The Story of Money

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Latest Episodes:

Coming soon from Tech Tonic: Mission to Mars Oct 06, 2025

Show notes

US President Donald Trump has pledged to “plant the stars and stripes on the planet Mars”, China could send its first crewed mission to Mars within a decade, and Elon Musk wants people to actually settle on Mars, transforming the human race into an interplanetary species.

In a new series of Tech Tonic, the FT’s Peggy Hollinger asks if we’re really about to land, and even live, on the red planet.

Free to read:

Musk’s mission to Mars

Three days with America’s rocket chasers

Tech Tonic is produced by Mischa Frankl-Duval. The senior producer is Edwin Lane. Flo Phillips is the executive producer. Sound design by Breen Turner and Samantha Giovinco. Original music by Metaphor Music. Manuela Saragosa is the FT’s acting co-head of audio.

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The unsustainable boom in India’s Silicon Valley Oct 01, 2025

Show notes

India’s tech hub Bangalore has experienced huge growth of companies and employees in the past two decades. But the city’s infrastructure is not keeping up with such rapid growth. With the tech sector contributing more than $300bn to the nation’s economy, what happens to the country’s growth if Bangalore can’t solve its issues? The FT’s Mumbai bureau chief Chris Kay and Mumbai correspondent Krishn Kaushik travelled to Bangalore to try to find out.

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For further reading:

The unsustainable boom in India’s Silicon Valley

Multinationals turn to India’s back offices for AI engineers

Indian IT shares fall over fears from Trump’s $100,000 H-1B visa fee

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Behind the Money has been nominated for a Signal Award in the Money & Finance category! It's a Listener Choice award, which means we need your help. Vote for us to win here. We appreciate your support!

Follow Chris Kay on X (@christopherkay) or on Bluesky (@christopherkay.ft.com), and Krishn Kaushik on X (@Krishn_) Michela Tindera is on X (@mtindera07) and Bluesky (@mtindera.ft.com), or follow her on LinkedIn for updates about the show and more.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

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Vote for Behind the Money in the Signal Awards! Sep 26, 2025

Show notes

And while you're at it, vote for some other FT podcasts that have also been nominated. The FT News Briefing podcast was nominated for best daily podcast category. Vote here. And our Tech Tonic podcast was nominated for best technology podcast. Vote here.

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A subprime auto lender collapsed. Wall Street has questions Sep 24, 2025

Show notes

The recent collapse of Tricolor Holdings, a subprime auto lender in Texas, has left a trail of losses and questions from Wall Street to low-income immigrant communities throughout the American south-west. The FT’s US banking correspondent Akila Quinio, and Amelia Pollard, US investment correspondent, explain what they’ve found.

Clip from Fifth Third

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For further reading:

Tricolor collapse sparks concern about health of US subprime auto sector

Debt linked to collapsed subprime auto lender Tricolor tumbles

JPMorgan and Fifth Third face losses tied to collapsed subprime car lender

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Follow Amelia Pollard on X (@ameliajpollard) and Bluesky (@pollard.bsky.social) and Akila Quinio on X (@akilazoe). Michela Tindera is on X (@mtindera07) and Bluesky (@mtindera.ft.com), or follow her on LinkedIn for updates about the show and more.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

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

Is there a future for the ‘Amazon of Africa’? Sep 17, 2025

Show notes

Ecommerce start-up Jumia was supposed to become the “Amazon of Africa”. Its prospects seemed promising after raising close to $800mn prior to its IPO in 2019 — more than any African start-up. But in the years since, things haven’t gone the way investors probably hoped. The FT’s west and central Africa correspondent Aanu Adeoye explains Jumia’s plans to turn the business around, and what its challenges say about applying western business models in Africa.

Clip from New York Stock Exchange

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For further reading:

Is there a future for the ‘Amazon of Africa’?

‘Amazon of Africa’ Jumia fights to rebuild investor trust

Complaints that Jumia is not African ring hollow

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Follow Aanu Adeoye on X (@aanuadeoye). Michela Tindera is on X (@mtindera07) and Bluesky (@mtindera.ft.com), or follow her on LinkedIn for updates about the show and more.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

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

How the diamond industry lost its sparkle Sep 10, 2025

Show notes

The natural diamond industry is facing an existential threat: lab-grown diamonds. They’re chemically and physically identical to natural stones, and they're just a fraction of the price. Eleanor Olcott, the FT’s China technology correspondent, travelled to the epicentre of lab-grown diamond production in the central Chinese province of Henan to see how they’re made. While the FT’s natural resources editor, Leslie Hook, explores what the sale of leading natural diamond producer, De Beers, could mean for the future of the sector.

