Corporate Gossip

ANOTHER BONUS EPISODE! Becca & Adam talk to Evan Drellich, the author of Winning Fixes Everything: How Baseball's Brightest Minds Created Sports' Biggest Mess

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America's pastimes: Baseball and Fraud!

What happens when a bunch of fleece-vested jabronis take over a Major League Baseball team? Becca and Adam hop the fence at the stadium formerly known as Enron field and bring you the tea from the front-office of the Houston Astros.

Two years after the Astros won the World Series, the Athletic dropped a bombshell: the team had cheated. The public fallout was swift - fines were levied, rules were changed, and championships were threatened. The players and coaches bore the brunt of the blame, while the true schemers at the root of the scandal evaded scrutiny. That is until a group of tenacious reporters uncovered how Astros leadership were infected by the MBA-pilled corporate villains at McKinsey.

If you listened to our episode on McKinsey you know what happens next. Values were trashed as profits were maxed by any means possible. Ultimately, the Astros clubhouse became an environment where cheating was acceptable. Because after all, Winning Fixes Everything.

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Read Winning Fixes Everything: How Baseball's Brightest Minds Created Sports' Biggest Mess

Watch The Astros Edge

The Astros opened baseball ops to McKinsey consultants, from scouting to R&D and the farm

The Astros stole signs electronically in 2017 — part of a much broader issue for Major League Baseball

If you thought Sumner Redstone was a degenerate, just WAIT until you meet his pervy protege, Les Moonves!

CBS CEO Les Moonves, aka "Mr. TV" is one of the most powerful men in Hollywood. He transformed CBS from a sleepy granny network into a ratings powerhouse with shows like Survivor, Big Brother, Criminal Minds, and The Big Bang Theory. The business part of this story is one Cheezy Blaster away from being a 30 Rock episode. The action behind closed doors on the other hand, feels more like Law & Order: SVU.

CW: Sexual abuse

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Read Unscripted: The Epic Battle for a Media Empire and the Redstone Family Legacy

Les Moonves' spectacular rise before his fall from grace

Why Sumner Redstone's men; Leslie Moonves and Philippe Dauman; made a king's ransom

Les Moonves and CBS Face Allegations of Sexual Misconduct

Paramount+'s Existential Questions

Leslie Moonves Fined $11K by L.A. City Ethics Commission for His Role in LAPD Scandal

The Paramount / Viacom story is just like Bravo's Summer House, but SCARIER!

Our main character, Paramount CEO Sumner Redstone, is a horny teenager trapped in the body of a crusty old billionaire. At 92, despite being barely conscious, he was still chairman of TWO publicly traded companies.This real life Weekend at Bernie's scheme was made possible by a group of executive-level lowlifes who took advantage of their absent boss and enriched themselves at the expense of shareholders. It wasn't until a group of unlikely heroes exposed the elder abuse taking place at Sumner's mansion that someone finally pulled the plug. But by then, the stench emanating from the geriatric bachelor pad was too strong for even the most devoted Paramount / Viacom supporters to ignore.

Join Becca and Adam as they tell the story of the unlikely rise and fall of Sumner Redstone and Paramount Global.

CW: Elder abuse, Sexual abuse

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Read Unscripted: The Epic Battle for a Media Empire and the Redstone Family Legacy

The Cringey Sexcapades of a Horny Billionaire

Who Controls Sumner Redstone?

Viacom Is Having A Midlife Crisis

Spring Owl Activist Investor Deck

Insys was the startup unicorn of the opioid crisis, and boy did they know how to party.

Becca & Adam meet Insys CEO John Kapoor and his rowdy band of crooked pharmaceutical reps as they slither their way through doctors offices across the country, pushing their marquee product: Fentanyl! The shady sales reps unleashed the powerful opioid on unsuspecting patients and bribed their doctors to increase dosages through an illegal kickback scheme. Eventually their shameless conspiracies and criminal shakedowns lead to a public meltdown and federal racketeering charges, but not before Kapoor could be crowned Forbes coverboy!

CW: Drug abuse

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The Pain Hustlers - NYT Expose

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An Opioid Spray Showered Billionaire John Kapoor In Riches. Now He's Feeling The Pain

A potent painkiller, and the drug maker's marketing, are faulted in a woman's death

Pharmaceutical Executive John Kapoor Sentenced To 66 Months In Prison In Opioid Trial

Tracking the Opioid Settlement Cash

IT'S A BONUS EPISODE, BROTHER!

Becca and Adam talk with the author of Ringmaster, Josie Riesman

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Josie's article mentioned in the interview: Wrestling turned me cis, then it turned me trans

Welcome back brother!! Season 4 is here and ready to SMACKDOWN! WWE style.

Binge ALL of Season 4 NOW on Patreon!

We've seen this story before - a deeply traumatized child inherits their father's business and fills the void left by the adults that failed them with, what else… MONEY!!!! Rather than spend time examining his emotional shortcomings, Vince McMahon creates an alter ego, Mr. McMahon, to live out his darkest fantasies. But what happens when the CEO of a public company is also the greatest heel of all time? Find out as Becca and Adam step into the Hell in a Cell of the business of professional wrestling and battle through 60 years of the stinkiest secrets of World Wrestling Entertainment.

