Costco
From Acquired by Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal
January 2, 2026 · 3h 1m · Season 13 · Episode 2
About this episode
This episode explores the unique business model and strategies of Costco, highlighting its combination of low prices and high employee compensation.
Costco is not only Charlie Munger’s favorite company of all time (plus he’s on the board, natch), it’s an absolutely fascinating study in how seemingly opposite characteristics can combine to create incredible company value. For instance: Costco has the cheapest prices of any major retailer in America — and also the wealthiest customer base. They pay their hourly workers 30% above the industry norm (and give them excellent healthcare + 401k benefits) — and are almost 3x more profitable on labor than Walmart. Speaking of Walmart, Costco stocks 40x fewer SKUs than their Bentonville-based rivals — yet sells an average of 15x more volume of each. And oh yeah, practically all of Costco’s C-Suite started their careers as baggers and checkout clerks! Tune in for a mind-bending exploration of one of the world’s most iconic — and iconically unique — companies. This episode was released on August 20, 2023. Links: The Science of Hitting Warren Buffett’s Costco joke Episode sources Carve Outs: Tifosi sunglasses Dwells “take off everything” Jeremy Giffon on Invest Like the Best Dogpatch David Lidsky’s great piece on Acquired in Fast Company Sponsors: Anthropic: https://bit.ly/acquiredclaude25…
Topics covered
- Costco
- business strategy
- retail
- employee benefits
Keywords
- Charlie Munger
- Walmart
- C-Suite
- profitability
Mentioned in this episode
Products: Tifosi sunglasses
Books & works: The Science of Hitting Warren Buffett’s Costco joke Episode, Invest Like the Best Dogpatch, Acquired in Fast Company
Places: America, Bentonville
More episodes of Acquired
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Acquired podcast page.