Business History

The Battle of Fort Frick and the Anarchist Assassin

Wed, 09 Sep 2026 04:05:00 +0000

Concluding our story of Andrew Carnegie's effort to break the unions at his Homestead steel factory, we look at how the plant boss Henry Clay Frick enlisted a private army of Pinkerton detectives to confront the steel workers. Gunfire erupts and there are deaths on both sides.

The so-called battle of "Fort Frick" seems to go the way of the unions - until a young anarchist comes to town hoping to piggyback on the unrest to further his goal of sparking a revolution. He finds a way into Frick's office... and he comes armed with a pistol and a knife.

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Andrew Carnegie's War with his Workers

Wed, 02 Sep 2026 04:05:00 +0000

In the first of two shows about the fight between the richest man and the unions at his Homestead steel plant - we look at why Andrew Carnegie decided that his workforce deserved a smaller share of his profits and the lengths he went to to cut their wages.

Carnegie grew up in poverty and publicly proclaimed that rich moguls such as he had a duty to aid the poor - but that didn't stop him using every weapon at his disposal to crush the steel workers' union. The fight got violent - very violent - and its ripples are still being felt to this day.

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George Washington’s Trusted Tavern Guide: The Birth of the User Review

Wed, 26 Aug 2026 04:05:00 +0000

When America’s first president set off to tour his new country, he had no idea where to stay. George Washington slept in some taverns he described as dirty and grim, but also stayed at some delightful inns. In the 1790s, there was no way for travellers to share tips on the nice places to sleep and those to avoid.

Fast forward to today and the rise of peer-to-peer services where we book a car ride, rent a vacation home or bid in an online auction, and the same trust problem occurs. How do we know we can rely on a vendor we’ve never met? And how can we praise good customer service with a glowing recommendation? That's why the user review was created.

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The DeLorean Saga: Fraud, Drug Deals and Marty McFly's Car

Wed, 19 Aug 2026 04:05:00 +0000

This is a special crossover episode with Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford.

John DeLorean was a top car executive - but he was too maverick to fit into the oppressive corporate culture of GM. He wanted to make a new and exciting sports car - a futuristic stainless steel marvel with distinctive gull-wing doors (which found fame in Back to the Future). He just needed someone to give him millions of dollars to get started.

The British government agreed to foot the bill, but only if DeLorean built his factory in a troubled part of Northern Ireland. The cars coming off the production line were beset with problems and sales slowed down. Company finances were also strained by DeLorean's spendthrift ways and brazen theft. Finally, someone offered DeLorean a lifeline if only he'd come in on a cocaine deal.

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The Tangled Story of Instant Ramen

Wed, 12 Aug 2026 04:05:00 +0000

Momofuku Ando told the world he invented instant ramen noodles in a shed in his backyard. In Japan, there's not one, but two museums celebrating this breakthrough. Only Ando wasn't the first person to flash-fry noodles to preserve them - but he was willing to sue any rival ramen maker.

Ando had suffered repeated business failures and even been jailed for tax fraud - but he created an origin story for his instant noodles so compelling that it helped him build a convenience food empire that sent instant ramen everywhere on earth and finally into space.

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Billy Beer: When American Beer Hit Bottom, Then Bounced Back

Wed, 05 Aug 2026 04:05:00 +0000

President Jimmy Carter had a brother, and this brother LOVED beer. Billy Carter was a big 1970s celebrity and a struggling brewery decided to bet on him to revive its fortunes. Together they created Billy Beer and launched a huge ad campaign. The beverage was a global sensation... except nobody including Billy liked the taste. Billy Beer was a flop.

Billy Beer was emblematic of American brewing at the time. It was all bad beer and gimmicky marketing. Coincidentally, it was Jimmy Carter who would change that. He signed a new tax law that kickstarted the craft beer revolution which brought us some of modern America's most popular brews.

