Great Business Stories

This is a story I was completely enthralled by when it broke back in 1995. Leeson’s face was splashed across every newspaper in the days after he disappeared, having brought down Barings Bank by concealing massive losses and then trying to trade his way out of trouble — only to end up losing £827 million- about $1.3 billion.
It was nearly 30 years ago now, so I’d forgotten most of the details, which made revisiting it all the more fun. It’s a cracking story. Enjoy.

Like most of you, my perception of Parker was as a reckless party boy who somehow inserted himself into 3 of the most influential internet companies—Napster, Facebook and Spotify. Through the movie The Social Network, he's come to be seen as scheming and duplicitous. But that's not the guy I found when I dug deeper—the real Sean Parker is more nuanced and all the better for it. It's a cracking episode, enjoy.

This has been one of my favourite stories to research — because this story is just that good. It begins with a young engineer running a small construction company, he has an epiphany in the back of a New York taxi.
From there, it unfolds through boardroom upheavals, aggressively structured deals, and a long-term vision that never wavered. What sets Arnault apart isn't just the finance or tactics — it's the creativity you rarely see in a business titan.
It's a cracking story. Enjoy.

Promoted at just 26 to head AOL’s messaging platform, then spearheaded Facebook's growth helping to grow it from 15 million users to 840 million, buying 10% of the Golden State Warriors for just $25 million, being the public face of SPACs- a move that tarnished his reputation, co-hosting the massively popular All-In podcast, and just in the last few weeks, making billions from a very early AI investment- it’s a cracking story- enjoy.

Here's a guy who won the equivalent of £350,000 on a horse race when he was just 16 years old, made international headlines at 21 for eloping with the daughter of one of the world's richest men, employed 400 people by the time he was 23, and went on to become one of the most ruthless and cunning corporate raiders in the US during the 80s, and then emerged in the 90s as one of the most prominent anti-globalisation and anti-EU voices, helping to lay the foundation for what would become Brexit. And all the while publicly juggling his time between his ex-wife, his current wife, and his mistress. It's a cracking story – enjoy.