CW: Drugs, Sexual Abuse

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Read Ringmaster by Josie Riesman

Now It Can Be Told: Those Pro Wrestlers Are Just Having Fun

2003 Vince McMahon on Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel

Federal Prosecutors Investigate Vince McMahon Sex-Trafficking Allegations

It's the Season 3 Finale! We answer listener questions and meet the Yogurt King of New York: Chobani's founder, Hamdi Ulkaya. From nomadic Turkish farmer to millionaire milk mogul, Ulkaya became known as the Anti-CEO, prioritizing people over profit and creating one of the fastest growing food companies in America.

Correction: We said the Chobani Idaho factory was in Idaho falls. It is actually in Twin Falls. Thanks to the listener who pointed that out!

If you liked this season don't forget to RATE AND REVIEW THE PODCAST

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Hosts: Becca Platsky ([email protected]) Adam Platsky ([email protected])

Produced by: Michael Albanese @bigmanmike

Support the pod by buying us a coffee

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Follow us on youtube, instagram, and tiktok

Hosts: Becca Platsky ([email protected]) Adam Platsky ([email protected])

Produced by: Michael Albanese @bigmanmike

Timestamps & Links:

01:30 - Listener Questions

• How did you guys come up with this idea for the podcast?
• What's the best / juiciest piece of corporate gossip that didn't make the cut?
• Why are your seasons so short? I would pay for a subscription to get a weekly episode until the end of time!
• I'm a final year student in finance and I'm worried I have made a terrible mistake studying this degree, as it seems that corporations mostly cause more harm than [good], and benefits an elite few. is there any field you would recommend where I could use my degree for good? Is there a way that finance can be a force for good?
• Given the intricate web of corporate scandals involving entities like FTX, McKinsey, Koch Industries, SVB, etc. I'm curious to know: What common threads or distinct patterns have you observed across these cases, and how do these scandals reflect broader issues within the corporate landscape?
• Have there been any surprising twists or unique aspects in these stories that stand out to you guys, providing deeper insights into the world of corporate misconduct

18:00 - Chobani's Anti CEO

Links:

The Profile Dossier: Hamdi Ulukaya, the Shepherd-Turned-Billionaire CEO

Chobani CEO says pulling IPO was one of the best decisions company has made

Chobani hired hundreds of refugees at its plants. Average tenure now exceeds industry average

Chobani's CEO is giving up to 10 percent of his company to employees

Capitalism and Humanitarianism Can Coexist. Chobani's CEO Is Trying to Prove It

In 2017 Carlos Ghosn was on top of the world, he was a Japanese national hero, renowned for bringing Nissan back to life from the brink of failure. His face was on the cover of magazines, his story was depicted in Manga, he even carried the torch at the Olympics in his home country of Brazil. His sudden arrest in 2018 for financial crimes was an unexpected twist in his story that made him the center of international intrigue. As extraordinary as his life had become, no one could have imagined what would come next...

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Hosts: Becca Platsky ([email protected]) Adam Platsky ([email protected])

Produced by: Michael Albanese @bigmanmike

Timestamps:

5:40 - CG#1: Carlos Ghosn joins the growing number of wayward CEOs with daddy issues

9:15 - CG#2: Meet carlos's car daddy: Francois Michilin

17:40 - CG#3: It's time for Carlos' Makover montage!

31:25 - CG#4: Carlos Ghosn enters his dwight schrute era

36:50 - CG#5: Ghosn follows the CEO playbook - time for an ostentatious company sponsored personal party that definitely will have no negative PR implications whatsoever

49:00 - CG#6: All Partied out!!

52:33 - CG#7: What do they say? You either die a hero or live long enough to be smuggled out of Japan in an equipment box?

56:30 - CG#7: What do they say? You either die a hero or live long enough to be smuggled out of Japan in an equipment box?

Becca is joined by Corporate Gossip startup correspondent Aaron Cohn to dip our tube-socked toes into the FTX trial. We meet Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), a rumpled 28-year-old-grown-adult-boy-genius who built a $40 billion crypto empire in less than three years. But his meteoric rise to crypto kingpin was followed quickly by his fall to the bottom of shit-coin mountain. And now, SBF is facing up to 115 years in federal prison for fraud.

Check "build a website" off your to-do list with realnice website builder!

Pictures & links on our substack

Support the pod by buying us a coffee

Check out our reading list

Follow us on youtube, instagram, and tiktok

Hosts: Becca Platsky ([email protected]) Adam Platsky ([email protected])

Produced by: Michael Albanese @bigmanmike

Timestamps:

17:40 - Corporate Gossip #1: Sam Bankman Fried raises $420.69m from 69 founders in a "meme" funding round and raises zero red flags

33:45 - Corporate Gossip #2: This guy can't be a criminal… I mean, come on, have you ever seen a criminal in wrinkly cargo shorts???

45:00 - Corporate Gossip #3: To the moon!

50:00 - Corporate Gossip #4: FTX: Fraud on top of shit mountain

1:09:40 - Corproate Gossip #5: When people stop being polite, and start getting indicted

1:13:30 - Corporate Gossip #6: Will the Smol bean / Widdle baby defense work for Sam?