10 episodes
Global Disruptors with Rod Liddle Disrupt Radio
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- Business
The story of the select band of people who have actually changed the world.
This series, narrated by UK journalist Rod Liddle, tells you how Richard Branson changed airlines, how Oprah Winfrey and Reed Hastings changed television, how Bill Gates changed computing, how Elon Musk changed cars, Travis Kalanick changed taxis, and how Jeff Bezos and Jack Ma changed shopping.
You’ll hear from the people who worked closest with them over the years, how they grew up, how they got started, and what sets them apart.
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Bill Gates, the man behind Microsoft
PCs powered by Windows have became ubiquitouis all over the world meaning that he was been a billionaire since 1987. Through the people that know him best, you'll hear the story of how he conquered the world's workplaces from humble beginnings in 1975 when he co-founded Microsoft with his childhood friend Paul Allen.
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Phil Knight, founder of Nike
Starting out as a keen track runner at college in Oregon, USA, Knight has built his sportwear empire into one of the world's biggest and most profitable brands. He began selling Japanese sports shoes and since 1969 has revolutionised sportswear, sponsoring sporting icons such as Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods and Rafael Nadal. As of 2024 he is worth a staggering $41 billion.
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Travis Kalanick, the man behind Uber
In cities all over the world, the taxi industry has been turned upside down by Uber, the US rideshare company. The app's global expansion, often deliberately taking on complacent taxi firms and city halls, was led by Travis Kalanick. But his aggresive approach meant that by 2019, he had sold all the shares in the company he founded. Hear how he built Uber, what was he like to work for and how he was forced out.
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Reed Hastings, Netflix co-founder
One of the people who killed the video store. Netflix started by mailing out DVDs and is now one of the world's biggest TV streaming services. How did Hastings do it? What advantages did he have growing up? And what's he like to work with?
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Ariana Huffington creator of The Huffington Post
She upended online journalism by launching her Huffington Post news site in 2005. Born in Greece, she studied at The Uninversity of Oxford and became a well known media commentator in the 1990s in the US. In 2011, The Huffington post was aquired by AOL for $315 million.
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Jack Ma of Alibaba
Jack Ma started his businesses by offering tours of his hometown, Hangzhou in China to English speaking tourists but is the man who brought online shopping to China. How did he do it? What's he like to work with? How did he create a company worth an estimated $200 billion.
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