By late 2000, PayPal and X.com are yoked together, with X.com CEO Elon Musk leading the newly combined company. But it’s a rocky marriage: PayPal’s founders clash with their new leader over everything from his imperious management style to his choice of server platforms. Finally the PayPal loyalists decide there’s only one option left: it’s time to engineer a coup. You can support this show by supporting our sponsors! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice ...
Aug 07, 2018•25 min•Season 6Ep. 5
Remember the summer of 2000? The Olympics were in full swing and PayPal was under attack. Not from eBay, but Russian hackers. In looking for soft targets in the early days of the untethered Internet, PayPal was the fattest cow. On top of that, there are competitors, and they’re catching on fast. Between the money stolen from hackers and competitors, PayPal has to figure out a way to survive, and fast. Support this show by supporting our sponsors! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy a...
Aug 02, 2018•23 min•Season 6Ep. 4
In the midst of the dot-com boom, there's also a lot of dot-com bust. PayPal desperately needed to grow but they companies who'd raised millions more suddenly disintegrate. The solution was so simple it seemed almost illegal - let the converted proselytize. And they do to incredible results. It doesn't take long for eBay to notice but there's nothing they can do to stop PayPal's viral momentum. Support us by supporting our sponsors! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California ...
Jul 31, 2018•24 min•Season 6Ep. 3
As eBay gathers steam, a libertarian chess champion and a programmer who fled Communist Ukraine team up to change the world with their encryption software. But when their plan to piggyback on the ubiquitous Palm Pilot hits a snag, they stumble upon a new idea. The concept is so revolutionary, it will change the landscape of e-commerce and turn the fledgling company into a viral phenomenon. There’s just one problem. PayPal is set on a collision course with the one company it needs to succeed: eBa...
Jul 26, 2018•25 min•Season 6Ep. 2
At the dawn of the dotcom era, a Silicon Valley tech geek on a personal vendetta rolls out the world’s first e-commerce site. Vintage lunchboxes? Second-hand guitars? B-list celebrity autographs? It all finds a home on AuctionWeb, and before long the site’s growth is skyrocketing. But founder Pierre Omidyar isn’t prepared for the infrastructure challenges that come with turning his pet project into a real company. Brownouts and site outages soon follow, raising the ire of customers. And without ...
Jul 24, 2018•24 min•Season 6Ep. 1
Joining us today is Gabriel Kahn, a professor of journalism at the University of Southern California. He’s a former Los Angeles bureau chief for the Wall Street Journal and a frequent commentator on monetization and the media. He’s also taught courses on the history of journalism. He recently wrote an open letter to the new owner of the Los Angeles Times, Patrick Soon Shiong, and now he's here to talk about Hearst vs Pulitzer! Join us next week as we visit a new business war: Ford vs Chevrolet. ...
Jun 28, 2018•24 min•Season 5Ep. 7
By 1900, the days of yellow journalism were already fading, and both William Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer were searching for a new direction even as their newspapers diverged. Hearst tries for a political career, but finds himself defeated and dragging back to a lagging paper by the end of the decade. Pulitzer doubled down on news, and in 1909 caught the biggest scoop of his career. While the paper is going as strong as ever, Pulitzer’s health is suffering. Both men created legacies and changed th...
Jun 26, 2018•24 min•Season 5Ep. 6
A close up look at a crisis of their own making. One that nearly cost Hearst and Pulitzer their grip on the country’s first media empires. Instead of pitting them against each other, the crisis would see the two media moguls finding rare common ground. At the turn of the century, newspapers flew off the presses in 8 or 10 separate editions a day. Newsies grabbed them off stacks in the alleys and took to the streets, their little hands stained with ink. But when the Newsies go on strike, no papes...
Jun 21, 2018•20 min•Season 5Ep. 5
What happens when there’s no news? You have to MAKE the news. When Hearst heard from his top reporter that the Spanish-Cuban tension wasn’t looking like anything would happen, Hearst wasn’t just going to wait around for an explosion. He already bought and assembled a collection of powder kegs. It was just a matter of lighting the fuse. Support us by supporting our sponsors! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-i...
Jun 19, 2018•25 min•Season 5Ep. 4
In 1883, 15 years before the Headless Torso Murder, New York City's population was rapidly growing and the newspaper scene was pretty sleepy. The city's nearly 50 daily papers, even the small New York Times, was a pretty sedate bunch, informing citizens about zoning board decisions and weather trends. They rarely draw any blood, stir up society, get the city talking. But that’s changing, thanks to Joseph Pulitzer. Support us by supporting our sponsors! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/pri...
