Good Bad Billionaire

By BBC World Service

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Category: Entrepreneurship

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Subscribers: 306
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Episodes: 43

Description

How did the planet's richest people make their billions? From celebrities and secretive CEOs to sporting legends and tech titans, Simon Jack and Zing Tsjeng find out, and then decide whether they think they’re good, bad, or just another billionaire.

Ever wondered how Taylor Swift went from country singer to money-spinner? How Amazon boss Jeff Bezos came to launch one of the biggest corporations of the internet age? And how six-time NBA champion Michael Jordan made his fortune with Nike? Good Bad Billionaire is here to analyse the minds, motives and money of some of the world's wealthiest individuals. No detail is too small and no story too wild to uncover.

Join us on a global journey, discovering all we can about some of the richest people on the planet. We hear about billionaires in Russia, China, New Zealand, India, Nigeria and the UK. In the United States, there are those who made their money in Silicon Valley, on Wall Street and high street fashion.

Exploring the lives of Oprah Winfrey, Bill Gates, Rupert Murdoch, El Chapo, Narayana Murthy and Kim Kardashian, this podcast paints a vivid picture of business, entrepreneurship, capitalism and how our world really works.

In season two, we learn how the likes of Jerry Seinfeld, Peter Jackson, Doris Fisher and George Soros came to join the billionaires' club. We explore how Tiger Woods went from a child golfing prodigy to the world’s highest paid athlete, how a communist mime artist became the boss of fashion house Prada and how Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich bought an English football club. Find out how Mukesh Ambani became Asia’s richest person, and how Patrice Motsepe became the first black billionaire in a post-apartheid South Africa.

Plus, we examine some of the biggest names behind the technology shaping our world – the founders of TikTok, Google, ChatGPT, Alibaba and Bumble. But it's not just how these billionaires made their money; it's what they did with it next. Ultimately, Simon and Zing consider whether they think these people are a force for “good”, the opposite, or somewhere in between.

Join Simon Jack, business editor for BBC News, and journalist, author and podcaster Zing Tsjeng as this podcast unravels tales of fortune, power, ambition and moral responsibility, and invites you to make up your own mind: are they Good, Bad, or Just Another Billionaire?

New episodes released on Mondays.


Episode Date
Patrice Motsepe: Mining magnate
Oct 28, 2024
Jack Ma: China's ecommerce CEO
Oct 21, 2024
Yvon Chouinard: A $3 billion giveaway
Oct 14, 2024
Whitney Wolfe Herd: Dating app entrepreneur
Oct 07, 2024
Aliko Dangote: Africa’s richest person
Sep 30, 2024
Sam Altman: ChatGPT and the AI revolution
Sep 23, 2024
Zhang Yiming: TikTok’s tech boss
Sep 16, 2024
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw: Beer, brewing and biotech
Sep 09, 2024
George Soros: 'The man who broke the Bank of England'
Sep 02, 2024
Jerry Seinfeld: The World’s Richest Comedian
Aug 26, 2024
Peter Jackson: Lord of the Films
Aug 19, 2024
Miuccia Prada: ‘Ugly fashion’
Aug 12, 2024
Sergey Brin: Googling billions
Aug 05, 2024
Tiger Woods: Golf’s ‘golden boy’
Jul 29, 2024
Mark Zuckerberg: Move Fast and Get Rich
Mar 26, 2024
Richard Branson: Sky's the Limit
Mar 19, 2024
Jim Ratcliffe: Man U Mogul
Mar 12, 2024
Bernie Ecclestone: Fast Money
Mar 05, 2024
Gina Rinehart: The Other Iron Lady
Feb 27, 2024
Charles Koch: Dark Money’s Slick Operator
Feb 20, 2024
Taylor Swift: Swiftonomics
Feb 13, 2024
Warren Buffett: The Oracle of Omaha
Feb 06, 2024
NR Narayana Murthy: India's IT Innovator
Jan 30, 2024
Rupert Murdoch: The Succession Prequel
Jan 23, 2024
El Chapo: Cocaine Kingpin
Jan 16, 2024
Jay-Z: A Business, Man
Jan 09, 2024
Michael Bloomberg: Market Master
Dec 12, 2023
Patrick Soon-Shiong: Cures for Cash
Dec 05, 2023
Bill Gates: Software Hardman
Nov 28, 2023
Sam Bankman-Fried with Michael Lewis
Nov 21, 2023
Denise Coates: Ultimate Gambler
Nov 14, 2023
Michael Jordan: Most Valuable Player
Nov 07, 2023
Kim Kardashian: Breaking the Internet
Oct 31, 2023
Bernard Arnault: The Wolf in Cashmere
Oct 24, 2023
Viktor Bout: Merchant of Death
Oct 17, 2023
George Lucas: Box Office Billions
Oct 10, 2023
Oprah Winfrey: Queen of All Media
Oct 03, 2023
Chuck Feeney: All Duty
Sep 26, 2023
Adam Neumann: The Cult of WeWork
Sep 19, 2023
Philip Green: King of the High Street
Sep 12, 2023
Rihanna: Turning Beauty into Billions
Sep 05, 2023
Jeff Bezos: Get Big Fast
Aug 29, 2023
Introducing... Good Bad Billionaire
Aug 22, 2023