Clip from Arnold Worldwide

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For further reading:

How the diamond industry lost its sparkle

The sparkle is fading in Africa’s diamond heartland

Taylor Swift hands diamonds a moment to shine

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Follow Leslie Hook on X (@lesliehook) and Eleanor Olcott on X (@EleanorOlcott). Michela Tindera is on X (@mtindera07) and Bluesky (@mtindera.ft.com), or follow her on LinkedIn for updates about the show and more.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

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

Chevron prepares to take on ExxonMobil Sep 03, 2025

Show notes

Earlier this summer, energy supermajor Chevron secured access to one of the most valuable oilfields in the world. It was the culmination of a months-long battle that pitted America’s second-largest oil company against the largest, ExxonMobil. The FT’s US energy editor, Jamie Smyth, looks at what Chevron aims to do next, and how it plans to take on its larger rival.

Clips from CNBC, Bloomberg

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For further reading:

Chevron prepares for US oil supermajor battle with Exxon

Chevron seals $53bn Hess takeover after Exxon fails to torpedo deal

For further listening … Our Behind the Money episode on Guyana from 2024:

Will Exxon make or break Guyana?

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Follow Jamie Smyth on X (@JamieSmythF) and Bluesky (‪@jamiesmythft.bsky.social‬). Michela Tindera is on X (@mtindera07) and Bluesky (@mtindera.ft.com), or follow her on LinkedIn for updates about the show and more.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

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

Coming soon from Tech Tonic: Will AI ruin music? Aug 29, 2025

Show notes

AI music generators - platforms that use artificial intelligence to create new, original music from scratch - can make songs that are almost indistinguishable from human creations. For some musicians, they’re the next frontier in music-making technology. But for others, they represent a grave threat, flooding the world with low-grade AI music, stealing the jobs of working musicians, and even spelling the end of the creative process as we know it. Is this just technophobia, or is music facing AI annihilation?

In a new two-part series of Tech Tonic, the FT’s pop critic Ludovic Hunter-Tilney explores the emerging world of AI music, and the impact it could have on the industry.

Tech Tonic is presented by Ludovic Hunter-Tilney. The producers are Lulu Smyth and Josh Gabert-Doyon. Edwin Lane is the senior producer, Flo Phillips is the executive producer. Sound design by Breen Turner and Samantha Giovinco. Original Music by Metaphor Music. Manuela Saragosa and Topher Forhecz are the FT’s acting co-heads of audio.

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Unhedged: The Fed under attack Aug 27, 2025

Show notes

This week we're sharing an episode from, Unhedged, another podcast from the FT network.

The annual meeting of central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, is supposed to be an intellectual retreat. Instead, it was overshadowed by personal and political attacks on US Federal Reserve board member Lisa Cook. Today on the show, Katie Martin talks to US economics editor Claire Jones about her reporting from Jackson Hole and what might happen if the central bank falls under the president’s control. Also, we attempt to go long and short but are interrupted by a fire alarm.

For a free 30-day trial to the Unhedged newsletter go to: https://www.ft.com/unhedgedoffer.

You can email Robert Armstrong and Katie Martin at unhedged@ft.com.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

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Palantir’s relentless rise Aug 20, 2025

Show notes

Palantir shares have soared this year, making the data analytics company one of the most valuable listed US tech groups. The FT’s Tabby Kinder explains how a paradigm shift in Silicon Valley helped propel Palantir to new heights and why many think it will be among the biggest winners of more US federal spending on national security, immigration and space exploration – even as others have started questioning its valuation.

Clips from Bloomberg, CNBC, FOX Business, HBO, More Perfect Union, Newsweek, TechCrunch, Palantir Vision, The 92nd Street Y, New York

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For further reading:

Palantir becomes a ‘Trump trade’ as investors bet on higher defence spending

How Donald Trump’s spending bill will boost Silicon Valley’s defence companies

Palantir lifts outlook as AI boom sends quarterly revenue to $1bn

Palantir’s ‘revolving door’ with government spurs huge growth

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Follow Tabby Kinder on X (@Tabby_Kinder) and Saffeya Ahmed on X (@saffeya_ahmed) or follow Saffeya on LinkedIn for updates about the show and more.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

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