Florida owns a massive property insurance company that’s been gobbling up policies while rates rise and some private insurers leave the state. A deal struck by the state legislature last year aims to fix this insurance market meltdown. To understand what’s happening – and what’s being done to fix it – we talked to former State Senator Jeff Brandes and insurance industry expert Mark Friedlander. For more from The Closer and to subscribe to our newsletter, visit www.thecloser.fm. The Closer is a P...
Dec 18, 2023•37 min•Season 3Ep. 10
Last summer, a Mexican beer overtook the longtime favorite Bud Light as America’s best-selling beer. It happened amid a customer boycott against Bud Light for a marketing campaign featuring transgender social media personality Dylan Mulvaney. But the story of how Modelo knocked Bud Light from its perch is about much more than a marketing u-turn. It’s an antitrust tale that includes the Department of Justice, and one lawyer in particular, along with a once little-known wine and spirits company fr...
Dec 11, 2023•32 min•Season 3Ep. 9
The Disney we know today came about in a series of game-changing deals led by CEO Bob Iger. But before the entertainment juggernaut bought properties like Pixar and Marvel, Disney, and former CEO Michael Eisner, inked an $19 billion deal for Capital Cities/ABC, Inc. The acquisition kick-started Disney’s transformation from a theme park and animated film business to one of the largest companies in the world. In this episode, media journalist Anna Nicolaou tells us why Iger is now faced with poten...
Dec 04, 2023•33 min•Season 3Ep. 8
Ray Dalio founded the firm that became the world’s largest hedge fund more than 40 years ago. For years, he promised to retire. Rob Copeland, author of The Fund: Ray Dalio, Bridgewater Associates, and the Unraveling of a Wall Street Legend, takes us inside the fight to succeed him – a negotiation that lasted almost two decades – exposing Bridgewater’s bizarre culture and Dalio’s leadership failures. For more from The Closer and to subscribe to our newsletter, visit www.thecloser.fm. The Closer i...
Nov 27, 2023•35 min•Season 3Ep. 7
Once a “unicorn”, WeWork has filed for bankruptcy. The co-working company was once valued at $47 billion, but it’s had a rocky few years, including a failed IPO (it later went public through a special purpose acquisition company) and was battered by the pandemic. But what set WeWork on this falling-from-grace path can be traced back to a failed deal between co-founder Adam Neumann and SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son at the end of 2018. This is the story of Project Fortitude. This episode originally air...
Nov 20, 2023•41 min•Season 3Ep. 6
Back in 2019, an unlikely deal took Wall Street and the oil industry by surprise. Occidental Petroleum, commonly called Oxy, acquired Anadarko for $38 billion, beating out oil supermajor Chevron. But before the company triumphed, CEO Vicki Hollub chased Anadarko for nearly two years in pursuit of further expanding Oxy’s footprint in the Permian Basin. Hear how Hollub stunned the oil world and closed the deal in the eleventh hour. Featuring Jordan Blum, Editorial Director for Hart Energy. For mor...
Nov 13, 2023•36 min•Season 3Ep. 5
Google’s path to going public was rather untraditional from the start. The IPO included secret meetings at Denny’s, an infamous Playboy interview and something known as a “dirty” Dutch Auction. The listing ruffled feathers on Wall Street, and set new precedents for tech companies making their market debuts. Featuring Lise Buyer, partner and founder of Class V Group and one of the architects of Google’s IPO. For more from The Closer and to subscribe to our newsletter, visit www.thecloser.fm. The ...
Nov 06, 2023•37 min•Season 3Ep. 4
When luxury behemoth LVMH tapped Marc Jacobs to lead Louis Vuitton back in 1997, it also acquired the designer’s eponymous label. Hear how the double deal set a new precedent in the industry and helped usher in the era of celebrity and pop culture within the world of high fashion. Featuring Lauren Sherman, fashion journalist for Puck and writer of the Line Sheet newsletter. For more from The Closer and to subscribe to our newsletter, visit www.thecloser.fm. The Closer is a Project Brazen product...
Oct 30, 2023•37 min•Season 3Ep. 3
Fearing an energy crisis following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a little-known policy wonk convinced the Biden Administration to help drive down oil prices by using the US’s government emergency supply of oil in a radical new way. Featuring Skanda Amarnath (@IrvingSwisher), Executive Director of the think tank, Employ America. For more from The Closer and to subscribe to our newsletter, visit www.thecloser.fm. The Closer is a Project Brazen production. Subscribe to Brazen+ on Apple Podcasts or ...
Oct 23, 2023•34 min•Season 3Ep. 2
The story of Jet.com, its founder Marc Lore, and how the startup helped retail giant Walmart sharpen its ecommerce edge against Amazon. Featuring Jason Del Rey, author of Winner Sells All: Amazon, Walmart and the battle for our wallets. For more from The Closer and to subscribe to our newsletter, visit www.thecloser.fm. The Closer is a Project Brazen production. Subscribe to Brazen+ on Apple Podcasts or at brazen.fm/plus and get exclusive bonus episodes for The Closer and all our shows, as well ...
