Business History
Business History
Playlist by Business HistoryIt’s the history of business. How did Hitler’s favorite car become synonymous with hippies? What got Thomas Edison tangled up with the electric chair? Did someone murder the guy who invented the movie…12 clip(s) in playlist
Hitler's Gift to the Hippies: The VW Beetle Story Part I
The VW Beetle was the biggest selling car of all time - and it found particular favor with people like hippies and surfers. But this icon of the 60s counterculture had its roots in Nazism. The Volkswagen - the People's Car - was an obsession of Adolf Hitler. He wanted to transform Germany into a la…
33:48
How Jim Simons Built a Machine That Beat the Market
Jim Simons loved cigarettes and math. He started out as an academic mathematician and a Cold War code breaker - but decided to use his skills to write computer programs to spot investment opportunities in the financial markets. Simons and his fierce nerds bought up all the data sets they could fi…
43:51
From Part-Time Genius: 9 Wonderful Wintertime Inventions
Today, we're sharing an episode of a show that loves asking questions just as much as we do. It's called Part-Time Genius and it's hosted by fellow knowledge junkies, Will Pearson and Mangesh Hattikudur. The episode you're about to hear delves into the surprising origins of 9 wintertime inventions.…
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Old Warren Buffett: "Never Invest in a Business You Cannot Understand"
Young Warren Buffett became rich in anonymity - but in the 1980s he became a global star. During the excesses of 1980s Wall Street the middle-aged investor was reluctantly drawn into the spotlight to save troubled companies. And then came tech - which suited Buffett's style even less. Warren Buf…
40:53
Young Warren Buffett: How to Find Value No One Else Can See
Warren Buffett rose from obscurity to become the richest person in the world - and he did it in a unique way. As a boy in Omaha he collected information obsessively - writing down car license numbers and hoarding bottle caps. As a young man, Buffett turned his focus on scouring business accounts to…
43:49
How to Make Billions When the Bubble Bursts: Lessons from 1929
The stock market was once a Wild West free-for-all. There were few rules or regulations. Investors were more or less gambling, or manipulating stocks to make a profit. This is the world Jesse Livermore came to dominate. He would often bet against the market, making money when businesses failed. B…
47:58
The Man who Sued Major League Baseball (Rather than go to Philly)
Curt Flood was the best center fielder in baseball and one of the game's highest payed players. He helped the St Louis Cardinals reach the 1968 World Series... but then got traded. The rules said he had no say in the decision. He either could go to Philly, or quit the sport. So Curt decided to sue.…
51:32Clean
Edison and the Movie Murder Mystery (The Edison Story Part 3)
The man who invented the movie camera got on a train in France in 1890 and was never seen again. The wife of Louis Le Prince thought she knew who’d ordered her husband’s disappearance and presumed murder - Thomas Alva Edison. Many people were simultaneously racing to develop moving pictures - so h…
53:06
Edison, Tesla and the Electric Chair (The Edison Story Part 2)
Thomas Edison didn’t invent the lightbulb, but he created something more important: the grid. Edison's system of power plants and wires brought lightbulbs to homes and offices and revolutionized modern life. Edison was adamant that direct current (DC) should power America, and attacked competitors…
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The Edison Invention People Don't Talk About (The Edison Story Part 1)
Thomas Alva Edison helped transform America and the world. He registered over one thousand patents before he died in 1931 - and we can thank him for advances in electric power, communications technology, music recording and even the movies. But his biggest breakthrough doesn't get nearly enough att…
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