Business history

Pre-order The American Way of Killing at pushkin.fm slash audiobooks or wherever audiobooks are sold.

Hey, it's Jacob Goldstein, co-host of the podcast Business History.

And I'm here talking to you now because Warren Buffett has just said he is stepping down as chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, a company that he ran for more than 50 years.

He stepped down as CEO less than a year ago.

Now he is stepping down as chairman.

So this is an important moment in business history.

And to mark it, we are rerunning a show we did last year about young Warren Buffett, about how Warren Buffett became perhaps the greatest investor of the 20th century.

Hope you like the show.

It is embarrassingly diminishing whatever kind of respect this position ever had.

If you know, for those that still did, he said concerning AI, when in the history of business, did anyone see the leaders of an industry call for regulation that is strongly implemented will drive them into oblivion and bankruptcy? Of course, because this is the business owner, Trump, the CEO, Trump.

No, you're the president of the country, Trump.

You're not fighting for business profits.

Nobody else has that.

I just think that's important to hear.

When in the history of business? Well, you're not in business right now.

You're in the presidency.

I want to be the first Black owner of a McDonald's franchise." I'm Robert Smith.

I'm Jacob Goldstein, and this is Business History, a show about the history of business.

Woo.

Let me thank right now listener Sean Kelly, who suggested that we do an episode on Black franchise owners in America.

Robert Smith, we've been talking for, I don't know, what, 15 minutes? You have not said Ray Kroc in a McDonald's re- I'm impressed.

Nice work.

Yeah, for business history, you know, we, we kept the, the star self-aggrandizing owner in the background.

Yeah.

And some of the worst people, horrible ideas, and destructive companies in the history of business.

We struggled to come up with a name, decided to call it Business History.

You know why?

Why?

And I know what happens when people hear those numbers.

Somebody hears $500,000, OG, and goes, "I'm set." Like, that is great.

There's actually a woman on TikTok who very confidently gives advice, and I was like, "Uh..." I'm, I'm watching her video, and she's just saying things with such this tone in her voice, and she goes, "Hi, my name is so-and-so, and I retired at 53 with half a million dollars." And immediately to me, as a guy who's been in this industry for 30-plus years, I immediately just shut down.

I'm like, "Nope, that's not working for me." She has yet to see what the other side of that looks like.

got it.

Previously on Business History.

Profound technological change.

A few people getting very rich.

And in 1889, shockingly,

the union beat Carnegie.

Amazing story that you could hear last week in Business History.

Now, it's

I'm Jacob Goldstein.

I'm Robert Smith, and this is Business History, a show about the history of business.

One really interesting thing to me about this shooting is...

At this moment in 1892, it would not have been that surprising to the people of America because this era, the 1880s, 1890s, was super intense and violent in America in a way that I really didn't fully understand before I put together this show.

It was entirely unclear which way things were going to go.

And it turned out to be hugely important for the future of work in America.

So we are going to spend not one but two episodes of Business History talking about this 19th century fight between workers and owners.

Worth it.

Hey, hey, Malcolm Gladwell here.

This special episode of Business History is part of a larger series exploring trust.

We're understanding where it comes from, the moment it's earned, and where we decide to place it.

This episode is sponsored by PayPal Open, trusted by consumers, built for all business.

They're of the same thing, and I want you to tell me what they are reviews of.

Got it.

First one, five stars, headline, "Best Business History Podcast." Wait, don't answer yet.

Uh, I know, I know this one.