Slate Business

Since its founding in the 1920s, McKinsey has become the gold standard for management consulting. But as its business grew, so did America’s wealth gap. Is that a coincidence?

Podcast production by Heba Elorbany and Jess Miller with help from Asha Saluja.

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Epic Games changed the world of gaming with its smash hit, Fortnite. But for founder Tim Sweeney, Fortnite was a culmination of everything he had learned since he received his first computer at age 11.

Podcast production by Jess Miller and Asha Saluja.

Slate Plus members get ad-free podcasts and bonus episodes of shows like Dear Prudence and Slow Burn. Sign up now to listen and support our work.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Although it’s known for making products for women, Victoria’s Secret was created as a shopping experience for men. It hit its stride in the 1990s, with stores in malls across America and a brand built on a very specific kind of fantasy: supermodels, angel wings, and diamond-studded bras. But when this definition of glamour—and retail— began to fall out of fashion, Victoria’s Secret refused to budge. Now, its future is in jeopardy.

Casey Crowe Taylor is a former Victoria’s Secret employee. Heidi Zak is the co-founder and CEO of ThirdLove.

Podcast production by Jess Miller, Asha Saluja, and Megan Kallstrom.

Slate Plus members get ad-free podcasts and bonus episodes of shows like Dear Prudence and Slow Burn. Sign up now to listen and support our work.

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Before this pandemic, the story of Purell was mostly about innovation -- inventing something people needed before they realized they needed it. Now, it’s a story about something every business executive dreams of -- a sudden influx of customers desperate to get their hands on your product.  

But when demand surges so fast that the leading brand can’t produce enough of it, it results in scarcity and price gouging... and other companies jump in to fill the gap. When life returns to some level of normalcy, will the makers of Purell discover that this moment has birthed a whole raft of new competitors? And will there still be enough unclean hands to go around?

David Owen is a staff writer at The New Yorker. Matt Cunningham is co-founder of Old Glory Distilling Co. in Clarksville, TN.

Podcast production by Jess Miller.

Slate Plus members get ad-free podcasts and bonus episodes of shows like Dear Prudence and Slow Burn. Sign up now to listen and support our work.

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For decades, Carnival Corporation has successfully sold affordable luxury to passengers, becoming the largest cruise ship business in the world. 

The reason why a vacation at sea can be so inexpensive has to do with both the vision of Carnival’s founder and the historical origins of the cruise industry itself. But that affordability can also come with unpleasant consequences. Now, the entire industry’s future has been thrown into doubt by a deadly virus.

Cindel Pena was a passenger onboard Carnival’s headline-making “poop cruise.” Ross Klein is a cruise industry expert and professor at Memorial University of Newfoundland. Jim Walker is a Miami-based maritime lawyer and publisher of Cruise Law News.

Podcast production by Jess Miller and Asha Saluja.

Slate Plus members get ad-free podcasts and bonus episodes of shows like Dear Prudence and Slow Burn. Sign up now to listen and support our work.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Navigating the marketplace is your original choose-your-own adventure. Thrilling Tales of Modern Capitalism takes a company in the news, and looks at its history to figure out why it finds itself in its present circumstances. Host Seth Stevenson brings you stories you may not have heard about the brands that shape how you live and work. And whether they’ve succeeded or failed, these companies have been on more of an adventure than you may have imagined.

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