Episode Summary: In this episode of The World According to Boyar , Jonathan Boyar sits down with Bill Ackman, the legendary hedge fund manager and founder of Pershing Square, to discuss his latest big move involving Howard Hughes, his unfiltered views on politics, and his growing role as an activist investor. Ackman shares his thoughts on the Trump administration, deregulation, and why he believes reducing government inefficiency could be a game changer for the U.S. economy. On the investing fro...
Feb 27, 2025•1 hr 7 min•Ep 14•Transcript available on Metacast Join host Jonathan Boyar as he sits down with Kunal Kapoor, the dynamic CEO of Morningstar, in this episode of The World According to Boyar . Dive into the story behind one of the most influential firms in the financial services industry and discover how Kunal’s leadership has propelled Morningstar to new heights. Kunal discusses Morningstar's mission to empower investor success through independent research and data-driven insights. He shares insights on the evolution of Morningstar, the im...
Aug 13, 2024•40 min•Ep 13•Transcript available on Metacast This week, I had the honor of interviewing Thomas Peterffy, the founder of Interactive Brokers, on The World According to Boyar podcast. Thomas’s life exemplifies the American Dream: When he came to the United States from Communist Hungary in 1965, virtually penniless and with no knowledge of English, he immediately began teaching himself computer programming while saving up for a seat on the American Stock Exchange. Using technological advances he himself helped pioneer, Thomas established a su...
May 29, 2024•24 min•Ep 12•Transcript available on Metacast The Interview Discusses: Bill Wilson’s rise from a data-driven marketer at Arista Records to helming a digital-first local media empire. The extraordinary experience of working with Clive Davis. How he utilized traditional radio as a “trojan horse” to build a digital media company. The competitive advantage of operating in smaller markets. Why a local content strategy is so differentiated in today’s environment. Bill’s thoughts on capital allocation. His views on running a publicly traded compan...
Apr 30, 2024•50 min•Ep 11•Transcript available on Metacast The Interview Discusses: Anthony’s amazing life story growing up from humble beginnings to becoming a major success on Wall Street. His theory on resiliency and how he was able to recover after being fired from both Goldman Sachs and the White House. Why he is investing in cryptocurrencies. How Bill Miller influenced his investment decision making How Warren Buffett cost him a lot of money His support of Israel And much more! Biography: Anthony Scaramucci is the founder and managing partner of S...
Dec 19, 2023•31 min•Ep 10•Transcript available on Metacast The Interview Discusses: Growing up in Iran and how having a global upbringing has impacted him as an investor. Why he is more comfortable investing in the United States. How his grandparents fleeing Nazi Germany has impacted his investment decision making. His experience as an investor during the financial crisis and how he invests during uncertain times. What about the current geopolitical landscape scares him as an investor. His thoughts on holding cash as an investment. His opinion on invest...
Nov 08, 2023•1 hr 7 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Interview Discusses: His remarkable turnaround of Domino’s Pizza where he increased the share price by 23x. The opportunity he saw at Restaurant Brands that convinced him to invest $30 million personally in the company’s shares (and pledge to hold it for 5 years). The dynamics of working for a company controlled by private equity firm 3G. The importance of franchisee profitability for his turnaround plan. Tim Hortons extraordinary success in Canada and how that can be replicated in other par...
Jun 22, 2023•39 min•Ep 8•Transcript available on Metacast The Interview Discusses: The rise and fall of GE. What could have been done to save General Electric. Who is to blame for GE’s demise. His in-depth interviews with both Jack Welch and Jeff Immelt. The fundamental error that Jack Welch made that tarnished his legacy. How GE capital almost filed for bankruptcy during the financial crisis. What Disney can learn from GE’s succession issues. The mistake GE made by selling NBC Universal to Comcast (and one thing about the deal you probably never knew)...
Mar 10, 2023•48 min•Ep 7•Transcript available on Metacast The Interview Discusses: How he turned around Callaway’s traditional business. How “off course” golf is now larger than “on course” golf. How Topgolf is increasing participation in traditional golf. The economics behind a Topgolf location and why scale matters. Why he does not believe a rising interest rate environment will impact the expansion of TopGolf. How he had the confidence to “bet the company” and purchase Topgolf in 2020 (during the throes of Covid). The significant opportunity they ha...
Feb 16, 2023•51 min•Ep 6•Transcript available on Metacast The Interview Discusses: The secret to success in the investment business. His investment thesis on both Home Depot & Diageo. Why investing through the covid crisis was harder than investing through the financial crisis. How covid has impacted Markel’s insurance operations. His thoughts on Berkshire Hathaway investing in Markel. His observations of Warren Buffett as a fellow board member at The Washington Post. How Markel decides whether to invest in private companies through Markel Ventures...
