Big Take

The trucking industry has long been dominated by older white men. But as those truckers steer toward retirement, who will replace them? 

On today’s Big Take podcast, host Sarah Holder hits the road with Bloomberg’s Jaewon Kang, who’s been exploring how one company is trying to transform its trucking workforce. And we hear from MIT’s Chris Caplice, DAT Freight and Analytics’ Dean Croke and two Walmart truckers about what’s working for the industry and the challenges it faces on the road ahead.

Read more: Walmart’s $115,000 Starting Pay and Better Rigs Draw Women to Trucking

Hosted by Sarah Holder Produced by Julia Press Reported by Jaewon Kang Edited by Tracey Samuelson Fact-checking by Rachael Lewis-Krisky Engineering by Katie McMurran

Senior Producer: Naomi Shavin Deputy Executive Producer: Julia Weaver Executive Producer: Nicole Beemsterboer

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Treating cancer is a massive business. In 2024 alone, cancer treatments generated at least $200 billion in worldwide sales for the pharmaceutical industry, more than the obesity drug rush. But a Bloomberg News analysis showed that fewer than half of treatments reviewed — some of which have painful side effects — have been shown to extend patients’ lives.

On today’s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg senior healthcare reporter Robert Langreth takes host David Gura inside what some doctors call the “cancer-industrial complex” — from the regulatory landscape that ushered in a wave of lucrative new drugs to the damaging financial and health impacts some treatments can have on patients.

Read more:

Cancer Drugs Cost More Than Ever. They Often Don’t Extend Lives.

The Implants Were Supposed to Dissolve. They Didn’t.

Pharma Is Pushing $200,000 Cancer Drugs When Cheaper Doses May Work

Cancer Doctors Are Making a Fortune Off Drug-Trial Participants

One Generic Cancer Drug Costs $35. Or $134. Or $13,000.

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The Philippines is no stranger to typhoons, but this year’s storms exposed something far uglier: a vast corruption scandal.

On today’s Big Take Asia Podcast, host K. Oanh Ha speaks to Bloomberg’s Andreo Calonzo and Rosalind Mathieson about how billions of dollars earmarked for flood control vanished and what the crisis means for the country’s political and economic stability.

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All year, the jobs market, consumer sentiment, AI and inflation flashed warning signs about the economy — but 2025 managed to avoid a recession.

On today’s Big Take podcast, host Sarah Holder talks with Bloomberg’s Stacey Vanek Smith and Moody’s Analytics Mark Zandi to understand what this year’s wonky economy can tell us as we head into 2026 and what to watch for in the new year.

Read more: US Recession Risk Is Receding as We Move Into 2026

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Mustafa Suleyman co-founded AI lab DeepMind when he was just 26 years old. Four years later, it was acquired by Google for a reported $400 million.

He is now head of Microsoft’s AI unit, where he just unveiled a new superintelligence team tasked with creating an AI that can outperform humans at all tasks.

In this conversation with Mishal Husain, Suleyman talks about the decisions society has to make about AI, the white-hot war over tech talent and the competition with other tech bros. 

00:00 - Introduction from Mishal Husain
02:20 - Suleyman’s daily use of AI
04:52 - Stoicism and the magic of AI
05:50 - Defining superintelligence
07:35 - The AI Wild West
09:20 - Humans misusing technology
11:43 - Promise of abundance, universal basic income
14:30 - Suleyman’s family and decision to drop out of Oxford
19:37 - "Decisions we make may have very lasting consequences”
21:04 - Exploring the ‘broligarchy’
22:28 - His view of Sam Altman and Open AI
24:11 - Conversations with Demis Hassabis about Gemini 3
26:15 - “I’m sort of a centrist these days”
28:09 - AI containment and the role of government
29:58 - Microsoft’s revised deal with OpenAI: “It is a shift for us”
31:42 -The talent war and ‘Zuck’s’ pay packages
34:12 - Circular deals in AI: “Watching it carefully”
36:22 - “I really want to nail medical superintelligence”
37:36 - Suleyman on using AI for emotional support
40:21 - The UK lacks the “hustle culture” of Silicon Valley
42:13 - AI news reporters: “We’re exploring everything”

Watch this podcast here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLe4PRejZgr0Ns_wjGlmjlPz0cded0nTYS

You can find the written version of this interview with Mishal’s notes on Bloomberg Weekend: https://www.bloomberg.com/latest/weekend-interview

Contact The Mishal Husain Show [email protected]

Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

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Depending on who you talk to, AI is the key to remaking industries and jobs – or a bubble ripe to pop. And if you’re an investor, you’re already exposed.

So what’s the best strategy for investing in AI now? On today’s Big Take podcast, host Sarah Holder and Bloomberg personal finance reporter Suzanne Woolley talk to experts – ARK Invest’s Cathie Wood, Fidelity International’s Taosha Wang, Allspring Global Investments’ Michael Smith and Janus Henderson Investors’ Denny Fish – about coming AI investment waves and potential warning signs. 

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From rising costs to shifting markets, American farmers are struggling to make ends meet. Now, the White House is stepping in.

On today’s Big Take podcast, David Gura sits down with Bloomberg agriculture Reporter Erin Ailworth and a fifth-generation farmer to discuss President Trump’s $12 billion farm aid plan. What prompted the move, which sectors will be eligible and how ongoing tensions between the US and China have upended the market for certain crops and shifted how the US exerts its influence overseas.

Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-12-08/us-farmers-say-12-billion-bailout-won-t-end-industry-slump 

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On Wednesday, the Federal Open Market Committee cut rates by 25-basis points. It was the scenario a lot of close watchers of the Federal Reserve expected — but what comes after this Fed Meeting is an open question.

With President Trump poised to name Chair Jerome Powell’s replacement by early 2026, both markets and the Federal Reserve itself could start to look to Trump’s nominee for guidance. Kevin Hassett has emerged as the front-runner for the role, who currently serves as director on Trump’s Council of Economic Advisers.

On Today’s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg Economics’ Chief US Economist Anna Wong joins host Sarah Holder to break down the economic impact of the latest rate cut and what the Federal Reserve could look like next year if Hassett is nominated to succeed Powell.

Read more: Fed Cuts Rates With Three Dissents, Projects One Cut in 2026

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The US tariff war with China sent American companies scrambling to find alternative manufacturing hubs. India looked promising until the White House upended everything. 

On today’s Big Take Asia podcast, K. Oanh Ha heads to India, where she goes inside two toy factories scrambling to adapt to Washington’s shifting trade policies. How sky-high tariffs are undercutting India’s ambitions to take China’s crown as the world’s factory floor and forcing American manufacturers to make a tough choice. 

Read more: Cutting Ties With China Is Harder Than Companies Expected

Further listening: An American Toymaker Struggles to Break Up With China
The American Toymaker Suing Trump Over Destructive Tariffs

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After last month’s passage of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, the US Department of Justice is on the clock to release an enormous cache of documents related to convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

So what could be in the files? And what might the government hold back? 

On today’s Big Take, host David Gura is joined by Bloomberg investigative reporter Jason Leopold, who specializes in making government documents public and co-hosts Bloomberg’s Disclosure podcast. They talk through how the release could play out and how to parse the files once they’re available.

Subscribe to Jason’s FOIA Files newsletter and Disclosure podcast

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