I know what you’re thinking- the Swedish guy who built IKEA- kind of boring - right. But as regular listeners will know by now, I love business, not just the scandals or the high tension battles, but I love finding out how these huge businesses were built, because I know behind every big business is a fascinating entrepreneur, even if they appear outwardly boring- and that’s exactly how it is with Kamprad- this guy is was at one time the richest person in the world, yet at the very same time used teabags twice to save money, and and the way he built his business by not just focusing on cost- which was his obsession, but by watching everything, observing his customers, talking to his staff- it’s fascinating, and of course like every billionaire he had his controversies- it makes for a cracking story - enjoy

Regular listeners will know that I have a special grá as we’d say in Ireland or a love for the whole internet bubble era- it’s when I first got into business and it was such a wild time, and the yahoo story encapsulates this so brilliantly- 2 guys  working on a hobby and within just 4 years their hobby is worth $100 billion, helped in no small way by an unheard of $100 million investment from  Masayoshi Son of SoftBank, they turn down the opportunity to buy Google for just $1 million but do buy lots of other companies at crazy valuations- it’s a cracking story- enjoy. 

Soros’s life is extraordinary. A Jewish teenager who survived the Nazi occupation, fled communist Hungary with almost nothing, and went on to build one of the most remarkable investing careers in modern history.

We’re talking about some of the boldest trades ever made. In his most famous bet — the one that led to the label “the man who broke the Bank of England” — Soros personally made around $650 million.

But the money is only part of the story. He also gave away roughly $32 billion, becoming one of the most polarising figures in finance and politics.

And while we’ll touch on that controversy, this episode is really about the trades — how he thought, how he positioned, and why they were so extraordinary. I love this story

Enjoy.

Karp is, without question, one of the most unlikely, outspoken, and polarising CEOs in the world — a hyperactive, self-proclaimed neo-Marxist and a classical liberal who built Palantir, a software company involved in some of the most controversial government projects of the past two decades.That includes working with ICE, defence contracts with the Pentagon and the CIA, helping Ukraine hold off a Russian invasion, and supporting governments around the world during COVID, all the while building Palantir from zero into a company that today is worth $375 billion.It’s not a simple story. But it is a fascinating one.

 I borrowed the title from a Bloomberg article on Singer where they also described him as aggressive, tenacious and litigious to a fault. I’ve wanted to cover Singer and his firm Ellliott management event since I read the The Caesar’s Palace Coup and the book mainly deals with how Apollo the hedge fund, led by Leon Black who I also did an episode on a few months ago. The book shows how Apollo is the big beast on Wall Street and uses it’s reputation to intimidate other firms and creditors, except for 1 firm- Elliott management founded by Paul Singer. In this episode we find out how Paul Singer built Elliott to become the most powerful and feared activist hedge fund in the world- and feared not just by CEO’s and company boards, but also by countries. This really is a fascinating story- enjoy. 

This is a story I was completely enthralled by when it broke back in 1995. Leeson’s face was splashed across every newspaper in the days after he disappeared, having brought down Barings Bank by concealing massive losses and then trying to trade his way out of trouble — only to end up losing £827 million- about $1.3 billion.

It was nearly 30 years ago now, so I’d forgotten most of the details, which made revisiting it all the more fun. It’s a cracking story. Enjoy.

Like most of you, my perception of Parker was as a reckless party boy who somehow inserted himself into 3 of the most influential internet companies—Napster, Facebook and Spotify. Through the movie The Social Network, he's come to be seen as scheming and duplicitous. But that's not the guy I found when I dug deeper—the real Sean Parker is more nuanced and all the better for it. It's a cracking episode, enjoy.

This has been one of my favourite stories to research — because this story is just that good. It begins with a young engineer running a small construction company, he has an epiphany in the back of a New York taxi.

From there, it unfolds through boardroom upheavals, aggressively structured deals, and a long-term vision that never wavered. What sets Arnault apart isn't just the finance or tactics — it's the creativity you rarely see in a business titan.

It's a cracking story. Enjoy.

Promoted at just 26 to head AOL’s messaging platform, then spearheaded Facebook's growth helping to grow it from 15 million users to 840 million, buying 10% of the Golden State Warriors for just $25 million, being the public face of SPACs- a move that tarnished his reputation, co-hosting the massively popular All-In podcast, and just in the last few weeks, making billions from a very early AI investment- it’s a cracking story- enjoy. 

Here's a guy who won the equivalent of £350,000 on a horse race when he was just 16 years old, made international headlines at 21 for eloping with the daughter of one of the world's richest men, employed 400 people by the time he was 23, and went on to become one of the most ruthless and cunning corporate raiders in the US during the 80s, and then emerged in the 90s as one of the most prominent anti-globalisation and anti-EU voices, helping to lay the foundation for what would become Brexit. And all the while publicly juggling his time between his ex-wife, his current wife, and his mistress. It's a cracking story – enjoy.