Billion Dollar Blunder

Spellbound Audio
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  • Business
  • Semiweekly

Billion Dollar Blunder is a business-history podcast about the companies that had everything and lost it. Each episode is a cinematic deep dive into a single spectacular collapse: the fraud, the hubris, the warning nobody heeded, and the exact moment it all came apart.

  1. Aug 5

    Washington Mutual : The Biggest Bank Failure in US History - #40

    Washington Mutual was a $300 billion savings bank crushed by subprime mortgages, seized by regulators in September 2008. It remains the largest bank failure in US history, sold to JPMorgan for $1.9 billion.

  2. Aug 4

    Archegos : A Family Office That Vaporized $20 Billion - #39

    Archegos Capital was Bill Hwang's family office that used hidden leverage to build enormous stock positions. Its 2021 collapse erased about $20 billion in days and cost banks over $10 billion.

  3. Aug 3

    Juicero : A $400 Machine You Could Squeeze by Hand - #38

    Juicero was a Silicon Valley startup that raised $120 million for a $400 Wi-Fi juice press. It flopped after reporters showed the pricey packs could be squeezed by hand, and it shut down in 2017.

  4. Aug 2

    Xerox PARC : It Invented the Future and Kept None of It - #37

    Xerox PARC was the legendary research lab that created the graphical interface, mouse, and Ethernet in the 1970s. Xerox failed to commercialize them, letting Apple and Microsoft build empires on its ideas.

  5. Aug 1

    Satyam : India's Enron and a $1 Billion Phantom Cash Pile - #36

    Satyam Computer Services was a top Indian IT firm whose founder confessed in 2009 to inventing over $1 billion in cash on the books. Dubbed 'India's Enron,' it shook the country's outsourcing industry.

  6. Jul 31

    Bear Stearns : An 85-Year-Old Bank Sold for $2 a Share - #35

    Bear Stearns was an 85-year-old Wall Street investment bank whose bad mortgage bets sparked a 2008 run. The Fed brokered a fire sale to JPMorgan at $2 a share, an early domino of the financial crisis.

  7. Jul 30

    Knight Capital : $440 Million Lost in 45 Minutes - #34

    Knight Capital was a major stock-trading firm undone in August 2012 when faulty software flooded the market with erroneous orders. It lost $440 million in 45 minutes and was swallowed in a rescue.

  8. Jul 29

    Webvan : $800 Million to Deliver Groceries Too Fast - #33

    Webvan was a dot-com grocery-delivery startup that raised over $800 million and built massive warehouses before demand existed. It burned through the cash and went bankrupt in 2001, a symbol of dot-com excess.

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About

Billion Dollar Blunder is a business-history podcast about the companies that had everything and lost it. Each episode is a cinematic deep dive into a single spectacular collapse: the fraud, the hubris, the warning nobody heeded, and the exact moment it all came apart.

Information

  • Creator
    Spellbound Audio
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    40
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Spellbound Audio
  • Show Website
    Billion Dollar Blunder