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The Printing Press: The Invention Built on Debt and Sin

Wed, 29 Jul 2026 04:05:00 +0000

Before 1450, books were written out by hand. It was slow and expensive. But Johannes Gutenberg borrowed a ton of money to create a printing press that could crank out Bibles and pamphlets and documents in huge numbers. Science, politics and philosophy were all up-ended.

For example, the Catholic Church seized on the invention to sell special certificates absolving people of their sins - a move that made money, but caused a permanent schism in Christianity.

And Gutenberg too found himself in trouble - when a financier sued the inventor to reclaim his loan, plus interest.

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The Robberiest Robber Baron: The Villainy of Jay Gould

Wed, 22 Jul 2026 04:05:00 +0000

Jay Gould became hugely rich without ever really making a product or offering a service to benefit his customers. Other "Robber Barons" in the 19th century forged steel or pumped oil to make money - but Gould preferred to manipulate the stock market or bribe judges and politicians to generate a profit.

Even when he was fired from the railway company he mismanaged, he used this inside information to profit from the soaring share price. No one liked Jay Gould - indeed many people physically assaulted him because of his awful behaviour - but his real legacy was the raft of laws America passed to try to prevent such a businessman ever rising to power again.

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The Factory That Was Wiped Off The Map (From Cautionary Tales)

Wed, 08 Jul 2026 04:05:00 +0000

Business History will be back on July 22nd - but here's an episode from another Pushkin Industries show we're sure you''ll enjoy, Cautionary Tales.

A giant chemical plant near the small village of Flixborough, England, is busy churning out a key ingredient of nylon 6, a material used in everything from stockings to toothbrushes to electronics. When a reactor vessel fails, the engineers improvise a quick-fix workaround, so the plant can keep up with demand. Before long, the temporary patch - a small, bent pipe - becomes a permanent part of the factory, and the people of Flixborough unknowingly drift towards disaster.

Listen to more Cautionary Tales whenever you get your podcasts.

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The Nobel Winners Who Almost Crashed the Economy

Wed, 01 Jul 2026 04:05:00 +0000

John Meriwether assembled the smartest team on Wall Street. In the 1980s, he combed Harvard and MIT for geniuses to join him at Salomon Brothers and make the investment bank a fortune with arbitrage - the trick of buying an asset cheap in one place and quickly selling it for a profit in another.

When he parted ways with Salomon Brothers, Meriwether took his "nerds" to set up a hedge fund. They prospered - making themselves and their clients rich. Two employees even picked up a Nobel Prize. But Long Term Capital Management operated in the real world - where projections and charts and formulas can't protect you from political chaos and economic turmoil.

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A Store Owner You Can Trust: John Wanamaker, Returns and the Price Tag

Wed, 24 Jun 2026 04:05:00 +0000

Shopping used to be adversarial. Shoppers and store owners would bargain and haggle over prices. What one person got for $1, the next guy bought for £1.25. And there were no returns. It was unfair and stressful - and made shoppers distrustful that they were getting a good deal. John Wanamaker changed all that.

Wanamaker thought about being a preacher before setting up as a clothes merchant. So he built a retail empire built on fairness and trust. Price tags appeared in his stores - promising everyone would pay the same. And if you weren't happy - you could return your purchase. This was so unusual that Wanamaker even won the praise of a US President.

AND to see Joseph Monroe Bennett's magnificent moustache for yourself go to: https://archives.upenn.edu/exhibits/penn-people/biography/joseph-monroe-bennett/

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The Boy Scout Who Brought us the Age of Disruption

Wed, 17 Jun 2026 04:05:00 +0000

Why have so many tiny start-ups come from nowhere to take down huge established corporations? Is it because the incumbents were dumb? Harvard Business School professor Clayton M Christensen decided to explore these David versus Goliath battles - and came up with a theory to explain why seemingly solid businesses suddenly lose market share... disruptive innovation.

In his hit book, The Innovator's Dilemma, Christensen explored how flawed products from small companies can suddenly catch on, disrupt the market and steal customers from established corporations. Christensen - a life-long Boy Scout - was an odd champion for "disruptive innovation", but his ideas have totally changed the business landscape.

