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PODCAST

Good Bad Billionaire

BBC World Service

How did the richest people on the planet make their billions? Find out with the Good Bad Billionaire podcast - now with a chance for you to have your say. Make up your minds whether you think they are good, bad or just another billionaire.Latest episodes: Luciano Benetton and Elon Musk.In each episode of Good Bad Billionaire, BBC Business Editor Simon Jack and journalist and author Zing Tsjeng analyse the lives of the super-rich, and try to understand what motivates billionaires like Kim Kardashian

business entrepreneurship

All Episodes

47:33

David Geffen: The Hollywood power broker

Good Bad Billionaire ·

2026/01/19

David Geffen is the money man behind Crosby, Stills and Nash, Guns N' Roses, Cher, Shrek, Gladiator, and even Cats the musical. Journalist Zing Tsjeng and BBC business editor Simon Jack tell the remarkable story of the Brooklyn boy who conquered Hollywood and became an entertainment mogul. From starting in a New York agency mailroom to the heart of Laurel Canyon’s hippie-rock scene, David Geffen rubbed shoulders with almost every major cultural figure of the 20th century. Joni Mitchel wrote a song

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42:12

Sara Blakely: Shaping the world with Spanx

Good Bad Billionaire ·

2026/01/12

Sara Blakely grew up in Florida and dreamed of becoming a lawyer, but after failing the LSAT twice, she pivoted to sales and later entrepreneurship. Frustrated by uncomfortable hosiery, Blakely cut the feet off her tights and sparked an idea that would change fashion. With no formal business training, she cold-called hosiery mills and landed her first big break with Neiman Marcus, then with the Oprah Winfrey show. Spanx went from a scrappy startup to a billion-dollar brand that reshaped celebrity

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41:06

Guy Laliberté: Cirque du Soleil’s clown turned CEO

Good Bad Billionaire ·

2026/01/05

Guy Laliberté went from busking on the streets of Quebec to entertaining Hollywood celebrities and wearing a clown nose on the International Space Station. BBC business editor Simon Jack and journalist Zing Tsjeng tell the story of the Cirque du Soleil founder, and how he turned his passion for parties into a billion-dollar entertainment empire.Good Bad Billionaire is the podcast that explores the lives of the super-rich and famous, tracking their wealth, philanthropy, business ethics and

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55:27

Elon Musk: Money, memes and Mars

Good Bad Billionaire ·

2025/12/08

Elon Musk’s extraordinary rise, from a troubled childhood in apartheid-era South Africa to becoming the first person to amass half a trillion dollars. BBC business editor Simon Jack and journalist Zing Tsjeng chart Elon Musk's journey to becoming a multi-billionaire entrepreneur: from tech giant PayPal, to revolutionising electric cars at Tesla, and launching rockets at SpaceX. But becoming the richest person in the world comes with plenty of boardroom drama and controversy. Good Bad Billionaire is

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41:25

Luciano Benetton: Famous fashion to cultural controversy

Good Bad Billionaire ·

2025/12/01

Luciano Benetton rose from poverty in postwar Italy to found a chain of 7,000 high street fashion stores and create some of the most controversial advertising campaigns in history, becoming a billionaire along the way.Journalist Zing Tsjeng and BBC business editor Simon Jack discover how it all started for Luciano Benetton with a yellow sweater knitted by his sister, on a journey that takes in Benito Mussolini, Dolce Vita, Formula One, and Princess Diana. But Benetton wasn’t just about fashion;

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42:26

Tyler Perry: Homeless to Hollywood entrepreneur

Good Bad Billionaire ·

2025/11/24

From a childhood marked by abuse and trauma, Tyler Perry worked whatever jobs he could to fund his self-written and produced play for six years: sometimes performing to an audience of just one. But then success literally came calling for the future billionaire, and kick-started his rise in showbiz.Journalists Zing Tsjeng and Simon Jack explore how Tyler Perry’s faith, relentless work ethic, and deep understanding of his audience helped him defy critics and reshape Black entertainment. From the