Jun 14, 2018•22 min•Season 5Ep. 3
In 1897, America looked very different. Carriages rolled through the streets of New York. Mass media was just growing up, and Hearst was convinced that carrier pigeons - hunted to extinction by 1914 - were what would give his paper the edge during the early days of the Headless Torso case. This case belonged to the whole city. Everyone - barkeeps in Brooklyn and bankers on the Upper East Side alike are invested in the mystery… and what happened to his head. For more American History Tellers, sub...
Jun 12, 2018•23 min•Season 5Ep. 2
This is the beginning of a mystery, a great business rivalry, and a look into American history. To tell the story of Hearst vs Pulitzer, we called our friend Lindsay Graham over at American History Tellers for help. The Headless Torso mystery is about a jilted husband, a German midwife, a muscleman and more colorful characters. The city’s been mesmerized for months, and in Gilded Age New York, most people just couldn’t resist pressing their pennies into a newsboy’s ink-stained hand to find out t...
Jun 07, 2018•24 min•Season 5Ep. 1
Host David Brown interviews Steven Johnson, the host of the new podcast American Innovations . Support us by supporting our sponsors! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .
May 10, 2018•35 min•Ep. 1
After all that IBM has been through over the decades, it would have never in a million years guessed that their undoing would be at the hands of a scrawny and unknown computer nerd named Bill Gates. Gates sees the future, but can IBM catch up? Will they still be on top 50 years from now? Only time will tell. We hope you enjoyed this series on the first computer wars, and I want to give a special shout out to our fans, The Elfenbein family! Support us by supporting our sponsors! See Privacy Polic...
May 08, 2018•26 min•Season 4Ep. 6
It’s 1961. Since his father retired 5 years earlier, Thomas Watson Jr pushed to modernize IBM from the top down. New management, new ideas, newer, faster, machines. The company has grown, employing 1,000 people, they’ve dominated the emerging computer market... and managed to frustrate the public all at the same time. IBM’s new technology is confusing and the only way out may be to create a Civil War, burning IBM from the inside out. Will they be able to agree, or will infighting cost them the e...
May 03, 2018•24 min•Season 4Ep. 5
In Episode 1 the UNIVAC successfully predicted that Eisenhower would win the 1952 election. In Philadelphia, a champagne hangover quickly settled in over the Remington Rand building, the company elated at its success. But over at IBM, a company that doesn't allow its employees to drink, they’re working, furiously. And Watson Jr. is ready to take the 701 to market in a few months. Visiting the 701 is soon the hottest ticket in town, and The Watsons and IBM sit back to watch. They feel the momentu...
May 01, 2018•26 min•Season 4Ep. 4
What’s a 16% market share when the public thinks you have more? A potential anti-trust suit, if you’re IBM. Watson Jr. sees a potential lawsuit as a way out from under his father’s control. Sr. sees his company rotting away in the hands of a kid who can’t handle it. But when the antitrust suit comes through in 1952, Jr’s in charge. Can he actually handle the business he desperately wanted? Support us by supporting our sponsors! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Priva...
Apr 26, 2018•23 min•Season 4Ep. 3
How do you really “get ahead” in a war? Sometimes you don’t have to do anything, you just wait for your opponent to fumble. And in the late 1940s, IBM’s CEO Thomas Watson Sr., did. He’s just beginning to grasp the potential of these electronic machines, and - although older than most other CEOs is desperate to stay on top. He takes his volatile temper and insecurities out on the one person who could have helped him out of this freefall: his son. Support us by supporting our sponsors! See Privacy...
Apr 24, 2018•25 min•Season 4Ep. 2
With so much information at our fingertips, it’s hard to remember that we haven’t always walked around with supercomputers in our pockets. In fact, in 1952, CBS thought that Americans would find it SO hard to imagine that a machine could even predict election results accurately that they built a pretend computer and resorted to, well, fake news, to make the public believe. This is Univac vs. IBM, and this is the First Computer War. Support us by supporting our sponsors! See Privacy Policy at htt...
Apr 19, 2018•22 min•Season 4Ep. 1
What's that? Up in the sky? It's another episode of Business Wars. Today we're talking to two super guests, Reed Tucker is a journalist living in New York City, and the author of the book Slugfest: Inside the Epic 50-Year Battle Between Marvel and DC and! Reed is the author of the Marvel/DC episodes of Business Wars. After we talk to Reed we sit down with Jason Mewes. Jason, or Jay, as you may know him, is a comic book fanatic and long time Kevin Smith collaborator. You've seen his face in thing...