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Ida Tarbell: The "Muckraker" Who Beat John D Rockefeller and Big Oil

Wed, 10 Jun 2026 04:05:00 +0000

At a time when women couldn't vote or freely enter the workplace, Ida Tarbell took on the richest man in America and triumphed. Ida grew up in the Pennsylvania oil fields of the 1870s, and saw how John D Rockefeller and his company Standard Oil bought or bullied independent firms. Ida's neighbors and even her own father were in Rockefeller's sights.

In adulthood, Ida joined a new movement in journalism. She was a "muckraker" - looking to dig up dirt on the greedy and unscrupulous monopolies of the Gilded Age. She wrote a 19-part investigation of Standard Oil that became a nationwide hit and forced the US government to act and break Rockefeller's empire apart.

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"Time is Money": How Ben Franklin's Sayings Created American Capitalism and Grind Culture

Wed, 03 Jun 2026 04:05:00 +0000

Benjamin Franklin had a full life - he was a scientist, statesman, and a Founding Father. But we're looking at the huge impact he had as a writer of best-selling business books. Franklin first picked up the pen as a poor, downtrodden teenager to write satire, but as he became richer and more successful he instead shared his entrepreneurial insights with the public.

His sayings about time-wasting, thrift and the rewards of hard work were revolutionary. And both his admirers and critics claim his writings caused a profound global shift in how we think about work and wealth.

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The Founding Father Who Got Rich in the Revolution

Wed, 27 May 2026 04:05:00 +0000

Two-hundred-and-fifty years ago George Washington was fighting the Revolutionary War against the British, but Robert Morris doing something just as vital. He was raising money for the fighting and buying the gunpowder, tents, food and uniforms Washington's army needed.

Morris had been a merchant before the revolution, so didn't see why he shouldn't personally profit from his work supplying the colonists' struggle. He emerged from the war as a rich man and owned huge tracts of land. But the turbulent final years of the 18th Century saw Morris go first into substantial debt and then fall into utter ruin.

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The Dumbest Business Ever... Shipping Melting Ice to Calcutta.

Wed, 20 May 2026 04:05:00 +0000

Frederic Tudor could get ice any time he wanted. He lived in chilly Boston and his family had a lake that froze over in the winter. Harvesting ice and storing it was a normal thing in New England in the 1800s, but Frederic decided he'd make a fortune if he could ship ice to the warmest places on earth. And everyone thought this was the dumbest business idea of all time!

No one would back Frederic's plan - no one would even let him rent a ship to carry his ice. For decades he tried and failed to get his ice business running. He even ended up broke and in jail. But finally he prevailed and became a wealthy and celebrated figure - who changed the world.

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The Match Maker Who Nearly Burned Down Wall Street

Wed, 13 May 2026 04:05:00 +0000

Swedish entrepreneur Ivar Kreuger built a fortune selling matches. He used this money to build a world famous financial empire that bankrolled whole countries. France borrowed from Kreuger. Germany borrowed from Krueger. He was crowned "The Match King" and ruled Wall Street in the 1920s.

But Kreuger's business was about to burn to the ground. The Swede had been using shady - even criminal - methods to move money around his empire and the good times came to an end. The discovery of Kreuger's crimes created chaos, but also proved pivotal in the creation of America's modern financial safeguards.

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Did "Neutron" Jack Welch Nuke GE?

Wed, 06 May 2026 04:01:00 +0000

In 1999, Jack Welch was named "Manager of the Century". As CEO of General Electric for 20 years, Welch transformed the conglomerate and made it the biggest company in the world. Nicknamed "Neutron Jack", he closed down big chunks of old GE and set up new ventures... including GE Capital - which operated more like a bank than the wing of a manufacturing giant.

Under the leadership of "Neutron Jack", General Electric was consistently profitable and seemed to be a safe investment... but in fact the company was headed for disaster.

