Business History
It’s the history of business. How did Hitler’s favorite car become synonymous with hippies? What got Thomas Edison tangled up with the electric chair? Did someone murder the guy who invented the movies? Former Planet Mon...
Insights from recent episode analysis
On the show
- Kara Swisher1 ep
- Adam Grant1 ep
- Tim Harford1 ep
Audience Interest
Podcast Focus
Publishing Consistency
Insights are generated by CastFox AI using publicly available data, episode content, and proprietary models.
Most discussed topics
Brands & references
Total monthly reach
Based on 1 signal.
Built from
By chart position
- 🇬🇧United Kingdom · Business#148501 to 2.7K
- 🇵🇪PE · Business#44291 to 1.5K
- 🇨🇦Canada · Business#158270 to 1.4K
- 🇲🇽Mexico · Business#167179 to 946
- 🇰🇪KE · Business#9852 to 272
- Per-Episode Audience
Est. listeners per new episode within ~30 days
1.4K to 7.4K🎙 Weekly cadence·42 episodes·Last published today - Monthly Reach
Unique listeners across all episodes (30 days)
2.8K to 15K🇺🇸71%🇬🇧10%🇵🇪6%+5 more - Active Followers
Loyal subscribers who consistently listen
1.5K to 8.1K
Market Insights
Platform Distribution
Reach across major podcast platforms, updated hourly
Total Followers
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Total Plays
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Total Reviews
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* Data sourced directly from platform APIs and aggregated hourly across all major podcast directories.
| Date | Episode | Topics | Guests | Brands | Places | Keywords | Sponsor | Length | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10/28/26 |  The Pigeons That Built a Global News Empire | Before Reuters was a global news giant, it was a man and 45 homing pigeons. Julius Reuter saw that the telegraph would change how information moved, and he used that to his advantage. He didn’t have to get news out immediately — he just had to be first. Jacob Goldstein and Robert Smith follow Reuter from Germany to England, where he scoops The Times of London with news that Europe was headed to war. Connect with us: Follow Business History on Instagram and TikTok Follow Jacob Goldstein on LinkedIn, X and Instagram Follow Robert Smith on Instagram and X Email us at [email protected] Follow Pushkin on Instagram, LinkedIn and X To listen to the show ad free, sign up for Pushkin+ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. | 41m 55s | ||||||
| 10/21/26 |  How the Company Conquered the World | Jacob Goldstein and Robert Smith talk with Adrian Wooldridge, co-author of The Company: A Short History of a Revolutionary Idea. Companies are some of the most powerful institutions in the modern world – right up there with the nation-state. Where did the modern corporation come from? And what do AI and Chinese state-owned firms mean for the future of the company? Connect with us: Follow Business History on Instagram and TikTok Follow Jacob Goldstein on LinkedIn, X and Instagram Follow Robert Smith on Instagram and X Email us at [email protected] Follow Pushkin on Instagram, LinkedIn and X To listen to the show ad free, sign up for Pushkin+ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. | 47m 54s | ||||||
| 10/14/26 |  Sam the Banana Man: Gunboats, Coups, and United Fruit | In the late 1800s, a Russian immigrant named Samuel Zemurray spent nearly everything he had on a load of bananas, and turned it into a fortune. But Sam the Banana Man wasn’t just a business titan. He was a puppeteer on the geopolitical stage, bankrolling a revolution in Honduras and pushing the CIA to overthrow Guatemala’s democratically elected leader. For decades, Zemurray battled the United Fruit Company, an institution with its tentacles in governments across the Americas — including the United States. In the end, he wound up running the company. Connect with us: Follow Business History on Instagram and TikTok Follow Jacob Goldstein on LinkedIn, X and Instagram Follow Robert Smith on Instagram and X Email us at [email protected] Follow Pushkin on Instagram, LinkedIn and X To listen to the show ad free, sign up for Pushkin+ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. | 56m 20s | ||||||