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44:31

Lakshmi Mittal: King of steel

Good Bad Billionaire ·

2025/11/17

Lakshmi Mittal grew up in Kolkata, where he gained early experience in his father’s steel business before founding his own steel mill in Indonesia in his twenties. By adopting mini-mill technology and electric arc furnaces, Lakshmi Mittal produced steel more efficiently than traditional methods and began acquiring underperforming state-owned mills around the world, setting him on his path to becoming a billionaire.Journalists Zing Tsjeng and Simon Jack trace his journey of entrepreneurship from one

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48:55

Michael O’Leary: Ryanair’s cost-cutting king

Good Bad Billionaire ·

2025/11/10

How Michael O’Leary, the outspoken CEO of Ryanair, turned a struggling regional airline into a €28 billion powerhouse by relentlessly cutting costs and embracing controversy.BBC business editor Simon Jack and journalist Zing Tsjeng uncover how O’Leary - who neither founded Ryanair nor intended to work in aviation - redefined the airline industry. Through radical cost-cutting, lightning-fast plane turnarounds, and headline-grabbing stunts, he transformed the company into a disruptive, ultra-low-cost

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38:56

Diane Hendricks: Building a fortune

Good Bad Billionaire ·

2025/11/03

Diane Hendricks rose from a teenage mother on a Wisconsin dairy farm to become America’s richest self-made woman, building a $22 billion fortune through roofing giant ABC Supply.BBC business editor Simon Jack and journalist Zing Tsjeng trace her journey from selling homes to leading the largest roofing supplies company in the US. From renovating properties to reshaping her hometown of Beloit, Hendricks’ story is one of grit, ambition, and political influence.Good Bad Billionaire is the podcast that

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44:21

John Fredriksen: Tanker king

Good Bad Billionaire ·

2025/10/27

Norwegian shipping magnate John Fredriksen once owned the world’s largest fleet of oil tankers. He made billions shipping goods round the globe and was unafraid of high-risk deals.BBC business editor Simon Jack and journalist Zing Tsjeng explain how Fredriksen began as a ship broker, then dabbled in oil trading, before entering the most profitable part of the oil trade – ship owning. Once known for rowdy parties and sending his ships into war zones, he reformed his reputation after an oil spill

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46:37

Evan Spiegel: Snapchat fratboy

Good Bad Billionaire ·

2025/10/20

Snapchat co-founder Evan Spiegel dropped out of Stanford Business School when the disappearing messages app made him a millionaire. Four years later, he was named the world’s youngest billionaire at 25.BBC business editor Simon Jack and journalist Zing Tsjeng tell Spiegel’s story, from shy schoolboy to partying teen, to tech titan, all in just a few years. Spiegel formed Snapchat with a fraternity buddy and their app soon spread around the world, but old emails and a lawsuit caused controversy.

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44:40

Tatyana Kim: Russia’s online retail queen

Good Bad Billionaire ·

2025/10/13

How Tatyana Kim went from working as an English teacher to running Russia’s largest online retailer, Wildberries, and being Russia’s richest woman. Journalist Zing Tsjeng and BBC business editor Simon Jack piece together how Tatyana Kim built Wildberries into one of Russia’s leading online clothing retailers, before expanding into electronics, household goods and food. In 2024 Kim and Wildberries hit the headlines when armed men arrived at her offices, resulting in the fatal shooting of two security

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46:50

Arnold Schwarzenegger: Muscles, movies, money

Good Bad Billionaire ·

2025/10/06

How bodybuilder Arnold Schwarzenegger went from Mr Universe to all-action cinematic superstar and billionaire investor.BBC business editor Simon Jack and journalist Zing Tsjeng take us back to Schwarzenegger’s youth in post-war Austria and a childhood marked by poverty. Bodybuilding gave him a way out and he took it, going all the way to Hollywood. But he made even more money from investments than he did from acting. Schwarzenegger also had a fourth career as governor of California.Good Bad