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The Widow Who Ruled the Champagne World

Wed, 29 Apr 2026 04:01:00 +0000

Running a wine business in Napoleonic France wasn't easy. Constant wars meant naval blockades stopped you exporting your wares and invading armies might loot your cellars. But it was even harder for women - who were forbidden to run companies.

None of this stopped Barbe-Nicole Clicquot. When her husband died, she used a loophole that allowed widows to be entrepreneurs. Naming her Champagne brand after herself - Veuve Clicquot - the "Widow Clicquot" pioneered innovations in production and marketing that transformed the entire industry.

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The Business of Staying Young and Living Forever (with Kara Swisher)

Wed, 22 Apr 2026 04:05:00 +0000

Kings and emperors spent fortunes pursuing the secret of eternal youth - but now it's tech billionaires who want to live forever and are funding research into scientific (and not-so-scientific) ways to beat aging and death.

Kara Swisher (host of CNN's new series Kara Swisher Wants to Live Forever) joins Jacob and Robert to discuss the longevity business - from ancient China, via yoghurt enemas and blood swaps, to the latests developments in DNA editing. We also find out how Kara wants to die.

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Sinking the Global Economy: The Lloyds of London Story Part II

Wed, 15 Apr 2026 04:05:00 +0000

In the 1980s, Lloyds of London insured satellites, rock singers' voices and the legs of sports stars. Everyone was having fun and making money - but disaster was just around the corner.

Lloyds had always operated on the principle of unlimited liability - so the people backing up the insurance policies were expected to pay over all their assets if required. That hardly ever happened - until a series of huge claims hit Lloyds and the insurers suddenly faced huge bills that threatened to destroy the whole operation and the wider economy.

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The Insurers Who ALWAYS Paid Out: The Lloyds of London Story Part I

Wed, 08 Apr 2026 04:01:00 +0000

Edward Lloyd opened a coffee shop near the River Thames in the 1680s - it became a place where ship owners and money men rubbed shoulders and a trade in marine insurance sprang up.

The coffee-drinking insurers eventually decided to form an association and agree on a set of rules - and so Lloyd's of London was born. It became a key factor in keeping the global sea trade going, but soon branched out into insuring against burglaries, hurricanes and even earthquakes.

Lloyds developed a principle that seems odd today. It ignored the small print and said: "Pay all our policy holders in full, irrespective of the terms of their policies.”

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Betting on Taylor Swift or Who'll Be Made Pope: The Past and Present of Prediction Markets

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 04:01:00 +0000

A live mash-up between Business History and Bloomberg's Everybody's Business.

On platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket you can bet on just about anything - from Taylor Swift's album sales to whether President Trump will say a certain word in a speech. Many people worry about these new prediction markets, but the concept is far older than some critics might think.

We go back centuries to Papal conclaves; hear about how counting drinking toasts stood in for political polling; and learn how the US government tried using betting markets to predict terrorist attacks.

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Bowie, McCartney & Michael Jackson: How Songwriters Learned to Play Hardball

Wed, 18 Mar 2026 04:05:00 +0000

Once if you wrote a hit song there was no guarantee it would make you rich. So songwriters formed a cartel - the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. ASCAP started suing concert halls, cafes and nightclubs to claim back royalties. Seemed fair... except ASCAP started a war when it demanded radio stations turn over 10% of their revenues.

ASCAP's monopoly on music rights was broken, but they'd made songs into valuable financial assets. This set the scene for an epic copyright beef between Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson, and for David Bowie to turn his pop hits into a complex special purpose vehicle... a securitization pool!

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How GM Beat Ford

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 04:05:00 +0000

Ford was the pre-eminent American car maker and Henry Ford was the king of modern manufacturing, until a Michigan cigar salesman decided to consolidate a bunch of small auto companies into a single firm to defeat the Colossus of Detroit.

General Motors united the likes of Oldsmobile, Buick, Cadillac and decided to live by "the laws of Paris dressmakers" to make cars that were more stylish and fashionable than the austere, black-painted Model T that was coming out of the Ford plant.