Acquired

By Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal

Every company has a story.

Learn the playbooks that built the world’s greatest companies — and how you can apply them.... more

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The podcast currently has 222 episodes available.

Best of Acquired

The most played episodes among Podcast App listeners.

Number 1: Disney: The Renaissance and the Empire
In 1984, the Walt Disney Company was worth more dead than alive. Disney Animation — the heart of Walt's famous flywheel — had stagnated for years, bleeding away talent while corporate raiders circled, salivating over offers to sell off the film library to MGM and offload the parks to hotel operators. But what followed instead was the greatest turnaround in media history under Michael Eisner and Frank Wells. Beauty and the Beast. The Lion King. Broadway. Bringing the Disney Vault home on VHS and DVD. And the greatest media acquisition of all time — ESPN. And then... it all almost fell apart. Again. Euro Disney turned into a money pit. Boardroom and executive infighting ran rampant. Animation descended into a dumpster fire. (Remember Chicken Little? Us neither.) Comcast — Comcast!! — tried to steal the company via a hostile takeover. Out of the chaos, a new generation of Disney management emerged under Bob Iger to stage yet another epic comeback with Pixar, Marvel and Lucasfilm, creating the defining media empire of the 21st century…until the tech companies came along. Tune in for the ultimate Acquired thrill ride: Disney, Part II. Sponsors: Many thanks to our fantastic Fall '26 Season partners:SierraSentryWorkOSAnthropicLinks:Sign up for email updates, get our takeaways and research photos from each episode, and vote on future topics!The Official Acquired Meetup on Sept 17th with our friends at Sentry. Join us!The Acquired Disney Part II Companion PDFThe Acquired Disney Part II Artifacts visual hubOur Disney Part II column in WSJWorldly Partners' Multi-Decade Disney StudyAll episode sourcesCarve Outs:Warby Parker Transitions Extra ActiveMichael Arndt's Toy Story 3 Story PresentationThe Golden State ValkyriesMore Acquired:Get email updates and vote on future episodes!Join the SlackCheck out the latest swag in the ACQ Merch Store!00:00:00 Start 00:00:50 Intro 00:05:07 Disney in Chaos (1984) 00:11:33 Eisner, Wells, Katzenberg Arrive (1984) 00:24:30 Animation Renaissance & CAPS Tech (1989) 00:37:33 Flywheel Extensions: Home Video, Retail & Broadway 00:54:32 Challenges & ABC/ESPN Acquisition (1994-1995) 01:05:55 ESPN: Disney's Accidental Goldmine 01:21:26 Eisner's Decline & Save Disney Campaign (2001-2004) 01:34:53 Comcast Hostile Takeover Bid (2004) 01:41:58 Bob Iger's Vision & Pixar Acquisition (2005-2006) 01:52:17 Pixar: From Lucasfilm to Steve Jobs (1979-1995) 02:03:11 Toy Story, IPO & Eisner Conflict (1995) 02:34:30 Disney Acquires Pixar (2006) 02:46:37 Marvel & Lucasfilm Acquisitions (2009-2012) 02:58:01 Streaming Pivot: Cord Cutting & BAMTech (2015) 03:06:30 The Disney+ Strategy & FOX Acquisition (2017-2019) 03:19:01 The Disney+ Launch, COVID, & Chapek's Tenure (2019-2022) 03:42:15 Iger's Return, Challenges & Parks Revival (2022-2026) 03:50:54 The Business Today: Parks & Streaming Focus 03:59:22 Analysis: Disney+ Strategy & The New Media Landscape 04:10:01 Analysis: Bull/Bear Cases 04:21:20 Quintessence 04:24:39 Carve-Outs + Outro ‍Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
August 10, 20264h 33min
Number 2: Costco
Costco is not only Charlie Munger’s favorite company of all time (plus he’s on the board, natch), it’s an absolutely fascinating study in how seemingly opposite characteristics can combine to create incredible company value. For instance: Costco has the cheapest prices of any major retailer in America — and also the wealthiest customer base. They pay their hourly workers 30% above the industry norm (and give them excellent healthcare + 401k benefits) — and are almost 3x more profitable on labor than Walmart. Speaking of Walmart, Costco stocks 40x fewer SKUs than their Bentonville-based rivals — yet sells an average of 15x more volume of each. And oh yeah, practically all of Costco’s C-Suite started their careers as baggers and checkout clerks! Tune in for a mind-bending exploration of one of the world’s most iconic — and iconically unique — companies. This episode was released on August 20, 2023. Links:The Science of HittingWarren Buffett’s Costco jokeEpisode sourcesCarve Outs:Tifosi sunglassesDwells “take off everything”Jeremy Giffon on Invest Like the BestDogpatchDavid Lidsky’s great piece on Acquired in Fast Company Sponsors:Vanta: https://bit.ly/acquiredvantaServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredservicenow26Legora: https://bit.ly/acquiredlegoraStatsig: https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig26 More Acquired!Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodesJoin the SlackSubscribe to ACQ2Merch Store! © Copyright 2015-2026 ACQ, LLC ‍Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
