I’m sure I’ll come across other people I admire for their business acumen but after researching Dell for this episode, he’s at the top- one of these people who is just brilliant at businessAt 16, he made more money in one summer than his teachers made all year.At 18, he was building computers in a dorm room with sales reaching up to $80,000 some monthsBy 27 he was the youngest CEO ever to lead a Fortune 500 company. He did it by always thinking about how to consistently eliminate unnecessary steps. But he’s tough as well- there were big battles with Carl Icahn where Dell comes out on top. And what I really, really love about Michale Dell is he does it all with no ego, no scandal, no politics- just great business. It’s a cracking episode, enjoy.
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30:03
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30:03
Reid Hoffman: From Role Player to Master Networker
Most of us know who Reid Hoffman is- I thought I knew a good bit about him before we did that episode on PayPal, but it was while researching that episode that I found out just how smart and how strategic he is. He was one of the first people in silicon valley to understand the potential of the internet to build social networks- he was one of the very first investors in Friendster and in Facebook and of course he built LinkedIn, selling it to Microsoft for $26 billion. He was a founding investor in Open AI, one of the first investors in AirBnb- this guy has had so much success but it hasn’t been all plain sailing- he got caught up in his own Jeffrey Epstein story- it’s a cracking episode- enjoy.
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31:14
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31:14
Gautam Adani: From Diamond Trader to Billionaire Tycoon
He was once the second richest man on Earth — richer than Bezos, Arnault, Buffet. He left school at 15 and over the last 50 years he has built a huge empire spanning ports, power plants, airports, his success fuelled by risk, relentlessness, and a powerful friendship with India’s prime minister.I knew about Adani for a while but it only when I mentioned him briefly when I was talking about the Hindenburg Group in the episode on Short Sellers that i thought I’d love to cover this guy- and his story is so well worth it- there’s billions, there’s a kidnapping, there’s a terror attack, there’s a lot of alleged corruption- it’s a cracking episode — enjoy.
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32:46
Leon Black: Master of the Universe Undone
Black made billions with junk bonds, complex financial engineering, buying bankrupt companies and turning them around- he was aggressive, ruthless and very good at what he did.He was Michael Milken’s right hand man. After Milken went to jail, Black built Apollo - an asset manager overseeing $850 billion. He bought the painting The Scream for $120 million. And now he’s forced to explain why he paid Jeffrey Epstein $158 million —after Epstein had served jail time.It’s a cracking episode—enjoy.
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31:11
Tulip Mania- The World’s First Financial Bubble?
I love business stories from any time- as long as it’s full of drama, success or failure, interesting characters, I don’t care if it a year old or 1000 years old, and the Tulip Bubble from the 1700’s has drama in spades- I’ve always wanted to dig into it because tulipmania is remembered as the first market bubble. I mean picture the scene, january of 1637, in taverns across Holland, fortunes were made and lost on flowers that bloomed for just one week a year. Men traded houses, farms, for a single bulb. The story has been told for centuries as the world’s first great financial bubble—the madness of crowds overtaken by financial speculation. It’s a tale of greed, folly, and overnight collapse.But there’s a twist in this tale and who doesn’t love a good old twist?It’s a cracking story—enjoy.
A great business story thoroughly researched and brought to life by Caemin. New episode released every Wednesday .
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