Acquired

Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal

Every company has a story. Learn the playbooks that built the world’s greatest companies — and how you can apply them as a founder, operator, or investor.

#3 in the Top 100 investing All time chart

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Top 10 Acquired Episodes

Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Acquired episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Acquired for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Acquired episode by adding your comments to the episode page.

Costco

Acquired

08/21/23 • 179 min

Costco is not only Charlie Munger’s favorite company of all time (plus he’s on the board, natch), it’s an absolutely fascinating study in how seemingly opposite characteristics can combine to create incredible company value. For instance: Costco has the cheapest prices of any major retailer in America — and also the wealthiest customer base. They pay their hourly workers 30% above the industry norm (and give them excellent healthcare + 401k benefits) — and are almost 3x more profitable on labor than Walmart. Speaking of Walmart, Costco stocks 40x fewer SKUs than their Bentonville-based rivals — yet sells an average of 15x more volume of each. And oh yeah, practically all of Costco’s C-Suite started their careers as baggers and checkout clerks! Tune in for a mind-bending exploration of one of the world’s most iconic — and iconically unique — companies.

Links:

Carve Outs:

Sponsors:

Anrok: https://bit.ly/anrokacquired
WorkOS: https://bit.ly/workos25
Statsig: https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig24

More Acquired!:

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‍Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.

9 Listeners

Starbucks (with Howard Schultz)

Acquired

06/04/24 • 193 min

Starbucks. You’d be hard pressed to name any brand that’s more ubiquitous in the world today. With nearly half a billion global customer purchases per week across its stores and 3rd party retail channels, a significant portion of the human population gets their daily fix in the green and white paper cup. (Including our own Ben Gilbert who famously enjoys his daily spinach feta wrap. :)

But it wasn’t always this way. Long before the frappuccinos and the PSLs and the cake pops, Starbucks was just a small-time Seattle roaster that only sold beans — and was started not by Howard Schultz but rather the guys who later ran Peet’s (!). Starting from six tiny stores when Howard took over in 1987, this quirky coffee company named after a character from Moby Dick has scaled to nearly 40,000 locations worldwide.

Today, in a first for Acquired, the protagonist himself joins us as a third cohost to tell the whole story of Starbucks. And Howard is in the perfect moment to do this — after three separate stints as CEO he’s now retired, off the board of directors, and in his own words “not coming back.” So place a mobile order (or not! as you’ll hear Howard speak about), sit back with your own favorite Starbucks items, and enjoy.

Sponsors:

Anrok: https://bit.ly/anrokacquired
WorkOS: https://bit.ly/workos25
Statsig: https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig24

The Biggest Thing We’ve Ever Done:

San Francisco. September 10, 2024. Mark your calendars.

Links:

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9 Listeners

Charlie Munger

Acquired

10/30/23 • 66 min

We sit down with the legendary Charlie Munger in the only dedicated longform podcast interview that he has done in his 99 years on Earth. We’ve gotten to have some special conversations on Acquired over the years, but this one truly takes the cake. Over dinner at his Los Angeles home, Charlie reflected with us on his own career and his nearly 50-year partnership at Berkshire Hathaway with Warren Buffett. He offered lessons and advice for investors today, and of course he shared his speech on the virtues of Costco once again (among other favorite investments). We’re so glad that we got the opportunity to record and share this with you all — break out your notebooks, tune in, and enjoy the singular wit and wisdom of Charlie Munger.

A transcript is available here.

Sponsor:

Special thanks to Tiny for being the exclusive sponsor of this episode. You can get in touch with them here (just tell them Ben & David sent you), and order your very own bronze Charlie bust here.

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4 Listeners

1 Comment

Season 3, Episode 1: Tesla

Acquired

07/17/18 • 124 min

Acquired kicks off Season 3 with a gangbuster two-hour extravaganza on America’s most successful automotive startup since The Ford Motor Company: Tesla. We cover everything, from founding to its 2010 IPO to all that’s happened since, including the question on the minds of superhero fans everywhere: who came first, Elon Musk or Tony Stark? (Spoiler: Elon)

Sponsors:

Anrok: https://bit.ly/anrokacquired
WorkOS: https://bit.ly/workos25
Statsig: https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig24

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Carve Outs:

Ben: The Dissect podcast
David: Harry Potter and the Sacred Text podcast

4 Listeners

1 Comment

The Mark Zuckerberg Interview

Acquired

09/18/24 • 87 min

Mark is the iconic founder CEO of our time. At Chase Center on September 10, 2024, he did an unprecedented thing: a live conversation in front of 6,000 people on Meta’s company strategy, sharing stories from early Facebook history, and his thoughts on the future of AI, VR, and AR. Mark was remarkably candid in our discussion, and gave us a window into his real and intense daily demeanor leading Meta. (And his other life endeavors!)

We can't wait to release the complete video of the whole night, including our surprise conversations with Daniel Ek, Emily Chang, and cameo appearances from Jensen Huang and Mike Taylor (the incredible singer of “Who Got the Truth?”). That’s coming in a couple weeks, but for now: enjoy this conversation with Mark Zuckerberg.

