The Business

Hannah Prevett and Dominic O’Connell bring you one big business story you need to know every week.

Uncovering the personalities, power plays, boardroom dramas and sheer ambition that drive the world of business, Hannah and Dominic get the inside story from the people who are in the room when the deal goes down - from start-ups to tech titans, market movers to City CEOs.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Last refreshed: May 22nd, 2026 at 12:37 AM ⓘ

Follow this podcast in the Metacast mobile app to refresh it and see new episodes.

Follow on

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

RSS

Podcasts are better in Metacast mobile app

Don't just listen to podcasts. Learn from them with transcripts, summaries, and chapters for every episode. Skim, search, and bookmark insights. Learn more

Episodes

Rachel Reeves’s high tax, high spend budget

It’s being described as a "smorgasbord" of a budget - an offer from Rachel Reeves made up not of big, bold moves but of small, bite-sized titbits. But tax is up, spending is up and debt is still high - so do the measures add up to anything appetising for business at all? We pick over the details, from the big picture to the small tweaks in this budget special. Guests: Helen Miller, Institute for Fiscal Studies Steve Rigby, Rigby Group Richard Fletcher, Business Editor, The Times Hosts: Hannah Pr...

Nov 27, 2025•46 min

Britain’s biggest bitcoin buyer - with Smarter Web Company's Andrew Webley

More than $1 trillion has been wiped from the Crypto market in just six short weeks, but on The Business we hear from a man who still trusts Bitcoin more than any other currency. While many around the world fret about crypto crooks and markets that can be spooked by vibes alone, what’s it like to be ‘all in’ on Bitcoin? Andrew Webley, the founder and chief executive of the The Smarter Web Company, knows very well. He pivoted his web design agency into a so-called crypto treasury - that’s a compa...

Nov 20, 2025•44 min

Are trillion dollar tech stocks about to pop? With Andrew Ross Sorkin

There are few things that are as fascinating, thrilling - and sometimes as completely confounding - as the stock market. Right now, that's as true as ever. Consider Nvidia, which became the world's first $5 trillion company last month - putting its value higher than the GDP of every country except the US and China. Is there a logic to it, or is this plain madness? To get a grip on the forces at play, Dom and Hannah explore some historical parallels, first with Andrew Ross Sorkin, New York-based ...

Nov 13, 2025•41 min

Bonus: Budget preview - headroom and hard choices

This episode of The Business is sponsored by PwC. All eyes are on Chancellor Rachel Reeves as she prepares her autumn Budget. There have been hints at manifesto-breaking tax increases as she warns that everyone will have to do their “bit for the security of our country and the brightness of its future.” But what could all that mean in practice for business? Barret Kupelian, UK Chief Economist at PwC and Claire Blackburn, PwC UK Head of Tax, join Dom and Hannah on this bonus episode to consider t...

Nov 10, 2025•37 min

Cyber attacks and surviving Amazon - with Currys CEO Alex Baldock

What is it like to have a window into the spending habits of 80 percent of British households? Alex Baldock knows very well. As the chief executive of Currys, he leads one of the nation’s biggest retailers, a job that involves overseeing hundreds of bricks and mortar stores across six countries - and some 24,000 employees. Alex joins Hannah and Dom to talk about how a retail business survives - and thrives - in the era of one-click online shopping, why cyber attacks are a daily threat, and what ...

Nov 06, 2025•40 min

The rise of the corporate landlord - with Grainger's Helen Gordon

Labour has gone in hard with a big, bold promise - build 1.5 million homes over the course of this parliament. That means 300,000 homes a year, a target it is already failing to hit. In fact, just this week, Britain’s developers told the Office for Budget Responsibility the end-of-decade building goal will not be met, and its forecast for economic growth from homebuilding is far too optimistic. On this episode, Helen Gordon, the chief executive of Britain’s largest listed landlord, Grainger, mak...

Oct 30, 2025•43 min

Mind the (pay) gap - with Grayling's Heather Blundell

It’s widely acknowledged that diversity is good for business, but white men still dominate the top echelons of UK companies. The pay gap, though narrowing, persists - and, across the workforce, men outearn women by 13%. So, fifty years after the Equal Pay Act came into force, why are some businesses still not taking it seriously? And what can companies do to fix it? Guest: Edwina Dunn, entrepreneur, founder, The Female Lead and author When She’s in the Room: How Empowering Women Empowers the Wor...

Oct 23, 2025•45 min

How to build a British unicorn - with Quantexa's Vishal Marria

Vishal Marria is a homegrown business success story; a Balham local who took the leap from his secure job to launch his own company that is now worth over £ 2B - achieving that mythical unicorn status. His firm Quantexa, which uses AI to help companies make sense of big data, raised £140M earlier this year to make acquisitions and fund further expansion in the US - and now may be on the cusp of going public. So just how did he do it? Was it about the people he met along the way, or the work ethi...

Oct 16, 2025•38 min

A grim future, Farage and Man United - with Sir Jim Ratcliffe

He's one of Britain's most successful industrialists and part-owner of Manchester United. Sir Jim Ratcliffe - regularly found near the top of the Sunday Times rich list with an estimated wealth of over £17bn - is the founder and CEO of the chemicals giant INEOS. So what's the future for his business? Why does he think Net Zero is a disaster? And how will he make Man United 'the most profitable club in the world'? In the first episode of The Business , Associate Business Editor of The Sunday Time...

Oct 08, 2025•48 min

Introducing The Business

A new weekly podcast all about the world of business starts on Thursday 9th October. Today's biggest companies wield more influence than many countries. The people who run them are visionaries, philanthropists - and sometimes crooks. With new technologies and business opportunities emerging daily, never before has navigating this ever-changing landscape been more important. Uncovering the personalities, power plays, boardroom dramas and sheer ambition that drive the world of business, Hannah Pre...

Oct 02, 2025•2 min

← Prev

For the best experience, listen in Metacast app for iOS or Android