March 04, 20262h 54min
Number 3: The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company is the most successful enterprise ever created for monetizing human nostalgia. Today it’s the king of global entertainment, holding the intellectual property rights to the childhood memories of billions of people (including, likely, all of you) and is a reliable, predictable profitable business. But it didn’t start that way. During Walt’s era, Disney operated like an unhinged moonshot factory, blowing its finances on one seemingly crazy project after another, like the very first feature-length animated film or a theme park inspired by Walt's fascination with model trains (spoiler: Disneyland). Walt’s relentless ambition to bet the company over and over again not only created some of the most monumental artistic achievements of the 20th century (Snow White, Fantasia, Disney Imagineering), but also resulted in the accidental invention of the modern “flywheel” business model. In this episode, we tell the story of the ultimate marriage of art, commerce, and engineering — The Walt Disney Company: Walt's Era. Sponsors: Many thanks to our fantastic Spring '26 Season partners:J.P. MorganWeAreDevelopers eventVercelServiceNowStatsigLinks:Sign up for email updates, get our takeaways and research photos from each episode, and vote on future topics!The Acquired Disney Companion PDFOur Disney column in WSJThe original 1958 WSJ “Flywheel” articleWalt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination by Neal GablerThe Animated Man by Michael BarrierWalt Disney: An American Original by Bob ThomasBuilding a Company: Roy O. Disney and the Creation of an Entertainment Empires by Bob ThomasThe Disney Version by Richard SchickelPBS American Experience: Walt DisneyDisneyland HandcraftedWalt's 1966 EPCOT pitch videoWorldly Partners' Multi-Decade Disney StudyThe Walt Disney Family MuseumAll episode sourcesCarve Outs:Brooks Vanguard sneakersDefunctland YouTube ChannelAnimagraffs YouTube ChannelVolvo EX30The San Francisco SymphonyMore Acquired:Get email updates and vote on future episodes!Join the SlackCheck out the latest swag in the ACQ Merch Store!00:00 Start 01:10 Intro 06:03 Walt's Early Life & Artistic Calling (1901-1919) 12:22 From Commercial Art to Laugh-o-grams (1919-1923) 23:05 Hollywood, The Alice Comedies & Oswald's Loss (1923-1928) 43:27 Mickey Mouse & The Synchronized Sound Breakthrough (1928) 01:01:21 The IP Flywheel & Mickey Merch Explosion (1929-1933) 01:09:57 Flywheel Terminology Unpacked 01:18:53 Snow White: Walt's $1.5M Folly (1934-1937) 01:52:01 The Burbank Studio, Debt & Strike (1938-1941) 02:04:28 The Animators' Strike & Walt's Disillusionment (1941) 02:15:43 WWII, The Vault & Creative Slump (1941-1950) 02:24:27 Post-War Slump to Cinderella's Comeback (1945-1950) 02:33:48 Walt's Obsession: Model Trains to Disneyland (1950-1952) 02:38:44 Financing Disneyland: ABC, SRI & Davy Crockett (1953-1955) 03:17:05 Disneyland's Grand Opening & The Evolving Flywheel (1955-1958) 03:41:55 The Florida Project & Walt's Last Dream (1961-1966) 03:54:26 Walt's Untimely Death & Roy's Legacy (1966-1971) 03:57:57 Roy Finishes Walt Disney World (1966-1971) 04:01:09 The Post-Walt Slump & Corporate Raiders (1970s-1984) 04:09:44 Analysis: Why No Other Disney Flywheels? 04:17:15 7 Powers 04:20:45 Quintessence 04:23:50 Carve-Outs + Outro ‍Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
June 22, 20264h 32min
Number 4: Trader Joe’s