Apr 12, 2018•44 min•Season 3Ep. 7
After more than 50 years of fighting for the hearts and attention spans of millions of readers, television viewers, and movie-goers - who wins this war? Is it DC, the original comic company company behind classic American heroes that defined the dreams of many young men and women? Or is it Marvel, the young upstart who changed the game and fought tooth and nail to catch up with DC and create their own cinematic universe? For now, there’s one clear winner, but expect this war to rage on. No super...
Apr 10, 2018•26 min•Season 3Ep. 6
Appearances on radio programs, television shows and thousands of comic books - all just another day in the life of a superhero. But to get a larger than life hero onto a larger than life screen, there’s one secret ingredient: verisimilitude. As both companies fight for box office domination, a power player from our Netflix/Blockbuster series reveals one company to be just another cold, corporate machine. Support us by supporting our sponsors! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and C...
Apr 05, 2018•24 min•Season 3Ep. 5
It’s 1970 and the unthinkable just happened. Jack Kirby, one of the men who made Marvel, has defected to DC. With him he brought an idea that may just end Marvel for good. But as soon as DC seems to be pulling back into the lead, something else goes wrong - there’s a spy in their midst. Support us by supporting our sponsors! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info ....
Apr 03, 2018•23 min•Season 3Ep. 4
As Marvel’s richer storylines captivate more readers, DC just can’t keep up, or fully understand Marvel’s success. They even try directly copying Marvel’s style, but go about it in the worst way. Just when it looks like DC’s days at the top are numbered, they throw one final Hail Mary that steals away one of Marvel’s finest artists. Support us by supporting our sponsors! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info...
Mar 29, 2018•22 min•Season 3Ep. 3
We’ve talked about several wars on this series, but here’s a first: DC and Marvel engaging with each other, sniping, making fun, and getting their fans involved in the argument. A series of editor’s letters, guest columns, and fan mail printed in the comics themselves has everyone choosing sides. Support us by supporting our sponsors! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info ....
Mar 27, 2018•23 min•Season 3Ep. 2
In the early 1960s, the Space Race was on, Chubby Checkers got everyone doin’ the twist and Superman was turning 25. DC has it all - a legacy comic, the talented writers and illustrators, and plush offices in Manhattan. Marvel is around but it’s much smaller. They only have one full time employee, actually. Have you heard of Stan Lee? He WAS Marvel for a long time, and in 1961 he wrote a story that would revolutionize comics forever. Support us by supporting our sponsors! See Privacy Policy at h...
Mar 21, 2018•22 min•Season 3Ep. 1
Today we talked to Liz Dolan, former Nike CMO, and David Meltzer, sports marketing guru and agent about this vicious war. If you loved them here, you’ll love their podcasts even more. Liz co-hosts Safe For Work , a show that answers your burning business questions and provides the advice you need to keep your office drama-free, and Satellite Sisters , where she got to sit down with Phil Knight and talk about Nike with the man himself. You can listen to that interview here . You can hear David on...
Mar 20, 2018•45 min•Season 2Ep. 7
The rivalry between Nike and Adidas has been intense for decades, but always respectful. But with intensity comes… defectors. Just three at the beginning, who set out to create a “Disneyland for designers.” And it worked. For the first time in a long time, the Swoosh was outperformed by three little white stripes. But it’s not all bad. The constant competition drove both companies to produce better shoes, better apparel, and have made each other better businesses. As the sneaker wars enter a new...
Mar 15, 2018•19 min•Season 2Ep. 6
Nike, the late starter struck gold with its “Just Do It” campaign. Launched in 1988, the shoe giant finally had a tagline as good as its shoes. Meanwhile, Adidas, the brand that started and found success long before Nike was even a dream, finds itself as the underdog. The American offices feel like a startup, and is passed between the hands of former Nike execs and European businessmen. What does it take to go from a million-dollar company to a billion-dollar company? Adidas has to find out, and...
Mar 13, 2018•24 min•Season 2Ep. 5
Every new Nike employee gets a list of principles that serves as the company’s philosophy. One: Our business is change. Two: We’re on offense, all the time. With those principles Nike sprinted from $29 million in revenue in 1973 to more than $850 million by 1983. But the biggest boost for Nike was an up and coming athlete. Like Jesse Owens fifty years before, a young Michael Jordan would carry a fledgling shoe brand to new heights. Support us by supporting our sponsors! See Privacy Policy at htt...
Mar 08, 2018•27 min•Season 2Ep. 4