Oct 16, 2023•41 min•Season 3Ep. 1
Deals change the world, and season 3 of The Closer brings you the inside story of those deals, as told by the people who know how it all went down. Each episode features the story of one deal, as host Aimee Keane talks to guests who bring insight into how and why the deal was done, and its broader impact. The Closer is a Project Brazen production. Subscribe to Brazen+ on Apple Podcasts or at brazen.fm/plus and get exclusive bonus episodes for The Closer and all our shows, as well as ad-free list...
Oct 09, 2023•1 min
There’s a new season of The Closer coming soon — but before it does, we have a special episode to share from our friends over at The Negotiators podcast. Last season, we talked to Jeffrey Kessler, the lawyer who represented the US Women's National Team in their equal pay lawsuit against the US Soccer Federation. He said one of the main obstacles was bad leadership. Until it changed. Today, Cindy Parlow Cohn is president of the federation. After taking up the leadership role, she worked across fr...
Oct 02, 2023•31 min
Season 3 of The Closer is coming very soon — and we want to know what you want to hear this season, and why? It can be a specific deal, or it can be something broad, like a takeover by an underdog, or a question, like: what’s the strangest thing a CEO has said at a closing dinner? You give us a prompt or a challenge and we’ll see if we can find that story for you. Send us a voice memo now to [email protected] and we just might include it in the show! www.thecloser.fm Learn more about your ad ch...
Sep 22, 2023•2 min
Vince McMahon took over his father’s regional wrestling business in the 1980s, and made it into an international media and entertainment juggernaut valued at billions of dollars. This is the story of how McMahon cleverly bulldozed competitors, acquired rivals and capitalized on the public’s hatred of his tactics, as told by writer Abraham Josephine Riesman. The Closer is a Project Brazen production. Subscribe to Brazen+ on Apple Podcasts or at brazen.fm/plus and get exclusive bonus episodes for ...
Jul 17, 2023•39 min•Season 2Ep. 6
The Carlyle Group, one of the world’s largest private equity firms, has quietly built a deal-making machine that's gobbling up apartments in desirable and gentrifying neighborhoods. A real estate broker working at the center of these deals takes us inside the machine as we explore the trends driving this big bet on scarce, expensive housing. The Closer is a Project Brazen production. Subscribe to Brazen+ on Apple Podcasts or at brazen.fm/plus and get exclusive bonus episodes for The Closer and a...
Jul 10, 2023•30 min•Season 2Ep. 5
In early 2020, the home-sharing platform was poised to make a splashy debut on the public markets later that year. But within just a few weeks, coronavirus brought travel - and Airbnb business - to a halt. Journalist Liz Hoffman takes us inside the financing that saved the Silicon Valley darling and became one of the defining Wall Street deals of the pandemic. The Closer is a Project Brazen production. Subscribe to Brazen+ on Apple Podcasts or at brazen.fm/plus and get exclusive bonus episodes f...
Jul 03, 2023•36 min•Season 2Ep. 4
When private equity-backed PetSmart bought Chewy.com for more than $3bn in 2017, people thought the retailer was doomed. Within just a few years, though, it was one of the most successful private equity turnarounds in history thanks to an executive who stuck to his guns. Reporter Miriam Gottfried takes us inside the transformation. The Closer is a Project Brazen production. Subscribe to Brazen+ on Apple Podcasts or at brazen.fm/plus and get exclusive bonus episodes for The Closer and all our sho...
Jun 26, 2023•29 min•Season 2Ep. 3
We take you inside the final days of Toys R Us with Lauren Hirsch, the reporter who first revealed the iconic company’s impending bankruptcy, and explain what drove the company out of business. The Closer is a Project Brazen production. Subscribe to Brazen+ on Apple Podcasts or at brazen.fm/plus and get exclusive bonus episodes for The Closer and all our shows, as well as ad-free listening and early access to new podcasts. For more fearless storytelling visit brazen.fm, home to all our podcasts,...
Jun 19, 2023•36 min•Season 2Ep. 2
The US Women's National Soccer Team is among the most decorated teams in the game but, until recently, was paid a fraction of what the men took home. When the players decided to take up the fight for equal pay, they turned to sports attorney Jeffrey Kessler, who built a career out of representing some of the most high-profile athletes in labor disputes with professional leagues. He takes us inside the team’s strategy and reveals how they got the deal done. The Closer is a Project Brazen producti...
Jun 12, 2023•39 min•Season 2Ep. 1
From Project Brazen and PRX, this is season 2 of The Closer, out now. The Closer returns with six dramatic new stories of groundbreaking deals. An epic fight from soccer's biggest stars, a private equity redemption story, the end of a toy empire, and so much more. For more, visit www.thecloser.fm. The Closer is a Project Brazen production. Subscribe to Brazen+ on Apple Podcasts or at brazen.fm/plus and get exclusive bonus episodes for The Closer and all our shows, as well as ad-free listening an...