| 10/7/26 |  Blockers | A Preview of Michael Lewis's New Audiobook | We're here with a preview of Blockers, a new audiobook from Michael Lewis, the author of Liars Poker, Moneyball, The Big Short and more. In Blockers, Lewis tells the story of a handful of people who dedicated their careers to public service—until the Department of Government Efficiency decided they were a problem. These were people who believed they had a calling—people who kept American's sensitive tax data out of the wrong hands, made sure that politicians and civil servants played by the rules, and figured out how to stop wildfires from destroying suburban neighborhoods—and then discovered they were no longer wanted. Here's an excerpt from the audiobook. You can buy the audiobook exclusively at blockers.fm. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. | 50m 20s | ||||||
| 9/30/26 |  Hitler's Gift to the Hippies: The VW Beetle Story Part I – Rerun | Business History is off this week, so we wanted to keep you entertained with a rerun, in case you missed our Beetle episode the first time around. (You can help us win a Signal Award for this episode by voting here.) The VW Beetle was the biggest selling car of all time - and it found particular favor with people like hippies and surfers. But this icon of the 60s counterculture had its roots in Nazism. The Volkswagen - the People's Car - was an obsession of Adolf Hitler. He wanted to transform Germany into a land of drivers - and needed an affordable, but reliable automobile. Germany's private auto manufacturers knew the project was doomed to failure. So Hitler assembled a team of designers and factory managers to enact his vision - even if that meant enslaving workers and committing murder. Write to us at [email protected] omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. | 34m 33s | ||||||
| 9/23/26 |  King of the Roll-Ups: The Man Who Created a Trash Empire, Then Built Blockbuster Video | Wayne Huizenga came from a long line of trash collectors. It was a rough, fragmented, mom-and-pops business which notoriously attracted mobsters. But Huizenga set out to buy his small competitors - to roll them up - to form the biggest waste management firm in the world. Huizenga bought up rival companies at a furious pace - several per week - and when he tired of the trash business he looked for something new. In the 80s, video stores also tended to be mom 'n pops outfits. Huizenga spotted that there was a golden opportunity to consolidate the rental industry, so used roll ups to build the giant Blockbuster Video chain. Write to us at [email protected] omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. | 38m 05s | ||||||
| 9/18/26 |  How Warren Buffet Built His Legacy By Finding Value No One Else Could See – Rerun | With the news of Warren Buffett stepping down as chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, we are revisiting an episode from our two-part series on Buffet. Warren Buffett rose from obscurity to become the richest person in the world - and he did it in a unique way. As a boy in Omaha he collected information obsessively - writing down car license numbers and hoarding bottle caps. As a young man, Buffett turned his focus on scouring business accounts to find companies that had hidden value no one else could spot. We tell the story of young Warren Buffett as he quietly worked building up the expertise and accumulating the wealth that would allow him to become the most famous investor of our age. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. | 44m 26s | ||||||
| 9/16/26 |  Herman Petty's Dream: The Struggles of the First Black American to Own a McDonald's | Herman Petty was a Chicago barber and bus driver who dreamed of running his own business. When his local McDonald's restaurant was abandoned in 1968, Herman approached the company and said he should be the first black American to be given a hamburger franchise. Herman and other black pioneers faced unique problems running McDonald's in America's inner cities - but their businesses soon flourished and they fought to make the burger giant listen to its black franchisees and customers. Write to us at [email protected] omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. | 44m 41s | ||||||
| 9/9/26 | labor unionssteel industry+5 | — | Pinkerton | — | Fort FrickAndrew Carnegie+6 | — | 44m 32s | ||
| 9/2/26 | labor unionssteel industry+3 | — | Homestead steel plantPushkin Industries | — | Andrew CarnegieHomestead strike+3 | — | 39m 46s | ||
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| 8/26/26 | user reviewstravel+3 | — | Pushkin Industries | — | George Washingtontaverns+3 | — | 44m 50s | ||
| 8/19/26 | automotive historycorporate culture+3 | Tim Harford | DeLoreanGM+2 | Northern Ireland | DeLoreanGM+7 | — | 48m 00s | ||
