More than $1 trillion has been wiped from the Crypto market in just six short weeks, but on The Business we hear from a man who still trusts Bitcoin more than any other currency. 

While many around the world fret about crypto crooks and markets that can be spooked by vibes alone, what’s it like to be ‘all in’ on Bitcoin? Andrew Webley, the founder and chief executive of the The Smarter Web Company, knows very well. He pivoted his web design agency into a so-called crypto treasury - that’s a company that holds digital assets as opposed to traditional treasury assets like cash or bonds. 

A long-time Bitcoin investor, Andrew was inspired by the approach of American crypto treasury evangelist Michael Saylor, and the billions he made through his bitcoin treasury company Strategy. The Smarter Web Company floated on the Aquis Stock Exchange in April this year, reaching a billion-pound market capitalisation in the summer. Now, despite the crypto slump, and his own company’s share price plunging by more than 70% since July, Andrew remains a steadfast believer in the future of Bitcoin, and the strength of his company.

Guests: 

• Andrew Webley, Smarter Web Company 

Hosts: 

• Hannah Prevett, Associate Business Editor, The Sunday Times
• Dominic O’Connell, columnist, The Times & business correspondent, Times Radio

Producer: Miriam Hall

Senior Producer: Julia Johnson

Development Editor: Sandra Shmueli

Executive Producer: Kate Ford

Get in touch: [email protected]

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

There are few things that are as fascinating, thrilling - and sometimes as completely confounding - as the stock market. Right now, that's as true as ever. Consider Nvidia, which became the world's first $5 trillion company last month - putting its value higher than the GDP of every country except the US and China. 

Is there a logic to it, or is this plain madness? To get a grip on the forces at play, Dom and Hannah explore some historical parallels, first with Andrew Ross Sorkin, New York-based financial journalist and author of the book 1929, which explores the market crash of that year. Plus, veteran investment analyst Stephen Clapham joins Dom and Hannah.

What can we learn from the market crashes of the past? Is there a brewing AI bubble about to pop? And are there some more troubling, lesser known stress points in the system? 

Guests: 

• Andrew Ross Sorkin, journalist and author of 1929: Inside the Greatest Crash in Wall Street History — and How It Shattered a Nation
• Stephen Clapham, veteran investment analyst and founder of Behind the Balance Sheet, an investment research and investor training consultancy 

Hosts: 

• Hannah Prevett, Associate Business Editor, The Sunday Times
• Dominic O’Connell, columnist, The Times & business reporter, Times Radio

You can buy the following books mentioned in this episode at the Times Bookshop:

• 1929 by Andrew Ross Sorkin
• Too big to fail by Andrew Ross Sorkin
• Nudge by Richard H. Thaler and Cass R Sunstein
• Engines that move markets by Alisdair Nairn

Producer: Miriam Hall

Senior Producer: Julia Johnson

Development Editor: Sandra Shmueli

Executive Producer: Kate Ford

Get in touch: [email protected]

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

This episode of The Business is sponsored by PwC.

All eyes are on Chancellor Rachel Reeves as she prepares her autumn Budget. There have been hints at manifesto-breaking tax increases as she warns that everyone will have to do their “bit for the security of our country and the brightness of its future.” But what could all that mean in practice for business? 

Barret Kupelian, UK Chief Economist at PwC and Claire Blackburn, PwC UK Head of Tax, join Dom and Hannah on this bonus episode to consider the choices the Chancellor is facing, what measures she might announce - and what they may indicate for Britain’s economic trajectory.    

Guests:

• Barret Kupelian, UK Chief Economist at PwC
• Claire Blackburn, PwC UK Head of Tax

Hosts:

• Hannah Prevett, Associate Business Editor, The Sunday Times
• Dominic O’Connell, columnist, The Times & business reporter, Times Radio

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

What is it like to have a window into the spending habits of 80 percent of British households? Alex Baldock knows very well. As the chief executive of Currys, he leads one of the nation’s biggest retailers, a job that involves overseeing hundreds of bricks and mortar stores across six countries - and some 24,000 employees.

Alex joins Hannah and Dom to talk about how a retail business survives - and thrives - in the era of one-click online shopping, why cyber attacks are a daily threat, and what he wants to see from Rachel Reeves's Budget. Plus, Black Friday and why the LED face mask has joined the air fryer as the must have item this Christmas. 

Guest: Alex Baldock, Chief Executive, Currys

Hosts: 

• Hannah Prevett, Associate Business Editor, The Sunday Times
• Dominic O’Connell, columnist, The Times & business reporter, Times Radio

Producer: Miriam Hall

Senior Producer: Julia Johnson

Development Editor: Sandra Shmueli

Executive Producer: Kate Ford

Get in touch: [email protected]

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

Labour has gone in hard with a big, bold promise - build 1.5 million homes over the course of this parliament. That means 300,000 homes a year, a target it is already failing to hit. In fact, just this week, Britain’s developers told the Office for Budget Responsibility the end-of-decade building goal will not be met, and its forecast for economic growth from homebuilding is far too optimistic. 

On this episode, Helen Gordon, the chief executive of Britain’s largest listed landlord, Grainger, makes the case for Build to Rent and addresses Labour’s attempts to fix this perennial problem: there aren’t enough homes to go around. She tells Hannah and Dom the current model for building affordable housing just doesn’t work, the public sector’s ability to deliver housing has been lost - and the private sector simply cannot fill the void alone. 