Dec 14, 2022•56 min•Ep 5•Transcript available on Metacast The Interview Discusses: Founding Ariel (which now manages more than $16 billion) at the age of 24. Surviving the stock market crash of 1987 and how he turned this setback into an opportunity to grow both his firm as well as his reputation. Why sitting on corporate boards such as McDonalds and Nike have made him a better investor. How his investment process has evolved overtime. How he constructs portfolios in terms of both diversification of industries and individual stocks. He also discusses h...
Sep 07, 2022•42 min•Ep 4•Transcript available on Metacast The Interview Discusses: How Dotdash in a relatively short period of time became the largest publisher in the United States. IAC's recent acquisition of Meredith and why he believes they now have the scale to effectively compete against Facebook and Google Lessons learned from working with media mogul Barry Diller. The future of print magazines and why Dotdash is intentionally shrinking their subscriber base. The tremendous licensing opportunities they intend to take advantage of. A potenti...
Mar 10, 2022•38 min•Ep 3•Transcript available on Metacast The Interview Discusses: His fascinating new book, The Revolution That Wasn’t: GameStop, Reddit, and the Fleecing of Small Investors . Robinhood’s unique business model and whether Robinhood has “democratized” finance as it claims. How Robinhood came very close to the brink of insolvency. The role of “influencers” like Chamath Palihapitiya, Elon Musk, and David Portnoy in driving the speculative excess of 2021. His surprising take on Keith Gill, aka “Roaring Kitty.” Biography: Spencer Jakab is a...
Feb 17, 2022•38 min•Ep 2•Transcript available on Metacast The Interview Discusses: How their cannabis division Hawthorne has grown over 100% over the past two years. Why he decided to enter the cannabis business. His thoughts on the current regulatory environment for cannabis and what he believes needs to change. Where the biggest money will be made in a post cannabis "prohibition" world and where they are investing. The logic of potentially spinning out the Hawthorne business. The demographic shift that is greatly helping their traditional c...
Dec 01, 2021•1 hr•Ep 1•Transcript available on Metacast The Interview Discusses: The state of the NYC real estate market and why he believes it will quickly become a seller’s market. Areas outside of NYC where he is currently finding compelling long-term investment opportunities. His firm Serhant which he launched in the beginning of the pandemic. The process he takes when branding properties including Jolie located at 77 Greenwich Street. Potential technological disruption in the real estate brokerage industry. How he leveraged his fame from The Mil...
Jun 08, 2021•31 min•Ep 21•Transcript available on Metacast The Interview Discusses: Lessons learned from working with media mogul Barry Diller. Why they decided to take a 12% stake in casino giant MGM. Which businesses within the IAC portfolio he is most excited about. How he approaches capital allocation at IAC. Which stage he believes Angi is at in their fixed priced transformation. Why he believes Angi’ s “take rate” will increase with time. IAC’s major competitive advantage. Why he believes Care.com is a major opportunity for IAC. Important Disclosu...
May 25, 2021•36 min•Ep 20•Transcript available on Metacast The Interview Discusses: How his investment strategy has evolved since retiring from managing money professionally. His thoughts on asset allocation. Which areas of the stock market he is currently finding value in. How to invest in a potentially rising interest rate environment. His sell discipline when investing in equities. Important Disclosures. The information herein is provided by Boyar’s Intrinsic Value Research LLC (“Boyar Research”) and: (a) is for general, informational purposes only; ...
Mar 04, 2021•37 min•Ep 19•Transcript available on Metacast The Interview Discusses: How he helped launch CNBC, What it was like working in the cable industry when it finally started to gain popularity, David’s views on the current media landscape and where he believes there could be consolidation, His thoughts on how content will be bundled in the future, David’s thoughts on the current multiples for content companies and why Netflix and Disney have been able to garner premium multiples, What it was like working with Jack Welch, John Malone, and the Dol...
Jan 19, 2021•38 min•Ep 18•Transcript available on Metacast The Interview Discusses: Michael’s fascinating career from being a columnist and feature writer at Barron’s to becoming a Senior Markets Commentator on CNBC. The importance of Twitter as a tool for journalists. Michael’s famous source, ‘the mystery broker’. How Michael has used his experience covering 9/11 and has applied that to Covid-19. His thoughts on the possible rotation from growth to value in the equity markets. Biography: Michael Santoli joined CNBC in October 2015 as a Senior Markets C...
Dec 09, 2020•34 min•Ep 17•Transcript available on Metacast The Interview Discusses: How Zoom and other technologies will change how we conduct business going forward. David’s views on how the pandemic has impacted the global economy. How the private equity world is changing in terms of the types of deals they are doing. Key skills needed to be an effective fundraiser. How The Carlyle Group almost went out of business early in the firm’s existence. The reasons behind writing his latest book: How to Lead: Wisdom from The World Greatest CEOs, Founders And ...
