Great Business Stories Caemin and Keith

PayPal: The Greatest Startup Story of All Time



This has been one of my favourite stories to cover, because you have such big characters who are now very much sitting on the top of the table business wise - we’re talking Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, Reid Hoffman, David Sacks and many more.



And it’s fascinating to recall how these guys started out and nearly didn’t make it



There is so much drama in the story with boardroom coups,  Russian fraudsters, Musk being forced to merge his company against his will, the dotcom bubble bursting- I loved it 



Click on the following link to go our article on this episode where we have links to our main sources as well as relevant photos: gbspod.com/blog/paypal-greatest-startup-story-of-all-time

In today's episode, we're digging into the Tyco scandal of the early 2000s, specifically focusing on Tyco's CEO Dennis Kozlowski, who was charged and convicted of stealing $132 million from Tyco to fund a lavish lifestyle.

While other Tyco executives were also charged, and there were additional charges that we don't delve into, we do mention them briefly. However, our main focus is on the primary charges against Kozlowski.

What's really unusual about this story is that both Keith and I started our research believing we knew the story - a tale of corporate greed. We expected to uncover why and how Kozlowski syphoned off so much money.

But as we dug deeper, the actual story turned out to be quite different, and it makes for a great episode.

We hope you enjoy it!

This is the fascinating story of how Jho Low, young Malaysian businessman educated in Harrow formed one of the most notorious and lucrative business partnerships with the Malaysian Prime minister and they syphoned off a jaw dropping $4.5 billion 



It’s the story of how Jho Low and his friends spent their ill gotten gains by splashing out on parties, multi-million dollar properties, jewellery, art as well as financing Hollywood movies- 1 movie in particular that you’ll definitely know.



And it’s a story of Malaysia and the endemic corruption that emanates from the very top- a prime minister who not only brazenly lootes the national coffers but who is also the main suspect in  the grisly murder of a young woman.



This episode was recorded in April 2023, and even now in April 2024  there are still some court cases going on related to 1MDB because this is a business scandal that’s going to be with us for many more years- It’s a really fascinating story and we hope you enjoy it.



Sources

As we usually have way too many sources to link in here, please click on link below that brings you to an article that I wrote to accompany this episode- all of the sources used in this episode are at the end of the article :

https://gbspod.com/blog/the-1mdb-heist-how-jho-low-the-prime-minister-stole-45-billion

We dig deep into Ray Kroc and how he and the Mcdonald brothers created the fast food revolution

What was Ray Kroc really like? Was he a shyster, a lucky salesman or  true visionary?

Is he really a villain as the movie made him out to be-And crucially, did Ray Kroc renege on an agreement to pay the McdOnalds brothers commission on all sales going forward? 

I hope you enjoy this one and remember, a new episode is released on the first of every month 

This is the fascinating story of Ivar Kreuger, the most famous Swedish person and probably the most successful business person you’ve never heard of.

In his prime during the roaring twenties Ivar built up a fortune worth $100 billion in today’s money

He invented many of the financial instruments that are still being used to this day- the stocks and bonds of his companies were the most widely held securities in the world

He lent billions to cash strapped governments and became a personal advisor to the US president. And yet, if you google him now, he’s mentioned in the same breath as Charles Ponzi and Bernie Madoff

Was Ivar a scam artist or one of the most brilliant business minds of the 20th century? Or was he both?

The book "Barbarians at the Gate" is probably the best business story ever told. It’s a riveting account of the leveraged buyout of the tobacco and food giant  RJR Nabisco in the late 1980s, 

The story gives a great insight into what exactly leveraged buyouts are.

We learn how Henry Kravis and his cousin George Roberts formed the legendary LBO firm KKR.

We see how banks and LBO firms manage to profit handsomely even when deals go bad.

And we see how industry titans end up playing second fiddle when they open their doors to the sharks on wall street. 

It’s full of drama, rivalries, big ego’s and lots and lots of money and we hope you enjoy it.