Trader Joe's breaks every rule of modern retail. They don't do e-commerce. They don't do delivery. No sales, coupons, or loyalty programs. They only stock 4,000 SKUs versus 50,000+ at normal supermarkets. Their parking lots are famously terrible and they're constantly out of your favorite items. Shoppers brave long lines and cramped aisles while overly-friendly employees in Hawaiian shirts try to chat them up. Everything about the Trader Joe's experience seems designed to drive modern consumers away. And yet they generate $2,000+ per square foot in sales — double their nearest competitor in Whole Foods and nearly 4x the industry average — and Americans are obsessed with them. How on earth did a company that so steadfastly refuses to participate in the 21st century build the most beloved grocery chain in America? Today we tell the full story: how “Trader” Joe Coulombe started out cloning 7-Elevens in 1960s Los Angeles, pivoted to slinging hard liquor, discovered the enormous market opportunities for California wine and health food before anyone else, and ultimately built perhaps the most counter-positioned business we’ve ever studied on Acquired by doing almost everything differently than the supermarket-CPG industrial complex. Tune in for a wild voyage on the high seas of grocery retail! Sponsors:Vanta: https://bit.ly/acquiredvantaServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredservicenow26Legora: https://bit.ly/acquiredlegoraStatsig: https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig26Links:Sign up for email updates and vote on future episodes!Worldly Partners’ Multi-Decade Trader Joe’s StudyBecoming Trader JoeThe Secret Life of GroceriesBuild a Brand Like Trader Joe'sAll episode sourcesCarve Outs:AirPods Pro 3Mario Kart 8 More Acquired!Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodesJoin the SlackSubscribe to ACQ2Merch Store! © Copyright 2015-2026 ACQ, LLC ‍Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
October 27, 20253h 18min
Number 5: Vanguard
Vanguard is the most effective vehicle ever created for participating in the fruits of American capitalism. Today it’s the single largest equity owner of the majority of corporations in the S&P 500, on behalf of 50 million clients (including, likely, many of you). And yet Vanguard itself is essentially a communist organization — it has no shareholders, makes no profits, and operates more like REI than Fidelity. If you own a Vanguard fund, you own a piece of the firm itself. Any excess margin instead gets returned to clients in the form of lower fees, which since 1975 have added up to roughly five hundred billion dollars transferred out of Wall Street managers’ pockets and into retail investors’ savings accounts. And oh yeah, it all started as a cockamamie revenge plot by a guy who’d just been fired by his partners. Today we tell the story of communist capitalism at its finest — Vanguard. Sponsors: Many thanks to our fantastic Spring '26 Season partners:J.P. MorganWeAreDevelopers eventServiceNowVercelStatsigLinks:This episode's PDF companionSign up for email updates, get our takeaways and research photos from each episode, and vote on future topics!Our Vanguard "episode preview" in WSJStay the Course: The Story of Vanguard and the Index Revolution by John C. BogleThe Bogle Effect by Eric BalchunasWorldly Partners' Multi-Decade Vanguard StudyWorldly Partners' Article Generational Investing: The Discipline Behind 100+x OutcomesAll episode sourcesCarve Outs:Our WSJ pieces on Ferrari and VanguardMacBook Pro M5 MaxMichael MacKelvie on YouTubeThe Super Mario Galaxy MovieBrooks Vanguard sneakersMore Acquired:Get email updates and vote on future episodes!Join the SlackCheck out the latest swag in the ACQ Merch Store!00:00:00 Start 00:00:41 Intro 00:05:30 Jack Bogle's Early Life & Family Ruin (1929) 00:12:34 Princeton Thesis & Mutual Funds Emerge (1949-1951) 00:27:20 Joining Wellington Management (1951) 00:30:38 The Go-Go Years & Fidelity's Ascent (1958-1965) 00:40:36 Jack Takes the Reins & The Ivest Merger (1965) 00:46:04 The Go-Go Bust & Jack's Crisis of Conscience (1970-1973) 00:53:28 Jack is Fired: The Genesis of Vanguard (1974) 01:13:03 The Journal Article That Inspired It All (1974-1976) 01:35:02 Building the Fund & Early Struggles (1976-1981) 01:44:32 The Rise of Indexing & Vanguard's Growth (1988-1992) 01:49:06 Jack's Health & The CEO Transition (1995-1996) 02:00:06 The ETF Debate & Jack's Second Firing (1999) 02:24:18 The 2008 Financial Crisis: Vanguard's Moment 02:30:46 The Warren Buffett Bet (2008-2019) 02:41:28 Fidelity & BlackRock's Resurgence (Post-2008) 02:52:04 Salim Ramji: Vanguard's First Outside CEO 03:04:43 Wellington's Comeback & Mutual Ownership 03:08:23 Analysis 03:30:58 Quintessence 03:39:35 Carve-Outs + Outro ‍Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
May 18, 20263h 49min