
149 episodes

Foundering Bloomberg
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- Tech News
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4.5 • 742 Ratings
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Foundering is a new serialized podcast from the journalists at Bloomberg Technology. Each season, Foundering brings you inside a different high-stakes drama from Silicon Valley, where its companies are wielding unprecedented capital and power.
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Coming Soon: A New Season of Foundering
TikTok emerged as the defining app of a generation: a cultural tastemaker, a musical hitmaker and a launchpad for a new breed of celebrity. But as the app reached over 2 billion downloads, TikTok became a victim of its own success, attracting sharp scrutiny from the world’s two most powerful countries. In this season of Foundering, Bloomberg Technology reporter Shelly Banjo tracks the rise of TikTok by taking listeners inside the mysterious Chinese mega-startup behind the phenomenon and the political hysteria that followed.
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Introducing: Doubt
A few decades ago, nobody really questioned vaccines. They were viewed as a standard part of staying healthy and safe. Today, the number of people questioning vaccines risks prolonging a pandemic that has already killed hundreds of thousands of Americans. How we got to this moment didn’t start with the rollout of vaccines or in March 2020, or even with the election of Donald Trump. Our confidence in vaccines, often isn't even about vaccines. It’s about trust. And that trust has been eroding for a long time. Doubt, a new series from Bloomberg’s Prognosis podcast, looks at the forces that have been breaking down that trust. We'll trace the rise of vaccine skepticism in America to show how we got here — and where we’re going. Doubt launches on March 23. Subscribe to Prognosis today on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
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In the End, There Was Adam
The WeWork Story, Part 7:
After WeWork's failed IPO, thousands of employees were laid off and the company teetered on the brink of collapse. Meanwhile, ousted CEO Adam Neumann flew to Israel with a generous exit package in hand. In this final episode of Foundering, reporter Ellen Huet surveys the wreckage of WeWork. Adam's executives and employees were asking themselves: Did Adam ever really believe in the values he preached? And what lessons will the world draw from WeWork's crash? -
IPO -- Just Kidding
The WeWork Story, Part 6:
WeWork had spent nine years chasing lightning-fast growth, burning billions of dollars, and expanding around the world. In 2019, the company reached a turning point: WeWork needed even more cash, and Adam Neumann decided to take his company public with a massive IPO. But suddenly, in the span of a few weeks, his plan crashed spectacularly. The almost-IPO flopped and WeWork became a laughingstock. In this episode, reporter Ellen Huet asks: How did the company's fortune flip so fast, and why didn't they see it coming? -
Introducing: Blood River, A New Podcast From Bloomberg
The killers of Berta Caceres had every reason to believe they’d get away with murder. More than 100 other environmental activists in Honduras had been killed in the previous five years, yet almost no one had been punished for the crimes. Bloomberg’s Blood River follows a four-year quest to find her killers – a twisting trail that leads into the country’s circles of power.
Blood River premieres on July 27. -
The Universe Does Not Allow Waste
The WeWork Story, Part 5:
Adam Neumann always had wild ambitions. By 2017, he had found an even wilder investor who wanted to fund those ambitions: SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son. Adam spent his billions from SoftBank on competitive tactics, seemingly random investments, and even an elementary school. In this episode, reporter Ellen Huet explores why this free-wheeling spending was so odd: Adam knew this was a bad idea. In exclusive recordings from internal meetings in 2016, he warned his employees that they had to cut back on WeWork's "spending culture." But once the money poured in, it appeared like he forgot his own advice.
Customer Reviews
Former WW Employee
I worked for this ridiculous company for 3 years, she nails the reporting, but it was actually even crazier than she got into. The amount of money wasted was spectacular, they rented MSG for 3 days & flew the entire company to NY so that the narcissistic execs could feed their egos. Also Rebecca should have been highlighted more, she was a lot more responsible for some evil things that went on. Also, working at this company during the #metoo era was insane. While I absolutely believe there was legit harassment, amidst all the chaos for Adam’s attention, there were several cases of sociopathic women throwing wrongful accusations at men who were later proven to be innocent.
Loved loved the WeWork story segment
Beautifully done. Quality podcast.
Don’t drink the Kool-Aid!
For what little I knew about the Fall of the WeWork IPO, I wasn’t sure what to expect of the Foundering podcast. Having binged all of the episodes in less than 2 days, I was pleasantly surprised. A. By the amount of quality content involving people who experienced and suffered for dealing with Adam Neumann and B. By how easily we can be misled purely because of another person’s charisma. Very good reporting on a somewhat tragic tale of our times: so long as the surface looks good, we don’t worry so much about the due diligence.