Acquired
About this creator
Acquired is a long-form business podcast that breaks down the companies, acquisitions, and strategic decisions behind iconic businesses.
Why they're in the library
Included for clear, credible perspective as long-form business podcast that breaks down the companies, acquisitions, and strategic decisions behind iconic businesses.
Showing 168 digests for Acquired.
How Ferrari built the world's most paradoxical luxury brand
Acquired
April 13, 2026
Origin stories
10
Branding
7
Business models
6
Ferrari sells fewer cars per year than Toyota sells every 10 hours — yet is worth more than Ford, VW, Honda, and Mercedes combined.
Enzo deliberately cultivated myth over product: dark sunglasses, the prancing horse, staged deals, and death as marketing.
Gross profit per car exceeds $170,000 — more than the full retail price of a Porsche.
How Formula One became a $70 billion global sport
Acquired
March 2, 2026
Origin stories
9
Business models
8
Exit strategy
6
Bernie Ecclestone seized TV rights no one valued — then they were worth billions
Liberty's cost cap transformed teams from money pits to $3.6bn assets
Drive to Survive turned F1's office politics into a global fandom reset
How the NFL became America's most valuable media business
Acquired
January 27, 2026
Case studies
9
Business models
8
Valuation
6
Equal revenue sharing — not better football — built a $23B monopoly.
Pete Rozelle turned a failing league into a media empire in five years.
Private equity entry lets the NFL collect carry on its own franchise sales.
How Rolex became the world's dominant watch brand
Acquired
January 3, 2026
Origin stories
9
Business models
8
Branding
7
Rolex survived the quartz crisis by selling identity, not timekeeping
A foundation ownership structure let Rolex ignore shareholders and play centuries-long
30% of Swiss watch industry revenue — next competitor is at 7.5%
Costco's Membership Model and Supply Chain Excellence
Acquired
January 2, 2026
Case studies
9
Business models
8
Processes & SOPs
5
How membership fees enable Costco's thin profit margins strategy
Supply chain innovations that revolutionized warehouse retail operations
Jim Sinegal's unconventional leadership approach and company culture
Acquired's 10-year journey: Why great podcasts require chemistry and risk
Acquired
December 15, 2025
Case studies
8
Content marketing
6
Chemistry between hosts and peer-level intellectual partnership beats manufactured expert credentials
Research-first approach with live improvisation creates authenticity listeners instantly recognize
Long-term consistency applying core principles outweighs chasing trends or celebrity guests
How Coca-Cola Became a $2 Trillion Dividend Machine
Acquired
November 24, 2025
Origin stories
9
Business models
8
Branding
7
Secret formula and brand moat enabled 1-million-X shareholder return over 140 years
Decentralized bottling network and ubiquitous distribution scaled globally with minimal capital
Consistent dividend growth and disciplined capital allocation created the ultimate holding company
How Trader Joe's built the anti-supermarket from a failed convenience store clone
Acquired
October 27, 2025
Origin stories
9
Business models
8
Unit economics
5
Trusting customers to accept a curated, incomplete store unlocks every other advantage.
Wine merchandising — story, scarcity, finite batches — became the template for all groceries.
Two Buck Chuck: a $27,000 label purchase that became over a billion bottles sold.
AI strategy & adoption
Podcast
Google's AI origins: how the transformer creator became the AI underdog
Acquired
October 6, 2025
AI strategy & adoption
9
Case studies
8
Business models
6
Google published the transformer paper — then let OpenAI run with it
The only company with model, chip, cloud, and mass-market distribution
Waymo: 91% fewer serious crashes, Google-sized market, still barely noticed
How Google built the web era's dominant platform — and survived the shift to mobile
Acquired
August 26, 2025
Origin stories
9
Business models
8
Competitive analysis
6
Every Google product was secretly a defence against Microsoft owning its distribution
YouTube's $1.65B acquisition now generates $50B revenue — second only to Disney
Android's less-than-free model is the only known case of a company dominating two successive computing eras
Business operating systems
Podcast
Jamie Dimon: how JP Morgan Chase became America's dominant bank
Acquired
July 16, 2025
Business operating systems
10
Pricing strategy
8
Management
7
Why Dimon invested half his net worth in a troubled bank
How the Fortress Balance Sheet turns crises into acquisitions
Surviving Bear Stearns cost $20B — and built JP Morgan's reputation
How Google went from Stanford research project to the best business of all time
Acquired
June 30, 2025
Origin stories
10
Business models
7
Fundraising & VC
5
PageRank worked because links are citations — and spammers can't fake authority
Google's ad auction raises revenue per search as scale increases — a rare property
Every portal had the chance to buy Google for $1M and said no
Founder interviews
Podcast
Steve Ballmer on Microsoft, missed bets, and building the enterprise
Acquired
June 2, 2025
Founder interviews
10
Business models
8
Pivoting
7
Microsoft's enterprise dominance was invented from scratch — no model existed before.
Mobile failed because Windows-everywhere thinking blocked the startup approach it required.
Holding $20B of Microsoft stock to $130B: loyalty over financial optimization.
How the IPL became the world's fastest-growing sports league
Acquired
March 24, 2025
Case studies
9
Business models
8
Unit economics
6
One man's revenge against Rupert Murdoch accidentally created a $16B league
The player auction system is more effective than any salary cap ever invented
IPL could overtake the NFL as the world's most valuable sports league
How Morris Chang built TSMC into the world's essential chip foundry
Acquired
January 27, 2025
Origin stories
9
Business models
8
Never competing with customers is what made TSMC a trillion-dollar company.
Chang personally settled a $100M+ NVIDIA dispute over pizza and a 48-hour deadline.
The learning curve: price ahead of cost, grab volume, and compound your lead.