Business Wars

In turn of the century Atlanta, pharmacist John Pemberton has invented a dynamite health tonic with some secret ingredients his customers can’t get enough of. There’s only one problem. With the city about to go dry, the temperance authorities are coming for him. Pemberton needs to cook up a new recipe, fast — before his own demons tear him apart.And there’s another problem on the horizon. Its name is Pepsi-Cola.Support the show by supporting our sponsors!

We hope you enjoyed our series on eBay vs PayPal. Here to discuss her thoughts on the PayPal mafia alums is Kara Swisher. Swisher is the self-described "grumpy lady of tech" and host of the podcast Recode Decode. She's known for her tough takes on Silicon Valley, is Silicon Valley royalty, and even had a cameo in Season 1 of HBO's Silicon Valley. Have we mentioned Silicon Valley enough? Here's our conversation with Kara.Support this show by supporting our sponsors!

PayPal is running out of time. The online payment service is hauling in new users, but its bottom line is bleeding red. Without a buyer to pump it full of cash soon, the company could go under. Should it take the safe route and sell out to its longtime nemesis eBay? Or should it risk the open market with an initial public offering? Why not both?You support this show by supporting our sponsors!

By late 2000, PayPal and X.com are yoked together, with X.com CEO Elon Musk leading the newly combined company. But it’s a rocky marriage: PayPal’s founders clash with their new leader over everything from his imperious management style to his choice of server platforms. Finally the PayPal loyalists decide there’s only one option left: it’s time to engineer a coup.You can support this show by supporting our sponsors!

Remember the summer of 2000? The Olympics were in full swing and PayPal was under attack. Not from eBay, but Russian hackers. In looking for soft targets in the early days of the untethered Internet, PayPal was the fattest cow. On top of that, there are competitors, and they’re catching on fast. Between the money stolen from hackers and competitors, PayPal has to figure out a way to survive, and fast.Support this show by supporting our sponsors!

In the midst of the dot-com boom, there's also a lot of dot-com bust. PayPal desperately needed to grow but they companies who'd raised millions more suddenly disintegrate. The solution was so simple it seemed almost illegal - let the converted proselytize. And they do to incredible results. It doesn't take long for eBay to notice but there's nothing they can do to stop PayPal's viral momentum.Support us by supporting our sponsors!

As eBay gathers steam, a libertarian chess champion and a programmer who fled Communist Ukraine team up to change the world with their encryption software. But when their plan to piggyback on the ubiquitous Palm Pilot hits a snag, they stumble upon a new idea. The concept is so revolutionary, it will change the landscape of e-commerce and turn the fledgling company into a viral phenomenon. There’s just one problem. PayPal is set on a collision course with the one company it needs to succeed: eBay.Support us by supporting our sponsors!

At the dawn of the dotcom era, a Silicon Valley tech geek on a personal vendetta rolls out the world’s first e-commerce site. Vintage lunchboxes? Second-hand guitars? B-list celebrity autographs? It all finds a home on AuctionWeb, and before long the site’s growth is skyrocketing.But founder Pierre Omidyar isn’t prepared for the infrastructure challenges that come with turning his pet project into a real company. Brownouts and site outages soon follow, raising the ire of customers. And without a way to close transactions online, AuctionWeb might be doomed before it takes off.Support this show by supporting our sponsors!

Joining us today is Gabriel Kahn, a professor of journalism at the University of Southern California. He’s a former Los Angeles bureau chief for the Wall Street Journal and a frequent commentator on monetization and the media.He’s also taught courses on the history of journalism. He recently wrote an open letter to the new owner of the Los Angeles Times, Patrick Soon Shiong, and now he's here to talk about Hearst vs Pulitzer!Join us next week as we visit a new business war: Ford vs Chevrolet.Support us by supporting our sponsors!

By 1900, the days of yellow journalism were already fading, and both William Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer were searching for a new direction even as their newspapers diverged.Hearst tries for a political career, but finds himself defeated and dragging back to a lagging paper by the end of the decade.Pulitzer doubled down on news, and in 1909 caught the biggest scoop of his career. While the paper is going as strong as ever, Pulitzer’s health is suffering.Both men created legacies and changed the face of American journalism forever.Support us by supporting our sponsors!