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1:42

Coming soon: More tales of the megarich

Good Bad Billionaire ·

2025/09/19

Film stars, tech bros, shipping magnates and online retail giants... BBC business editor Simon Jack and journalist Zing Tsjeng introduce the latest batch of billionaires whose stories they will uncover in their new season, starting 6 October.Good Bad Billionaire is the podcast that explores the lives of the super-rich and famous, tracking their wealth, philanthropy, business ethics and success. There are leaders who made their money in Silicon Valley, on Wall Street and in high street fashion. From

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64:29

George Lucas and Peter Jackson: Film stories

Good Bad Billionaire ·

2025/09/08

George Lucas created Star Wars and Peter Jackson directed the Lord of the Rings films, two of the movie world’s most epic adventures. Ahead of a new season of Good Bad Billionaire, presented by Zing Tsjeng and BBC business editor Simon Jack, here’s another chance to hear how these two film directors went from zero to a billion, in episodes originally released in 2023 and 2024.Good Bad Billionaire is the podcast that explores the lives of the super-rich and famous, tracking their wealth,

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10:49

The dead billionaires: What do you think?

Good Bad Billionaire ·

2025/08/27

What did you think of John D Rockefeller, Henry Ford, Howard Hughes, Sam Walton and Hetty Green?These five titans of American industry include an oil tycoon, a motor magnate, an eccentric aviator, the founder of Walmart, and an unsung pioneer of value investment known as the ‘Witch of Wall Street’. They helped shape business in the United States, but were they good, bad, or just billionaires?In Good Bad Dead Billionaire, BBC business editor Simon Jack and journalist Zing Tsjeng share their stories

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47:50

Hetty Green: The 'witch' of Wall Street

Good Bad Billionaire ·

2025/08/04

Hetty Green was America’s richest woman, but was renowned as the nation’s biggest miser. But she built her investment fortune in an era before women could even vote.Journalist Zing Tsjeng and BBC business editor Simon Jack tell the forgotten story of a woman guided by Quakerism who loaned money to New York City when it was in financial peril. She also pioneered the concept of ‘value investment’, decades before the theory was taught in economics classes.In this special series, Good Bad Dead

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44:29

Sam Walton: Walmart’s founder

Good Bad Billionaire ·

2025/07/28

Sam Walton put discount megastores on the map and built the largest retailer on Earth. He founded Walmart, which now has around 10,500 stores across 19 countries, and 255 million customers a week, thanks to their low prices. They also employ more than two million workers.BBC business editor Simon Jack and journalist Zing Tsjeng explore Sam’s penchant for piloting his small plane to drop in, unannounced, on his stores around the USA, and discover why he danced the Hula on Wall Street, covered in leis

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45:27

Howard Hughes: Eccentric aviator

Good Bad Billionaire ·

2025/07/21

The original weird billionaire, Howard Hughes was a filmmaker, a playboy and a world record-breaking aviator. He was also an obsessive germophobe who died a paranoid recluse.Journalist Zing Tsjeng and BBC business editor Simon Jack tell the story of one of the strangest billionaires in history. A wealthy child who was orphaned young, he dallied in different businesses but still became the richest man in America.In this special series, Good Bad Dead Billionaire, find out how five of the world's most

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52:02

Henry Ford: Putting the world on wheels

Good Bad Billionaire ·

2025/07/14

Henry Ford may not have invented the car, or even the assembly line, but he perfected them. His Model T – nicknamed “Tin Lizzie” – made cars affordable for the average worker, not just the rich. He was a master tinkerer, inventor and even introduced the five-day 40-hour work week – better than the six-day grind that was the norm at the time. But his legacy is a complicated one. He increased wages but crushed unions. Plus he used his popularity to spread antisemitic conspiracy theories. In 1938,

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86 results

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