Jun 05, 2023•3 min
A new kind of money is flooding into professional sports: sovereign wealth. Aimee and Ben check in on Saudi Arabia's ownership of Newcastle United – who have now qualified for the Champions League – and why sportswashing is so prevalent and successful for these investors. Is there a business or deal story that you’d like Aimee and Ben to cover? Get in touch! You can email us at [email protected] or find us on Twitter or Instagram @thecloserpod. The Closer is a Project Brazen production. Subscri...
Jun 02, 2023•18 min•Season 1Ep. 18
HBO and Discovery are getting a new streaming home. This week, Warner Bros Discovery rolled out "Max," its new unified app, as part of a push to compete with platforms like Hulu, Netflix and Disney+. Aimee and Ben discuss how it could signal a new front in the competition among streamers. Is there a business or deal story that you’d like Aimee and Ben to cover? Get in touch! You can email us at [email protected] or find us on Twitter or Instagram @thecloserpod. The Closer is a Project Brazen pr...
May 26, 2023•16 min•Season 1Ep. 17
Hundreds of thousands of Japanese companies have a problem – their founders are aging without a successor in sight. One entrepreneur has built his $1.3 billion fortune on a solution. Is there a business or deal story that you’d like Aimee and Ben to cover? Get in touch! You can email us at [email protected] or find us on Twitter or Instagram @thecloserpod. The Closer is a Project Brazen production. Subscribe to Brazen+ on Apple Podcasts or at brazen.fm/plus and get exclusive bonus episodes for ...
May 19, 2023•16 min•Season 1Ep. 16
The Oakland A’s are one step closer to a move to Las Vegas, reaching a deal this week for a new plot of land that would house a brand new ballpark. Aimee and Ben discuss the developing deal and what it tells us about the state of the business of professional sports. Is there a business or deal story that you’d like Aimee and Ben to cover? Get in touch! You can email us at [email protected] or find us on Twitter or Instagram @thecloserpod. The Closer is a Project Brazen production. Subscribe to ...
May 12, 2023•18 min•Season 1Ep. 15
The financial press has been reporting on a big trend in dealmaking: it's way down this year, especially in comparison to the M&A activity of 2021. Aimee and Ben discuss the winners and losers of this new environment, and what it might mean for the types of deals to expect in the months to come. Is there a business or deal story that you’d like Aimee and Ben to cover? Get in touch! You can email us at [email protected] or find us on Twitter or Instagram @thecloserpod. www.thecloser.fmThe Cl...
May 05, 2023•18 min•Season 1Ep. 14
Bed Bath & Beyond's decline and fall is complete. The iconic home goods retailer said this week that it was entering bankruptcy and that all of its stores would be shuttered by the end of June. Ben and Aimee discuss Bed Bath & Beyond's collapse, diving into stock sales, failed turnarounds, share buybacks, meme stocks and yes, those iconic blue and white coupons. Is there a business or deal story that you’d like Aimee and Ben to cover? Get in touch! You can email us at [email protected] ...
Apr 28, 2023•22 min•Season 1Ep. 13
Alongside the release of Netflix's quarterly earnings, the streaming service announced two big pieces of news this week. One, that it would be ending its DVD mailing business, and two, that it would be delaying a crackdown on password sharing in the US. Ben and Aimee discuss the past, present, and future of Netflix's growth ambitions. Is there a business or deal story that you’d like Aimee and Ben to cover? Get in touch! You can email us at [email protected] or find us on Twitter or Instagram @...
Apr 21, 2023•17 min•Season 1Ep. 12
This week, we're looking at a deal one of our listeners on Twitter asked us to cover. It's JetBlue's $3.8bn takeover of discount carrier Spirit Airlines. The deal was approved by Spirit shareholders last fall, but US authorities have sued to block it on antitrust grounds. Ben and Aimee cover how the deal came together, the regulatory concerns, as well as how the deal fits into the bigger picture of consolidation in the industry in the last two decades. For a longer look at the state of consolida...
Apr 14, 2023•19 min•Season 1Ep. 11
Two of the biggest names in fighting, WWE and Endeavor’s UFC, are coming together to form a new, publicly traded entity. It’s a tie-up of larger-than-life personalities in the ring (or octagon) and in the boardroom. Ben and Aimee discuss the roles of three executives at the heart of the deal - Ari Emanuel, Vince McMahon and Dana White - and the potential implications of the merger. Is there a business or deal story that you’d like Aimee and Ben to cover? Get in touch! You can email us at hello@t...
Apr 07, 2023•14 min•Season 1Ep. 10
Shares in Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba jumped this week after founder Jack Ma made a rare visit to mainland China, and the company announced plans to break itself into six business units. Ben and Aimee discuss the latest in the tense relationship between Chinese authorities and the country's tech sector. Is there a business or deal story that you’d like Aimee and Ben to cover? Get in touch! You can email us at [email protected] or find us on Twitter or Instagram @thecloserpod. The Closer ...
Mar 31, 2023•15 min•Season 1Ep. 9
