Business

Business History

It’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 movies? Former Planet Money hosts Jacob Goldstein and Robert Smith examine the surprising stories of businesses big and small and find out what you can learn from those who founded them.

Latest Episodes:

Sam the Banana Man: Gunboats, Coups, and United Fruit Oct 14, 2026

Show notes

In the late 1800s, a Russian immigrant named Samuel Zemurray spent nearly everything he had on a load of bananas, and turned it into a fortune. But Sam the Banana Man wasn’t just a business titan. He was a puppeteer on the geopolitical stage, bankrolling a revolution in Honduras and pushing the CIA to overthrow Guatemala’s democratically elected leader.

For decades, Zemurray battled the United Fruit Company, an institution with its tentacles in governments across the Americas — including the United States. In the end, he wound up running the company.

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Blockers | A Preview of Michael Lewis's New Audiobook Oct 07, 2026

Show notes

We're here with a preview of Blockers, a new audiobook from Michael Lewis, the author of Liars Poker, Moneyball, The Big Short and more. In Blockers, Lewis tells the story of a handful of people who dedicated their careers to public service—until the Department of Government Efficiency decided they were a problem. These were people who believed they had a calling—people who kept American's sensitive tax data out of the wrong hands, made sure that politicians and civil servants played by the rules, and figured out how to stop wildfires from destroying suburban neighborhoods—and then discovered they were no longer wanted.

Here's an excerpt from the audiobook. You can buy the audiobook exclusively at blockers.fm.

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Hitler's Gift to the Hippies: The VW Beetle Story Part I – Rerun Sep 30, 2026

Show notes

Business History is off this week, so we wanted to keep you entertained with a rerun, in case you missed our Beetle episode the first time around. (You can help us win a Signal Award for this episode by voting here.)

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 land of drivers - and needed an affordable, but reliable automobile.

Germany's private auto manufacturers knew the project was doomed to failure. So Hitler assembled a team of designers and factory managers to enact his vision - even if that meant enslaving workers and committing murder.

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King of the Roll-Ups: The Man Who Created a Trash Empire, Then Built Blockbuster Video Sep 23, 2026

Show notes

Wayne Huizenga came from a long line of trash collectors. It was a rough, fragmented, mom-and-pops business which notoriously attracted mobsters. But Huizenga set out to buy his small competitors - to roll them up - to form the biggest waste management firm in the world.

Huizenga bought up rival companies at a furious pace - several per week - and when he tired of the trash business he looked for something new. In the 80s, video stores also tended to be mom 'n pops outfits. Huizenga spotted that there was a golden opportunity to consolidate the rental industry, so used roll ups to build the giant Blockbuster Video chain.

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How Warren Buffet Built His Legacy By Finding Value No One Else Could See – Rerun Sep 18, 2026

Show notes

With the news of Warren Buffett stepping down as chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, we are revisiting an episode from our two-part series on Buffet.

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 find companies that had hidden value no one else could spot.

We tell the story of young Warren Buffett as he quietly worked building up the expertise and accumulating the wealth that would allow him to become the most famous investor of our age.

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Herman Petty's Dream: The Struggles of the First Black American to Own a McDonald's Sep 16, 2026

Show notes

Herman Petty was a Chicago barber and bus driver who dreamed of running his own business. When his local McDonald's restaurant was abandoned in 1968, Herman approached the company and said he should be the first black American to be given a hamburger franchise.

Herman and other black pioneers faced unique problems running McDonald's in America's inner cities - but their businesses soon flourished and they fought to make the burger giant listen to its black franchisees and customers.

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The Battle of Fort Frick and the Anarchist Assassin Sep 09, 2026

Show notes

Concluding our story of Andrew Carnegie's effort to break the unions at his Homestead steel factory, we look at how the plant boss Henry Clay Frick enlisted a private army of Pinkerton detectives to confront the steel workers. Gunfire erupts and there are deaths on both sides.

The so-called battle of "Fort Frick" seems to go the way of the unions - until a young anarchist comes to town hoping to piggyback on the unrest to further his goal of sparking a revolution. He finds a way into Frick's office... and he comes armed with a pistol and a knife.

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Andrew Carnegie's War with his Workers Sep 02, 2026

Show notes

In the first of two shows about the fight between the richest man and the unions at his Homestead steel plant - we look at why Andrew Carnegie decided that his workforce deserved a smaller share of his profits and the lengths he went to to cut their wages.

Carnegie grew up in poverty and publicly proclaimed that rich moguls such as he had a duty to aid the poor - but that didn't stop him using every weapon at his disposal to crush the steel workers' union. The fight got violent - very violent - and its ripples are still being felt to this day.

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George Washington’s Trusted Tavern Guide: The Birth of the User Review Aug 26, 2026

Show notes

When America’s first president set off to tour his new country, he had no idea where to stay. George Washington slept in some taverns he described as dirty and grim, but also stayed at some delightful inns. In the 1790s, there was no way for travellers to share tips on the nice places to sleep and those to avoid.

Fast forward to today and the rise of peer-to-peer services where we book a car ride, rent a vacation home or bid in an online auction, and the same trust problem occurs. How do we know we can rely on a vendor we’ve never met? And how can we praise good customer service with a glowing recommendation? That's why the user review was created.

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The DeLorean Saga: Fraud, Drug Deals and Marty McFly's Car Aug 19, 2026

Show notes

This is a special crossover episode with Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford.

John DeLorean was a top car executive - but he was too maverick to fit into the oppressive corporate culture of GM. He wanted to make a new and exciting sports car - a futuristic stainless steel marvel with distinctive gull-wing doors (which found fame in Back to the Future). He just needed someone to give him millions of dollars to get started.

The British government agreed to foot the bill, but only if DeLorean built his factory in a troubled part of Northern Ireland. The cars coming off the production line were beset with problems and sales slowed down. Company finances were also strained by DeLorean's spendthrift ways and brazen theft. Finally, someone offered DeLorean a lifeline if only he'd come in on a cocaine deal.

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