The Business

The city by the bay is ground zero of the tech revolution, but it has taken a dystopic turn. We dive inside San Francisco, where there are more billionaires per square foot than anywhere on the planet, but also more injection drug user than high school students. Families are fleeing; homelessness is soaring. We examine what the city can tell us about our techno-centric present - and the future.  

In this new eight-part series, the Sunday Times' technology correspondent Danny Fortson tells the story of the valley through portraits of key players through its short history. 

DIVE DEEPER

• Longform interviews on Danny's sister podcast, Danny In The Valley
• Read Danny's longform commentary on the series at thetimes.co.uk

Produced by Cheeka Eyers at Rethink Audio for Wireless Studios and The Sunday Times. Matt Hall is the executive producer for Wireless Studios.

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

Michael and Xochi Birch launch Bebo, one of the first social networks, and ride it to extraordinary heights before it all comes crashing down. In the conclusion to this two-part story, we tell of the rise and collapse of Bebo, and how the Birches become billionaires anyway. 

In this new eight-part series, the Sunday Times' technology correspondent Danny Fortson tells the story of the valley through portraits of key players through its short history. 

DIVE DEEPER

• longform interviews on Danny's sister podcast, Danny In The Valley
• read Danny's longform commentary on the series at thetimes.co.uk

Produced by Cheeka Eyers at Rethink Audio for Wireless Studios and The Sunday Times. Matt Hall is the executive producer for Wireless Studios.

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

Michael and Xochi Birch launched Bebo, one of the first social networks. They sold it at the height of the market for $850 million to AOL Time Warner. Two years later, AOL sold it again - for $1. In a two-part podcast, we tell the Bebo story: its extraordinary rise, the fall, and how the Birches made away with the GDP of a small nation.

In this new eight-part series, the Sunday Times' technology correspondent Danny Fortson tells the story of the valley through portraits of key players through its short history. 

DIVE DEEPER

• longform interviews on Danny's sister podcast, Danny In The Valley
• read Danny's longform commentary on the series at thetimes.co.uk

Produced by Cheeka Eyers at Rethink Audio for Wireless Studios and The Sunday Times. Matt Hall is the executive producer for Wireless Studios.

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

Nolan Bushnell arrived in Silicon Valley in 1968 - and changed it forever. He started Atari, launched the video game industry, gave Steve Jobs his first job, and created the wild, convention-defying model of the modern tech executive that everyone from Jobs to Mark Zuckerberg has followed.

In this new eight-part series, the Sunday Times' technology correspondent Danny Fortson tells the story of the valley through portraits of key players through its short history. 

DIVE DEEPER

• longform interviews on Danny's sister podcast, Danny In The Valley
• read Danny's longform commentary on the series at thetimes.co.uk

Produced by Cheeka Eyers at Rethink Audio for Wireless Studios and The Sunday Times. Matt Hall is the executive producer for Wireless Studios.

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