| 8/12/26 | instant ramenbusiness history+3 | — | instant ramen noodlesPushkin Industries | Japan | instant ramenMomofuku Ando+5 | — | 42m 04s | ||
| 8/5/26 | American beerBilly Beer+3 | — | Billy BeerPushkin Industries | — | Billy BeerJimmy Carter+5 | — | 41m 13s | ||
| 7/29/26 | printing pressGutenberg+5 | — | Catholic ChurchBibles+2 | — | printing pressJohannes Gutenberg+8 | — | 46m 11s | ||
| 7/22/26 | Robber Baronsstock market manipulation+4 | — | Pushkin IndustriesAmerica | — | Jay GouldRobber Barons+5 | — | 47m 11s | ||
| 7/8/26 | industrial disasterchemical plant+3 | — | nylon 6Pushkin Industries | FlixboroughEngland | Flixboroughchemical plant+5 | — | 38m 19s | ||
| 7/1/26 | financehedge funds+4 | — | Salomon BrothersLong Term Capital Management+2 | — | John MeriwetherSalomon Brothers+6 | — | 47m 36s | ||
| 6/24/26 | retail historyprice tags+3 | — | Pushkin IndustriesUS President | — | John Wanamakerretail+5 | — | 40m 27s | ||
| 6/17/26 | disruptive innovationstart-ups+4 | — | Harvard Business SchoolThe Innovator's Dilemma | — | disruptive innovationClayton M Christensen+4 | — | 40m 42s | ||
| 6/10/26 | journalismmuckraking+5 | — | Standard Oil | Pennsylvania | Ida TarbellJohn D Rockefeller+5 | — | 46m 27s | ||
| 6/3/26 | American capitalismGrind culture+3 | — | Pushkin Industries | — | Benjamin Franklincapitalism+3 | — | 44m 07s | ||
| 5/27/26 | American Revolutionfinance+4 | — | Pushkin Industries | — | Robert MorrisGeorge Washington+5 | — | 47m 42s | ||
| 5/20/26 | business failureentrepreneurship+4 | — | — | BostonCalcutta | Frederic Tudorice shipping+6 | — | 47m 17s | ||
| 5/15/26 |  From History Daily: John S. Pemberton Sells the First Glass of Coca-Cola | Here's a preview of a show we think you'll like, History Daily. Every weekday, Lindsay Graham explores a momentous event that happened 'on this day' in history. Today: American pharmacist John S. Pemberton sells the first glass of Coca-Cola at a pharmacy in downtown Atlanta, a drink he originally bills as a cure-all tonic for the chronic pain caused by war and drug addiction.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. | 15m 36s | ||||||
| 5/13/26 | entrepreneurshipfinancial history+4 | — | FranceGermany+2 | — | Ivar KreugerMatch King+5 | — | 48m 34s | ||
| 5/6/26 | Jack WelchGeneral Electric+4 | — | General ElectricGE Capital | — | Jack WelchGeneral Electric+5 | — | 53m 23s | ||
| 4/29/26 | women in businessChampagne industry+4 | — | Veuve Clicquot | France | Barbe-Nicole ClicquotChampagne+6 | — | 40m 40s | ||
| 4/22/26 | longevityaging+5 | Kara Swisher | CNNKara Swisher Wants to Live Forever | — | longevity businesseternal youth+4 | — | 42m 29s | ||
| 4/15/26 | insuranceLloyds of London+3 | — | Lloyds of London | — | Lloyds of Londoninsurance+3 | — | 39m 44s | ||
| 4/8/26 | marine insuranceLloyd's of London+3 | — | Lloyd's of London | River Thames | Lloyd's of Londonmarine insurance+5 | — | 32m 19s | ||
| 4/1/26 | financial fraudPonzi scheme+3 | Adam Grant | Pushkin IndustriesSNAFU+1 | — | Ponzi schemefinancial fraud+3 | — | 45m 40s | ||
| 3/25/26 | prediction marketsbetting+4 | — | KalshiPolymarket+1 | — | prediction marketsbetting+5 | — | 36m 21s | ||
| 3/18/26 | songwritersroyalties+5 | — | American Society of Composers, Authors and PublishersASCAP | — | songwritersASCAP+7 | — | 45m 00s | ||
| 3/11/26 | automotive historybusiness strategy+3 | — | General MotorsFord+3 | — | General MotorsFord+4 | — | 36m 09s | ||
| 3/4/26 | Henry Fordautomobile industry+4 | — | Model TPushkin Industries | — | Henry FordModel T+5 | — | 50m 06s | ||
| 2/25/26 | food preservationmilitary history+3 | — | tin canPushkin Industries | Napoleonic France | tin canfood preservation+3 | — | 57m 18s | ||
| 2/18/26 | grocery industryA&P history+3 | — | Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea CompanyA&P+1 | America | A&Pgrocery stores+5 | — | 48m 04s | ||
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Chart history for Business History
Peaked at #44 in PE, currently #44 in PE.
| Market | Genre | Peak | Current | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PE | — | #44 | #44 | — |
| KE | — | #98 | #98 | — |
| South Africa | — | #136 | #136 | — |
| New Zealand | — | #145 | #145 | — |
| United Kingdom | — | #148 | #148 | — |
| Canada | — | #158 | #158 | — |
| Mexico | — | #167 | #167 | — |
| IS | — | #196 | #196 | — |
Chart Positions
8 placements across 8 markets.
Chart Positions
8 placements across 8 markets.