Podcast · 50 episodes
Business History
by Pushkin Industries · English
It’s the history of business. How did Hitler’s favorite car become synonymous with hippies? What got Thomas Edison tangled up with the electric chair? Did someone murder the guy who invented the movies? Former Planet Money hosts Jacob Goldstein and Robert Smith examine the surprising stories of businesses big and small and find out what you can learn from those who founded them.
Latest episodes
Hitler's Gift to the Hippies: The VW Beetle Story Part I – RerunA two-part rerun (Part I) tracing how the Volkswagen Beetle began as Adolf Hitler’s “people’s car” project, became a mass-produced icon, and later connects to the late-1960s “Herbie the Love Bug”…30 Sep 2026 · 35 min
King of the Roll-Ups: The Man Who Created a Trash Empire, Then Built Blockbuster VideoWayne Huizenga’s “roll-up” strategy—how he consolidated fragmented industries first in garbage (Waste Management Inc.) and later in video rental (Blockbuster Video), then exited before the internet…23 Sep 2026 · 38 min
How Warren Buffet Built His Legacy By Finding Value No One Else Could See – RerunRerun of Business History’s “Young Warren Buffett” episode explaining how Buffett built his legacy by exploiting information gaps and undervalued “cigar butt” companies, then evolving into a capital…18 Sep 2026 · 44 min
All episodes
Hitler's Gift to the Hippies: The VW Beetle Story Part I – RerunA two-part rerun (Part I) tracing how the Volkswagen Beetle began as Adolf Hitler’s “people’s car” project, became a mass-produced icon, and later connects to the late-1960s “Herbie the Love Bug”…30 Sep 2026 · 35 min · 9 chapters
King of the Roll-Ups: The Man Who Created a Trash Empire, Then Built Blockbuster VideoWayne Huizenga’s “roll-up” strategy—how he consolidated fragmented industries first in garbage (Waste Management Inc.) and later in video rental (Blockbuster Video), then exited before the internet…23 Sep 2026 · 38 min · 19 chapters
How Warren Buffet Built His Legacy By Finding Value No One Else Could See – RerunRerun of Business History’s “Young Warren Buffett” episode explaining how Buffett built his legacy by exploiting information gaps and undervalued “cigar butt” companies, then evolving into a capital…18 Sep 2026 · 44 min · 18 chapters
Herman Petty's Dream: The Struggles of the First Black American to Own a McDonald'sHerman Petty’s rise as the first Black McDonald’s franchise owner, and how that deal intersected with civil rights, franchise economics, and later government and advertising shifts.16 Sep 2026 · 45 min · 24 chapters
The Battle of Fort Frick and the Anarchist AssassinPart two of Business History’s Homestead Strike series, covering Henry Clay Frick’s plan to break the Amalgamated Association union at Carnegie Steel in Homestead, Pennsylvania (June–August 1892),…9 Sep 2026 · 45 min · 17 chapters
Andrew Carnegie's War with his WorkersThe episode traces the 1892-era conflict between Andrew Carnegie and Homestead steelworkers, framed by the broader late-1800s struggle of capital vs.2 Sep 2026 · 40 min · 26 chapters
George Washington’s Trusted Tavern Guide: The Birth of the User ReviewThe history of consumer trust mechanisms, arguing that user reviews emerged to solve “market for lemons” information asymmetry—first via ancient customer complaints, then travel guidebooks, and…26 Aug 2026 · 45 min · 21 chapters
The DeLorean Saga: Fraud, Drug Deals and Marty McFly's CarThe rise and fall of John DeLorean and the DeLorean Motor Company, framed as a cautionary tale about industrial policy, corporate rules, and fraud—ending with the cocaine sting that helped destroy…19 Aug 2026 · 48 min · 18 chapters
The Tangled Story of Instant RamenThe episode traces how instant ramen (especially Momofuku Ando’s Chicken Ramen, Top Ramen, and Cup Noodles) became a global convenience food, arguing that Ando’s real edge was execution, IP strategy,…12 Aug 2026 · 42 min · 19 chapters
Billy Beer: When American Beer Hit Bottom, Then Bounced BackHow U.S. beer hit “bottom” in the 1970s/early 1980s—bland mass-market lager dominated by big brewers—and then rebounded into craft beer, driven largely by tax/regulatory changes and distribution…5 Aug 2026 · 41 min · 20 chapters