Guests: 

Helen Gordon, Chief Executive of Grainger plc

Melissa York, Assistant Property Editor, The Times and The Sunday Times

Hosts: 

• Hannah Prevett, Associate Business Editor, The Sunday Times
• Dominic O’Connell, columnist, The Times & business reporter, Times Radio

Producer: Miriam Hall

Senior Producer: Julia Johnson

Development Editor: Sandra Shmueli

Executive Producer: Kate Ford

Get in touch: [email protected]

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

It’s widely acknowledged that diversity is good for business, but white men still dominate the top echelons of UK companies. The pay gap, though narrowing, persists - and, across the workforce, men outearn women by 13%. So, fifty years after the Equal Pay Act came into force, why are some businesses still not taking it seriously? And what can companies do to fix it?

Guest: 

• Edwina Dunn, entrepreneur, founder, The Female Lead and author When She’s in the Room: How Empowering Women Empowers the World
• Heather Blundell, Chief Executive, Grayling

Hosts: 

• Hannah Prevett, Associate Business Editor, The Sunday Times
• Dominic O’Connell, columnist, The Times & business reporter, Times Radio

Producer: Miriam Hall

Senior Producer: Julia Johnson

Development Editor: Sandra Shmueli

Executive Producer: Kate Ford

Clips: BBC Archive

Photo: The Times

Get in touch: [email protected]

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

Vishal Marria is a homegrown business success story; a Balham local who took the leap from his secure job to launch his own company that is now worth over £2B - achieving that mythical unicorn status. His firm Quantexa, which uses AI to help companies make sense of big data, raised £140M earlier this year to make acquisitions and fund further expansion in the US - and now may be on the cusp of going public. 

So just how did he do it? Was it about the people he met along the way, or the work ethic installed working in his parents' cash and carry, or something entirely different? He joined Hannah & Dom to talk about the early days of “going all in”, bootstrapping the company with his own money and securing those crucial investors. Plus, amid growing fears about an AI bubble, and increasingly gloomy outlook for the state of British business he talks about the tensions between listing in New York and London - and Britain's future as a tech hub. 

Guest: Vishal Marria, Chief Executive Officer and Founder, Quantexa

Hosts: 

• Hannah Prevett, Associate Business Editor, The Sunday Times
• Dominic O’Connell, columnist, The Times & business reporter, Times Radio

Producer: Miriam Hall

Senior Producer: Julia Johnson

Development Editor: Sandra Shmueli

Executive Producer: Kate Ford

Photo: The Times

Get in touch: [email protected]

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

He's one of Britain's most successful industrialists and part-owner of Manchester United. Sir Jim Ratcliffe - regularly found near the top of the Sunday Times rich list with an estimated wealth of over £17bn - is the founder and CEO of the chemicals giant INEOS. So what's the future for his business? Why does he think Net Zero is a disaster? And how will he make Man United 'the most profitable club in the world'?

In the first episode of The Business, Associate Business Editor of The Sunday Times Hannah Prevett and Times columnist and Times Radio business presenter, Dominic O'Connell chew over it all.

Watch more:

• Sir Jim Ratcliffe on Manchester United, Farage and the future of British industry on our YouTube channel.
• This podcast on our YouTube channel.

Read more:

• Nigel Farage woos Ineos tycoon who called clean energy targets 'absurd'
• Collapse of chemical sector will put 1m jobs at risk
• I'm giving Amorim 3 years at Manchester United

Guest: Sir Jim Ratcliffe

Hosts: 

• Hannah Prevett, Associate Business Editor, The Sunday Times
• Dominic O’Connell, columnist, The Times & business reporter, Times Radio

Producer: Miriam Hall

Senior Producer: Julia Johnson

Development Editor: Sandra Shmueli

Executive Producer: Kate Ford

Photo: Getty Images

Get in touch: [email protected]

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

A new weekly podcast all about the world of business starts on Thursday 9th October. 

Today's biggest companies wield more influence than many countries. The people who run them are visionaries, philanthropists - and sometimes crooks. With new technologies and business opportunities emerging daily, never before has navigating this ever-changing landscape been more important. Uncovering the personalities, power plays, boardroom dramas and sheer ambition that drive the world of business, Hannah Prevett and Dominic O'Connell get the inside story from the people who are in the room when the deal goes down - from start-ups to tech titans, market movers to City CEOs. 

If you want to know what’s really going on, join Hannah and Dominic for The Business every Thursday.

Hannah Prevett is an expert voice on the tech sector, new enterprise and entrepreneurship. Associate business editor of The Sunday Times, Hannah understands the business world inside out. Her contacts include female founders, small business owners and the CEOs of some of the UK’s biggest companies. 

Dominic O’Connell is an award-winning business journalist, prized for his unmatched knowledge of markets and the corporate world. A Times columnist and Times Radio busines reporter, from a 1999 interview with a fractious Donald Trump, to conversations with leading CEOs, Dom has broken dozens of big stories and reported on booms, busts and boardroom dramas.  

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

A special extra episode for you from the daily podcast from The Times;

President Trump has ordered firms to stop doing business with social media giant TikTok over security concerns. Microsoft was the front-runner to buy the company, but now Twitter has emerged as a possible suitor. What has made the app so popular and so controversial? If you like this episode please rate and subscribe. Simply search for Stories of our times on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Acast or wherever you get your podcasts.

Guests: 

Danny Fortson Sunday Times west coast correspondent.

Host: Manveen Rana.

Clips used: NBC, Tik Tok, ABC Australian, Biteable, France 24, CNBC, Fox News, Huffington Post, ABC News.

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