data

Don't forget to rate and review!  Becca and Adam talk about the Giggly Grain Grandpa: Bob Moore of Bob's Red Mill. But don't toss your oats just yet, this is a good episode. We'll teach you how to have a Bob Moore Summer (Perfecting your porridge, socializing the means of production, hyperfixating on hobbies, and being jolly) and restore your faith in CEOs.  Then we answer listener questions (37 min mark). THANK YOU! For another great season - we'll see you soon :)  Support the pod  Pics on substack Links: Bob’s Red Mill: Securing The Future Through Employee Ownership Bob Moore, Who Founded Bob’s Red Mill, Is Dead at 94 Executive greed is driving the labor shortage, says 93-year-old leader whose workers own 100% of the company

Put on your flower crowns and don your skinniest jeans and join us at the center of the Millennial universe: Coachella 2007!  Adam & Becca meet the personification of the turn of the century hipster entrepreneur, Dov Charney. Sitting atop a pile of v-neck t-shirts ethically made in the USA, Charney was somewhat of a renegade business oddity on wall-street. But for the 20-something dreamers that clamored for the brand’s clothing, he was a captivating revolutionary. Their devotion, along with a bevy of young corporate employees, easily exploited under the guise of “a greater purpose,” allowed American Apparel to rapidly expand and IPO in 2007. The stores were everywhere you wanted to be… until they weren’t.  Eventually, abuse allegations coupled with financial mismanagement threatened Charney’s reign as king of t-shirt mountain. With the walls closing in on him, he spiraled out of control… taking the company he founded with him.  CW: Sexual abuse  Pics on substack Support the pod  Links:  Read Strip Tees: A Memoir of Millennial Los Angeles Watch Big Rad Wolf  The Young Garmentos (and the If Books Could Kill episode on Malcom Gladwell) Meet Your New Boss  Dov Charney's Sleazy Struggle for Control of American Apparel  

Why does doing taxes suck so much? Because Capitalism! Over the past 20 years, the lovable dweebs at the IRS have been on a quest to make filing personal taxes free and easy. They say America should be like other countries, where the government sends you a pre-filled tax return and all you have to do is sign-off. Seems like a no-brainer, right? Like what kind of deranged psychopath wouldn’t want that?  Enter Intuit, maker of tax preparation software Turbo Tax, and their disgruntled band of lobbyists. Their entire business model depends on you being afraid to screw up your taxes. So they bribe lawmakers to over-complicate tax laws, threaten the government into underfunding the IRS, and run dubious misinformation campaigns alleging that free tax filing is somehow… racist?  The nefarious knuckleheads at Intuit would have gotten away with it too if it weren’t for the determined efforts of Propublica journalists. They joined forces with the unlikely heroes at the IRS, and from a muggy basement office in Washington they stood up to Big Tax and won.  We <3 the IRS and you will too after this episode!  Support the pod  Pics on our substack Links:  How Intuit Reinvents Itself (Fortune) The TurboTax Trap (ProPublica Investigation series) IRS makes free tax return program permanent and is asking all states to join in 2025   

ANOTHER BONUS EPISODE! Becca & Adam talk to Evan Drellich, the author of Winning Fixes Everything: How Baseball's Brightest Minds Created Sports' Biggest Mess Read Winning Fixes Everything: How Baseball's Brightest Minds Created Sports' Biggest Mess Support the pod   

America's pastimes: Baseball and Fraud!  What happens when a bunch of fleece-vested jabronis take over a Major League Baseball team? Becca and Adam hop the fence at the stadium formerly known as Enron field and bring you the tea from the front-office of the Houston Astros.  Two years after the Astros won the World Series, the Athletic dropped a bombshell: the team had cheated. The public fallout was swift - fines were levied, rules were changed, and championships were threatened. The players and coaches bore the brunt of the blame, while the true schemers at the root of the scandal evaded scrutiny. That is until a group of tenacious reporters uncovered how Astros leadership were infected by the MBA-pilled corporate villains at McKinsey.  If you listened to our episode on McKinsey you know what happens next. Values were trashed as profits were maxed by any means possible. Ultimately, the Astros clubhouse became an environment where cheating was acceptable. Because after all, Winning Fixes Everything.  Listen to all of Season 4 on Patreon  Support the pod  Links:  Pics on our Substack Read Winning Fixes Everything: How Baseball's Brightest Minds Created Sports' Biggest Mess Watch The Astros Edge  The Astros opened baseball ops to McKinsey consultants, from scouting to R&D and the farm The Astros stole signs electronically in 2017 — part of a much broader issue for Major League Baseball  

If you thought Sumner Redstone was a degenerate, just WAIT until you meet his pervy protege, Les Moonves!  CBS CEO Les Moonves, aka “Mr. TV” is one of the most powerful men in Hollywood. He transformed CBS from a sleepy granny network into a ratings powerhouse with shows like Survivor, Big Brother, Criminal Minds, and The Big Bang Theory. The business part of this story is one Cheezy Blaster away from being a 30 Rock episode. The action behind closed doors on the other hand, feels more like Law & Order: SVU.  CW: Sexual abuse  Listen to all of Season 4 on Patreon  Support the pod Pics on substack Links:   Read Unscripted: The Epic Battle for a Media Empire and the Redstone Family Legacy Les Moonves’ spectacular rise before his fall from grace Why Sumner Redstone’s men; Leslie Moonves and Philippe Dauman; made a king’s ransom Les Moonves and CBS Face Allegations of Sexual Misconduct Paramount+’s Existential Questions Leslie Moonves Fined $11K by L.A. City Ethics Commission for His Role in LAPD Scandal  

The Paramount / Viacom story is just like Bravo’s Summer House, but SCARIER!  Our main character, Paramount CEO Sumner Redstone, is a horny teenager trapped in the body of a crusty old billionaire. At 92, despite being barely conscious, he was still chairman of TWO publicly traded companies.This real life  Weekend at Bernie’s scheme was made possible by a group of executive-level lowlifes who took advantage of their absent boss and enriched themselves at the expense of shareholders. It wasn’t until a group of unlikely heroes exposed the elder abuse taking place at Sumner’s mansion that someone finally pulled the plug. But by then, the stench emanating from the geriatric bachelor pad was too strong for even the most devoted Paramount / Viacom supporters to ignore.  Join Becca and Adam as they tell the story of the unlikely rise and fall of Sumner Redstone and Paramount Global.  CW: Elder abuse, Sexual abuse  Listen to all of Season 4 on Patreon  Support the pod Pics on substack Links:  Read Unscripted: The Epic Battle for a Media Empire and the Redstone Family Legacy  The Cringey Sexcapades of a Horny Billionaire  Who Controls Sumner Redstone?  Viacom Is Having A Midlife Crisis   Spring Owl Activist Investor Deck