Corporate Gossip

Latest Episodes:

Facebook Part 2: Mark Zuckerberg & The Curse Of The Baby Bangs May 03, 2025

Show notes

For bonus content and discussions on each episode join us on Patreon

We wrap up this absolute UNIT of a two part episode by examining the Facebook story by stepping into our proverbial blue sequined rompers and seeing the world behind Mark Zuckberg's baby bangs. BUCKLE UP as Becca and Adam try to figure out - did the accumulation of unchecked power and extraordinary wealth over 20 years take ice cream scoops out of Mark Zuckerberg's brain? OR did his unique position on top of business boy mountain give him the freedom to reveal the curly-haired gremlin that was always hiding within??

Links:

Pics from the episode

The Zuckerberg Files

It's Time to Break Up Facebook

How Mark Zuckerberg Led Facebook's War to Crush Google Plus

Mark Zuckerberg Apparently Didn't Tell Congress the Whole Truth About Facebook

An Ugly Truth

Careless People

Good News: Inside a Union's Fight Against Trump's Federal Job Cuts

Got good news? Email our Good News Correspondent elizabethliu526@gmail.com

Facebook Part 1: Sheryl Sandberg & The Curse of the BOB Apr 18, 2025

Show notes

For bonus content and discussions on each episode join us on Patreon

If Sheryl Sandberg & Mark Zuckerberg never encountered one another at a Christmas party in Atherton in 2007 would the world have been a better place? Find out as we go ALLL the way back and trace the story of Sheryl Sandberg's Dr. Frankenstein and her Mark Zuckerberg monster.

Was there sexual tension between the two of them (no one explicitly has said that but I PICKED UP ON A FEW THINGS!)??. Were either of them good people who were corrupted? Or were they destined to seek power and destroy once they reached the top? What about now? Do they feel ashamed about the lives they've destroyed, directly or indirectly? Do they hate themselves more than we could ever hate them? Are there ANY heroes in this story at all? What do you think?!

Links:

Pics from the episode

Why Sheryl Sandberg Quit Facebook's Meta

"When You Get That Wealthy, You Start to Buy Your Own Bullshit": The Miseducation of Sheryl Sandberg

An Ugly Truth

Careless People

Got good news? Email our Good News Correspondent elizabethliu526@gmail.com

Bonus! Charlie Javice vs. PeePaw: The Final Chapter Mar 27, 2025

Show notes

This was going to be a Patreon exclusive but I decided to make it free for everyone! If you want to support this indie podcast, consider joining the Patreon. You'll get bonus content twice a month, discussion posts with me and other members, and extra juciy content that didn't make the cut on regular episodes!

The jury is now deliberating! What do you think? Guilty or Not Guilty?

At the closing arguments of US vs. Charlie Javice, aka the Jose Baez oral rollercoaster. WEEE!!! Highlights include:

The Monopoly Man is ACTUALLY J.P. Morgan
Jamie Dimons "widdle baby" defense
A scorned bank employee hopes to save bank daddies reputation
As always, hyper realistic drawings that bring you into the belly of the lower Manhattan District Courthouse

Etsy: Hipster Bambi vs. VC Villains Mar 21, 2025

Show notes

In 2007, the mecca of hipster paradise was the Etsy headquarters in Brooklyn. Etsy epitomized elder-millennial quirk with a sprinkle of digital delusion, and no one personified the vibes quite like their CEO and founder, Rob Kalin.

But while Kalin and his friends were building a crafters utopia, a ruthless venture capitalist had another plan for the company: destroy it from the inside out and get SUPER rich doing it.

Join the Patreon for bonus episodes and discussion!

Pictures now on Patreon (no paywall!)

Links:

Etsy Wants to Crochet Its Cake, and Eat It Too

Etsy Was a Twee Culture Punchline. Now It's a Wall Street Darling.

Etsy CEO says company is escaping 'race to the bottom' and getting back to its artisan roots

Charlie Javice & The Frank Fraud: Barely Legal Mar 07, 2025

Show notes

Please share this podcast with a friend!

Charlie Javice is another Forbes 30-under-30 uber-genius-startup-founder (see: SBF, Elizabeth Holmes, or Carlos Watson) who spent about 18 months in the warm center of the venture capital fake-it-till-you-make-it circle jerk before the sisal rug gets pulled out from under her. Once she was exposed as a total phony, every investor immediately covered their own ass and scrub the internet of any trace of themselves slobbering all over her. But one investor, JP Morgan's Jamie Dimon, took it a step further, and (in our opinion) weaponized the United States Justice Department to punish Javice for embarrassing him infront of his big bank friends!!!

Pictures from this episode on Substack

We're an indie podcast supported by listeners like you! Support us by joining the Patreon, and get two bonus episodes every month! I'm also covering the trial in more detail over there.

Got an idea for a good news story? Send an email to our good news correspondant elizabethliu526@gmail.com

Links:

USA v. Javice

How Charlie Javice Got JPMorgan to Pay $175 Million for … What Exactly?

