Foundering

In 2014, WeWork told its investors that its next big thing would be a product called WeLive: a dorm-like apartment that applies the company's success in providing office space to the home life. Investors were told there would be 34 WeLive locations by the end of 2017; today, there are just two. This week on Decrypted, Bloomberg Technology's Ellen Huet spends five nights at a WeLive apartment in New York to figure out why growth has come so slow, and what that means for the future of this $20 billion startup.

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Back in May, we brought you an episode about the life of Japanese billionaire Masayoshi Son, who at that time had just raised his $93 billion tech fund. This week, we'll play you a wide-ranging conversation that Son had for a Bloomberg TV series called The David Rubenstein Show: Peer-to-Peer Conversations. Among the topics Son discusses: the dot-com crash in which he lost much of his wealth, the 45-minute conversation he had with one investor that led to a $45 billion commitment, and his vision for the future of humanity. 

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At the center of the crisis enveloping the world's most valuable startup is Uber's mounting legal problems: The ride-hailing giant today faces at least five criminal probes from the U.S. Justice Department, as well as dozens of lawsuits. This week, Bloomberg Technology's Eric Newcomer and Brad Stone explain how things got so bad. They'll also discuss the challenge ahead as the company's new CEO scrambles to get Uber back on stable footing.

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In 2015, Iran signed a landmark deal with global superpowers. An end to Iran's isolation pointed to a bright future for the country's budding tech scene -- but then, Donald Trump, a vocal critic of the nuclear agreement, won the U.S. presidency and once-eager foreign investors got spooked. This week on Decrypted, Bloomberg's Ladane Nasseri visits the founders of a homegrown e-commerce startup called Koodakoo as well as several other companies. These young entrepreneurs are awaiting Trump's next move -- and what his actions would mean for the future of their businesses -- as he threatens to renegotiate and even withdraw from the nuclear agreement. 

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Many of Silicon Valley's most celebrated companies build software -- but these days, the startup everyone's talking about is Stance, which makes socks. This week, Bloomberg Technology's Sarah McBride visits Stance to see why venture capitalists have poured $110 million into a business that has little to do with technology. 

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A devastating cyberattack on Equifax has compromised critically sensitive information on 143 million U.S. consumers. While we won't know the full repercussions for years, this week on Decrypted, Bloomberg Technology's Lizette Chapman explores the worst possible things that could happen to these people whose information was stolen. You may think that identity theft ends after a couple canceled credit cards, but Lizette speaks to victims who spent years rebuilding their shattered finances and lives. Lizette and Brad also outline what you can do right now to protect yourself -- although nothing can guarantee complete safety on today's internet. 

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As news continues to break about Russia's attempts to influence and hack the U.S. election, this week we're re-airing an episode from 2016 about how investigators traced the breach of the Democratic National Committee's email servers to Russian spies. At the end of the episode, Brad and Bloomberg Technology's Jordan Robertson discuss everything that's happened since then. 

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Despite tremendous advances over the last decade, electric cars have yet to go mainstream. Even once Tesla ramps up production of its Model 3 cars, one obstacle will remain: a lack of infrastructure lining America's roads. This week on Decrypted, Bloomberg Technology's Pia Gadkari dives deep into the companies, led by Tesla, that are trying to tackle this problem -- by pouring millions of dollars into building a network of charging stations. 

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In China, parents are desperately seeking good teachers for their children. A number of local tech startups are meeting that demand; one is even connecting them with American tutors halfway across the world. This week, Bloomberg Technology's Peter Elstrom explores VIPKid's data-driven approach to online tutoring, to see what it means for Chinese students, as well as the U.S. teachers who are finding a new source of employment.

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The year is 2005, the company is Apple. The iPod is a smash hit, but then-CEO Steve Jobs decides it's time to cannibalize the company's star product with a gamble: a smartphone. A decade after those phones reached the hands of the first consumers and changed the history of computing, Bloomberg Technology's Mark Gurman goes deep behind the scenes with the people who raced to get that original iPhone ready. On the eve of the product's unveiling, a crisis almost derailed the entire project. Mark and Brad also discuss the various features that people can expect from the iPhone 8, which Apple's set to announce next month.

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