Sponsors:

Many thanks to our fantastic Fall ‘24 Season partners:

Links:

Mike Amiri (who designed Mark’s shirt!)

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Photo Credit: Mark Zuckerberg by Jeff Sainlar / Meta

4 Listeners

IKEA

Acquired

11/18/24 • 202 min

IKEA may be the most singular company we’ve ever studied on Acquired. They’re a globally scaled, $50B annual revenue company with no direct competitors — yet have only ~5% market share. They’re one of the largest retailers in the world — yet sell only their own products. They generate a few billion in free cash flow every year — yet have no shareholders. And oh yeah, they also sell hot dogs cheaper than Costco! (Sort of.)

Tune in for an episode flat-packed with counterintuitive lessons about how this folksy mail order business from the Swedish countryside came into your living rooms (and bedrooms and dining rooms and kitchens and bathrooms and patios and garages and backyards) all over the globe!

Sponsors:

Many thanks to our fantastic Fall ‘24 Season partners:

Links:

Please take our 2024 Acquired Survey if you have a minute. It'd mean the world to us!
The Testament of a Furniture Dealer
Our past episodes on Costco, Walmart, Amazon, LVMH and Hermès
Worldly Partners Multi-Decade IKEA Study
Episode sources

Carve Outs:

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3 Listeners

Mars Inc. (the chocolate story)

Acquired

12/16/24 • 233 min

M&M’s, Snickers, Milky Way, Double Mint, Ben’s Rice, Pedigree, Whiskas, VCA, Banfield... all the brands you know, owned by the company you know nothing about: Mars, Incorporated. And Mars itself is 100% owned and deeply intertwined with the Mars family, who are currently the second wealthiest (and perhaps first most secretive!) family in the United States. Tune in for one of the 20th century’s most incredible entrepreneurial stories across candy and pet care, and one that’s all the more incredible because it’s so little-known!

Sponsors:

Many thanks to our fantastic Fall ‘24 Season partners:

Links:

Hershey’s M&M response: Hershey-ets
Our past episodes on Berkshire Hathaway, LVMH, and Novo Nordisk
Worldly Partners Multi-Decade Mars Study
Episode sources

Carve Outs:

Dandelion Chocolate and the Dandelion Advent Calendar
Tesla Model Y + repair service
Silo
Home Alone

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2 Listeners

Spotify CEO Daniel Ek

Acquired

05/18/23 • 97 min

We sit down with Spotify CEO Daniel Ek live in Stockholm at Spotify’s amazing HQ studio (check out the video version of this episode — which plays natively on Spotify!). This was an incredibly special and timely conversation: for those who haven’t been paying attention over the past few years, after revolutionizing music Spotify has now ALSO completely transformed our own industry in podcasting. Starting from way behind with ~zero market share in 2018, Spotify has now aggregated the listener market and amazingly surpassed Apple as the world’s largest podcast platform — including close to home with the Acquired audience, where it has 60%+ market share among you all!

We discuss the origins of this “second act” strategy with Daniel, the vision to move from a music company to an audio company, and what’s coming next with Spotify’s entry into Audiobooks. And of course we relive some key moments from the Acquired canon that Daniel was involved in, including his pivotal conversations with Taylor Swift and her team convincing her to come back to streaming following the release of 1984. Tune in!

Links

Follow Daniel on Twitter

Sponsors:

Anrok: https://bit.ly/anrokacquired
WorkOS: https://bit.ly/workos25
Statsig: https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig24

More Acquired!:

Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
Join the Slack
Subscribe to ACQ2
Merch Store!

Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.

2 Listeners

LVMH

Acquired

02/21/23 • 212 min

We tell the full history of LVMH, and how Bernard Arnault turned a $15m investment in a bankrupt French textile company into the world’s largest individual fortune. It’s a story that’s equal parts Berkshire Hathaway, Steve Jobs and Barbarians at the Gate... and wholly under-appreciated for the genius business model innovations that enabled it. Whatever industry you operate or invest in, there’s so much to be learned from Bernard and LVMH’s complete reshaping of the luxury sector over the past three and a half decades. And oh yeah, it also involves Nazi spies, Italian family murders, Rupert Murdoch, Rihanna becoming a billionaire, Jay-Z’s champagne feuds and Beyoncé wearing a 128 carat diamond. Tune in. :)

Sponsors:

Thanks to our fantastic partners, any member of the Acquired community can now get:

Links:

Carve Outs:

2 Listeners

The NFL

Acquired

01/25/23 • 227 min

The NFL — it’s almost synonymous with America today. And its history is a fascinating lens to explore the nation’s development over the last 100 years, from WWII to TV and suburbs to the Internet and social media. What began as a quasi-illicit league in small midwestern towns is now the single largest media property in the world today by revenue. And whether you watch football or not, this is one incredible business story. Acquired is ready for some football — let’s kick this Season off right!

Sponsors:

Thanks to our fantastic partners, any member of the Acquired community can now get:

Links:

Carve Outs:

2 Listeners

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