A close up look at a crisis of their own making. One that nearly cost Hearst and Pulitzer their grip on the country’s first media empires. Instead of pitting them against each other, the crisis would see the two media moguls finding rare common ground.At the turn of the century, newspapers flew off the presses in 8 or 10 separate editions a day. Newsies grabbed them off stacks in the alleys and took to the streets, their little hands stained with ink. But when the Newsies go on strike, no papes get sold. No papes, no profit - which leaves both Hearst and Pulitzer with a BIG problem.Support us by supporting our sponsors!

What happens when there’s no news? You have to MAKE the news.When Hearst heard from his top reporter that the Spanish-Cuban tension wasn’t looking like anything would happen, Hearst wasn’t just going to wait around for an explosion.He already bought and assembled a collection of powder kegs. It was just a matter of lighting the fuse.Support us by supporting our sponsors!

In 1883, 15 years before the Headless Torso Murder, New York City's population was rapidly growing and the newspaper scene was pretty sleepy. The city's nearly 50 daily papers, even the small New York Times, was a pretty sedate bunch, informing citizens about zoning board decisions and weather trends. They rarely draw any blood, stir up society, get the city talking.But that’s changing, thanks to Joseph Pulitzer.Support us by supporting our sponsors!

In 1897, America looked very different. Carriages rolled through the streets of New York. Mass media was just growing up, and Hearst was convinced that carrier pigeons - hunted to extinction by 1914 - were what would give his paper the edge during the early days of the Headless Torso case.This case belonged to the whole city. Everyone - barkeeps in Brooklyn and bankers on the Upper East Side alike are invested in the mystery… and what happened to his head.For more American History Tellers, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to Business Wars.Support us by supporting our sponsors!

This is the beginning of a mystery, a great business rivalry, and a look into American history. To tell the story of Hearst vs Pulitzer, we called our friend Lindsay Graham over at American History Tellers for help.The Headless Torso mystery is about a jilted husband, a German midwife, a muscleman and more colorful characters. The city’s been mesmerized for months, and in Gilded Age New York, most people just couldn’t resist pressing their pennies into a newsboy’s ink-stained hand to find out the latest.You can listen to more episodes of American History Tellers wherever you listen to Business Wars.Support this show by supporting our sponsors!

Host David Brown interviews Steven Johnson, the host of the new podcast American Innovations.Support us by supporting our sponsors!

After all that IBM has been through over the decades, it would have never in a million years guessed that their undoing would be at the hands of a scrawny and unknown computer nerd named Bill Gates. Gates sees the future, but can IBM catch up? Will they still be on top 50 years from now? Only time will tell.We hope you enjoyed this series on the first computer wars, and I want to give a special shout out to our fans, The Elfenbein family!Support us by supporting our sponsors!

It’s 1961. Since his father retired 5 years earlier, Thomas Watson Jr pushed to modernize IBM from the top down. New management, new ideas, newer, faster, machines. The company has grown, employing 1,000 people, they’ve dominated the emerging computer market... and managed to frustrate the public all at the same time. IBM’s new technology is confusing and the only way out may be to create a Civil War, burning IBM from the inside out. Will they be able to agree, or will infighting cost them the entire company?Support us by supporting our sponsors!

In Episode 1 the UNIVAC successfully predicted that Eisenhower would win the 1952 election. In Philadelphia, a champagne hangover quickly settled in over the Remington Rand building, the company elated at its success. But over at IBM, a company that doesn't allow its employees to drink, they’re working, furiously. And Watson Jr. is ready to take the 701 to market in a few months. Visiting the 701 is soon the hottest ticket in town, and The Watsons and IBM sit back to watch. They feel the momentum shifting back in IBM’s favor once again.Support our show by supporting our sponsors!

What’s a 16% market share when the public thinks you have more? A potential anti-trust suit, if you’re IBM. Watson Jr. sees a potential lawsuit as a way out from under his father’s control. Sr. sees his company rotting away in the hands of a kid who can’t handle it. But when the antitrust suit comes through in 1952, Jr’s in charge. Can he actually handle the business he desperately wanted?Support us by supporting our sponsors!