The Printing Press: The Invention Built on Debt and SinThe invention and business rollout of Johannes Gutenberg’s movable-type printing press, driven by debt/equity financing, court disputes, and demand for cheaper books; then how printing scaled…29 Jul 2026 · 46 min · 27 chapters
The Robberiest Robber Baron: The Villainy of Jay GouldJay Gould’s rise and schemes during the Gilded Age, focusing on stock manipulation, political bribery, and gold-market cornering; how his actions helped spur major U.S.22 Jul 2026 · 47 min · 20 chapters
The Factory That Was Wiped Off The Map (From Cautionary Tales)The 1974 Flixborough disaster in Lincolnshire, England—how a “temporary” replacement pipe in a nylon-6 precursor plant (NYPRO) led to a massive cyclohexane explosion, killing 28 people and reshaping…8 Jul 2026 · 38 min · 17 chapters
The Nobel Winners Who Almost Crashed the EconomyThe rise and collapse of Long-Term Capital Management (LTCM), a Nobel-winning hedge fund that made huge profits from bond “spread/convergence” trades—then nearly triggered a global financial crisis…1 Jul 2026 · 48 min · 16 chapters
A Store Owner You Can Trust: John Wanamaker, Returns and the Price TagThe episode argues that modern “trust” in shopping was transformed by John Wanamaker’s retail innovations, especially the “one price and return of goods” model.24 Jun 2026 · 40 min · 15 chapters
The Boy Scout Who Brought us the Age of DisruptionBusiness disruption theory from Clayton M. Christensen’s The Innovator’s Dilemma, explaining why successful incumbents fail when “disruptive” tech starts as worse/cheaper, and how incentives from…17 Jun 2026 · 41 min · 23 chapters
Ida Tarbell: The "Muckraker" Who Beat John D Rockefeller and Big OilIda Tarbell’s “muckraking” campaign against Standard Oil and the rise of antitrust trust-busting in the early 1900s, framed as a backlash to Gilded Age laissez-faire corporate power.10 Jun 2026 · 46 min · 15 chapters
"Time is Money": How Ben Franklin's Sayings Created American Capitalism and Grind CultureThe episode “Time is Money” (Business History) argues that Benjamin Franklin helped create America’s business self-help genre and a new work-and-money value system that fueled industrial capitalism…3 Jun 2026 · 44 min · 14 chapters
The Founding Father Who Got Rich in the RevolutionThe episode profiles Robert Morris, a key financier of the American Revolution, arguing he created the war’s “new economy,” then fell into debtors’ prison after speculative finance and currency…27 May 2026 · 48 min · 14 chapters
The Dumbest Business Ever... Shipping Melting Ice to Calcutta.Business History episode about Frederick Tudor’s “frozen water trade”—shipping blocks of ice from Boston to hot markets (West Indies, Havana, and ultimately Calcutta/Kolkata) and turning a seemingly…20 May 2026 · 47 min · 21 chapters
From History Daily: John S. Pemberton Sells the First Glass of Coca-ColaJohn S. Pemberton, a Civil War–injured pharmacist in Atlanta, develops and sells the first Coca-Cola (initially “Pemberton’s French Wine Coca”), aiming to treat morphine addiction and widespread…15 May 2026 · 16 min · 5 chapters
The Match Maker Who Nearly Burned Down Wall StreetThe rise and fall of Ivar Kruger, the “match king” who used aggressive, innovative finance to dominate global match monopolies and lend to European governments after World War I—then collapsed into…13 May 2026 · 49 min · 18 chapters
Did "Neutron" Jack Welch Nuke GE?The rise and fall of General Electric under Jack Welch—how GE became a “money-making machine” through ruthless restructuring and financialization (GE Capital), and how that model later contributed to…6 May 2026 · 53 min · 22 chapters
The Widow Who Ruled the Champagne WorldThe rise of Veuve Clicquot (Barbe-Nicole Clicquot) and how champagne became a global product, from early sparkling-wine accidents to English origins, Napoleonic “scientific” winemaking, wartime…29 Apr 2026 · 41 min · 17 chapters