Oct 22, 2020•36 min•Ep 16•Transcript available on Metacast The interview Discusses: The differences between the current business climate and the one at the start of his career in the 1980s. His views on when share buybacks are appropriate. Why capital allocation was so critical for shareholder returns at Jarden. Executives he believes are good capital allocators. How he managed to gain control of the company that eventually turned into Jarden. The acquisition strategy he employed while running Jarden (that he still employs today). How he evaluated brand...
Aug 25, 2020•38 min•Ep 15•Transcript available on Metacast The Interview Discusses: Brandon’s views on running a public company (especially during times of stock price volatility). Why ANGI took the rare step for a public company and stopped providing quarterly guidance. How ANGI is trying to transform the way consumers purchase home services and why he believes home services is one of the last major categories without a significant online presence. How ANGI is helping to reduce the lack of price transparency in the home services business. How he believ...
Aug 07, 2020•44 min•Ep 14•Transcript available on Metacast The interview discusses: The state of financial journalism. How Investopedia is helping individual investors. IAC’s strategy with Dot Dash. How you can potentially profit from Investopedia’s proprietary anxiety index. How to get your website on the first page of Google. And much more... Biography: Caleb began his career producing wildlife documentaries in South America and the American southwest. His career in business news began at Bloomberg, where he worked as a senior television producer and ...
Jun 06, 2020•30 min•Ep 13•Transcript available on Metacast The interview discusses: Why having a diverse workforce is a competitive advantage. The changing media landscape. Why the business of content curation will be critical in the future. The reason why movie theater companies will survive. A behind the scenes look of when Mellody’s husband George Lucas’s company, Lucas Films was sold to Disney. The sale of DreamWorks (Ms. Hobson what Chair of the Board) to Comcast. Characteristics of George Lucas that would surprise most people. How Ms. Hobson was s...
Dec 16, 2019•30 min•Ep 12•Transcript available on Metacast The interview discusses: How Dr. Davis led one of the greatest financial turnarounds in medical history. The reasons why healthcare keeps becoming more expensive along with solutions on how to decrease costs without sacrificing care. Why drug pricing should be a trade issue. Why the current patent system discourages pharmaceutical innovation. What “value based” medicine is and why insurance companies and hospitals should consider adopting it. Why the National Institutes of Health is so vital to ...
Nov 19, 2019•31 min•Ep 11•Transcript available on Metacast The interview discusses: How he helped turn Nathan’s Famous from a small restaurant chain into a global licensing business that sells over 480 million hot dogs per year. Characteristics he looks for in companies he looks to acquire. His thoughts on the New York real estate market. What areas within the New York residential real estate market he believes currently offer the greatest values. His views on technology disrupting the real estate business and who is potentially most vulnerable. How he ...
May 15, 2019•27 min•Ep 10•Transcript available on Metacast The Interview discusses: His decision to start his own firm in the 1970s despite a horrendous economic backdrop. His new book Merger Masters that he wrote with Kate Welling. The rationale behind taking his company public and whether he would do so again. His thoughts on portfolio construction including how many positions should be in a portfolio and how long it takes him to become fully invested for a new account. How he incorporates tax ramifications into his sell decision. His process of what ...
Apr 24, 2019•24 min•Ep 9•Transcript available on Metacast The interview discusses: How David and Robert Kirkman took the Walking Dead comic book series and turned it into the most watched show in cable television history. What it means to sell a television show to a network in terms of both economics and creative control. The actual role of a television and film producer. What David and Robert did (that had never been done before) that helped turn The Walking Dead into an international sensation. What it means that Skybound signed a “First Look” deal w...
Dec 26, 2018•30 min•Ep 8•Transcript available on Metacast The interview discusses: Is Amazon currently engaging in anti-competitive behavior both in publishing and in their other businesses? The tactics Amazon employed to gain such a strong position in the e-book market. Why he believes now is a “golden age” for content creators. An overview of the economics of the publishing industry. The future of the legal industry from a business perspective. His new book Testimony. How social media and technology is impacting the art of writing. And much more... B...
Oct 29, 2018•24 min•Ep 7•Transcript available on Metacast The Interview discusses: What is The Acquirer’s Multiple and why investors should pay attention to this metric. What does deep value investing really mean and tips on incorporating it into your investment process. The importance of mean reversion. Two deep value stocks he currently finds attractive. Biography: Tobias Carlisle is the founder of The Acquirer’s Multiple. He is the founder of Acquirers Funds, LLC. He is best known as the author of the #1 new release in Amazon’s Business and Finance ...
Oct 18, 2018•30 min•Ep 6•Transcript available on Metacast 