Charlie Javice, Millennial CEO Sued by JPMorgan, Was a 'Namedropping' Cool Boss

The 8 Most Confusing Things About FAFSA

Jamie Dimon Says Frank Acquisition 'Was A Huge Mistake' After JP Morgan Alleges Millions Of Fake Customers

eBay: Dorkfellas Feb 22, 2025

Show notes

This is an episode for our true crime lovers! we're talking about a 2019 GANG STALKING SCANDAL that involves the executives at a fortune 500 company criminally stalking a sweet old couple. What made these executives so mad? The chief executives at Ebay so deeply butthurt about a comment the couple made on their niche ecommerce blog that they crashed-out into a goodfellas-esque, rage fueled paranoid spiral, and orchestrated a highly illegal stalking and harassment campaign against them.

Pics on Substack

Join us over on Patreon for bonus episodes twice a month. Right now I'm also attending the trial of Charlie Javice and providing regular debriefs from the courtroom. We are a 100% ad-free community supported podcast!

Links from today's episode (let us know if you need gift links)

Elliott Management letter puts eBay on notice to improve stock performance

Inside eBay's Cockroach Cult: The Ghastly Story of a Stalking Scandal

S ilicon Valley elite defend nonprofit CEO with dark past - San José Spotlight

A Special Message for EcommerceBytes Readers

JUUL: Puff Daddies Feb 07, 2025

Show notes

Please share this podcast with a friend :)

PLUS good news about a health care strike in Oregon!

We emerge from the vapor haze of a high school bathroom (how are these kids blowing PERFECT smoke rings??) to tell the tale of two Stanford grads who did what every single-celled-business-ameoba-boy dreamed of doing but was too scared to actually commit to doing - MAKE SMOKING COOL AGAIN!! They undid decades of work by doctors and public health advocates and turned millions of kids who would have never smoked a traditional cigarette into nicotine dependent freakazoids. CA-CHING!!

Riddled with RAGING CASES of silliconvalleyitis, Juul's founders market their powerful nicotine delivery device straight to kids while the FDA was taking a well-deserved half-decade nap. They BLITZSCALED their way to a $38billion valuation and made like 50 people a lot of money.

But of course, after the BLITZSCALE comes the HYPERFLOP...

Research:

The Devil's Playbook by Lauren Etter

Big Vape by Jamie DuCharme

Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. JUUL Labs

The Juul Is Too Cool

How Juul Got Vaporized

Links:

See pics on our Substack

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Support the pod by buying us a coffee

Record YOUR podcast at Producer Mike's studio!

E-mail our Good News Correspondent with good news stories! elizabethliu526@gmail.com

23&Me (&Anne&Sergey&Elon) + State of the pod Jan 24, 2025

Show notes

We're BACK and starting off with an absolute banger! Sit back and enjoy the messy escapades of a bunch of horned up teenagers trapped in adult bodies: 23&Me Founder Anne Wojcicki, Google co-founder Sergey Brin, and A Bald Eagle's worst nightmare, Elon Musk. With cameos from RFK Jr (POST Brain Worm) and the corporate scandal Forrest Gump, Diane von Furstenberg, this episode is the WHOSE WHO of Silicon Valley hanky panky.

We also update our listeners on the state of the podcast, including exciting changes around 1:11:00

Catch bonus episodes on Patreon

View pictures on our Substack

Support the pod by buying us a coffee

Check out Mike's new studio!

Links:

The Doyenne of DNA Says: Just Chillax With Your Ex

O.K., Glass: Make Google Eyes

As 23andMe Struggles, Concerns Surface About Its Genetic Data

S4 Finale! Bob's Red Mill: Porridge Daddy & Listener Questions Aug 02, 2024

Show notes

Don't forget to rate and review!

Becca and Adam talk about the Giggly Grain Grandpa: Bob Moore of Bob's Red Mill. But don't toss your oats just yet, this is a good episode. We'll teach you how to have a Bob Moore Summer (Perfecting your porridge, socializing the means of production, hyperfixating on hobbies, and being jolly) and restore your faith in CEOs.

Then we answer listener questions (37 min mark).

THANK YOU! For another great season - we'll see you soon :)

Support the pod

Pics on substack

Links:

Bob's Red Mill: Securing The Future Through Employee Ownership

Bob Moore, Who Founded Bob's Red Mill, Is Dead at 94

Executive greed is driving the labor shortage, says 93-year-old leader whose workers own 100% of the company

American Apparel & the Millennial Cult of Dov Charney Jul 26, 2024

Show notes

Put on your flower crowns and don your skinniest jeans and join us at the center of the Millennial universe: Coachella 2007!

Adam & Becca meet the personification of the turn of the century hipster entrepreneur, Dov Charney. Sitting atop a pile of v-neck t-shirts ethically made in the USA, Charney was somewhat of a renegade business oddity on wall-street. But for the 20-something dreamers that clamored for the brand's clothing, he was a captivating revolutionary. Their devotion, along with a bevy of young corporate employees, easily exploited under the guise of "a greater purpose," allowed American Apparel to rapidly expand and IPO in 2007. The stores were everywhere you wanted to be… until they weren't.

Eventually, abuse allegations coupled with financial mismanagement threatened Charney's reign as king of t-shirt mountain. With the walls closing in on him, he spiraled out of control… taking the company he founded with him.

CW: Sexual abuse

Pics on substack

Support the pod

Links:

Read Strip Tees: A Memoir of Millennial Los Angeles

Watch Big Rad Wolf

The Young Garmentos (and the If Books Could Kill episode on Malcom Gladwell)

Meet Your New Boss

Dov Charney's Sleazy Struggle for Control of American Apparel