Acquired copertina

Acquired

Acquired

Di: Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal
Ascolta gratuitamente

Every company has a story. Learn the playbooks that built the world’s greatest companies — and how you can apply them.Copyright 2026 ACQ, LLC Economia Finanza personale
Episodi
  • The Walt Disney Company

    The Walt Disney Company
    Jun 22 2026
    The Walt Disney Company is the most successful enterprise ever created for monetizing human nostalgia. Today it’s the king of global entertainment, holding the intellectual property rights to the childhood memories of billions of people (including, likely, all of you) and is a reliable, predictable profitable business. But it didn’t start that way.During Walt’s era, Disney operated like an unhinged moonshot factory, blowing its finances on one seemingly crazy project after another, like the very first feature-length animated film or a theme park inspired by Walt's fascination with model trains (spoiler: Disneyland). Walt’s relentless ambition to bet the company over and over again not only created some of the most monumental artistic achievements of the 20th century (Snow White, Fantasia, Disney Imagineering), but also resulted in the accidental invention of the modern “flywheel” business model. In this episode, we tell the story of the ultimate marriage of art, commerce, and engineering — The Walt Disney Company: Walt's Era.Sponsors:Many thanks to our fantastic Spring '26 Season partners:J.P. MorganWeAreDevelopers eventVercelServiceNowStatsigLinks:Sign up for email updates, get our takeaways and research photos from each episode, and vote on future topics!The Acquired Disney Companion PDFOur Disney column in WSJThe original 1958 WSJ “Flywheel” article"Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination by Neal GablerThe Animated Man by Michael BarrierWalt Disney: An American Original by Bob ThomasBuilding a Company: Roy O. Disney and the Creation of an Entertainment Empires by Bob ThomasThe Disney Version: The Reedy Creek Improvement District in the Contemporary Florida Story by Richard SchickelPBS American Experience: Walt DisneyDisneyland HandcraftedWalt's 1966 EPCOT pitch videoWorldly Partners' Multi-Decade Disney StudyThe Walt Disney Family MuseumAll episode sourcesCarve Outs:Brooks Vanguard sneakersDefunctland YouTube ChannelAnimagraffs YouTube ChannelVolvo EX30The San Francisco SymphonyMore Acquired:Get email updates and vote on future episodes!Join the SlackCheck out the latest swag in the ACQ Merch Store!00:00 Start01:09 Intro06:03 Walt's Early Life & Artistic Calling (1901-1919)12:37 From Commercial Art to Laugh-o-grams (1919-1923)23:04 Hollywood, The Alice Comedies & Oswald's Loss (1923-1928)43:31 Mickey Mouse & The Synchronized Sound Breakthrough (1928)01:01:53 The IP Flywheel & Mickey Merch Explosion (1929-1933)01:09:57 Analysis: The Disney IP Flywheel Unpacked01:59:02 Snow White & The Folly That Defined Animation (1937)01:41:08 The Burbank Studio & Pre-War Struggles (1937-1941)02:04:20 The Animators' Strike & Walt's Disillusionment (1941)02:15:44 World War II & The Accidental Disney Vault (1941-1945)02:24:27 Post-War Slump to Cinderella's Comeback (1945-1950)02:33:46 Walt's Obsession: Model Trains to Disneyland (1950-1952)02:38:44 Financing Disneyland: ABC, SRI & Davy Crockett (1953-1955)03:17:00 Disneyland's Grand Opening & The Evolving Flywheel (1955-1958)03:39:04 The Florida Project: Walt's Vision for EPCOT City (1958-1966)03:54:20 Walt's Untimely Death & Roy's Legacy (1966-1971)04:00:06 A Parks Company & Creative Decline (1971-1984)04:09:44 Analysis: Why No Other Disney Flywheels?04:17:15 The Seven Powers of Disney04:20:30 Quintessence: Art, Commerce & Timeless IP04:23:47 Carve-Outs + Outro‍Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
    Mostra di più Mostra meno
    4 ore e 31 min
  • Vanguard

    Vanguard
    May 18 2026
    Vanguard is the most effective vehicle ever created for participating in the fruits of American capitalism. Today it’s the single largest equity owner of the majority of corporations in the S&P 500, on behalf of 50 million clients (including, likely, many of you). And yet Vanguard itself is essentially a communist organization — it has no shareholders, makes no profits, and operates more like REI than Fidelity. If you own a Vanguard fund, you own a piece of the firm itself. Any excess margin instead gets returned to clients in the form of lower fees, which since 1975 have added up to roughly five hundred billion dollars transferred out of Wall Street managers’ pockets and into retail investors’ savings accounts. And oh yeah, it all started as a cockamamie revenge plot by a guy who’d just been fired by his partners. Today we tell the story of communist capitalism at its finest — Vanguard.Sponsors:Many thanks to our fantastic Spring '26 Season partners:J.P. MorganWeAreDevelopers eventServiceNowVercelStatsigLinks:Sign up for email updates, get our takeaways and research photos from each episode, and vote on future topics!Our Vanguard "episode preview" in WSJStay the Course: The Story of Vanguard and the Index Revolution by John C. BogleThe Bogle Effect by Eric BalchunasWorldly Partners' Multi-Decade Vanguard StudyWorldly Partners' Article Generational Investing: The Discipline Behind 100+x OutcomesAll episode sourcesCarve Outs:Our WSJ pieces on Ferrari and VanguardMacBook Pro M5 MaxMichael MacKelvie on YouTubeThe Super Mario Galaxy MovieBrooks Vanguard sneakersMore Acquired:Get email updates and vote on future episodes!Join the SlackCheck out the latest swag in the ACQ Merch Store!00:00:00 Start00:00:41 Intro00:05:30 Jack Bogle's Early Life & Family Ruin (1929)00:12:34 Princeton Thesis & Mutual Funds Emerge (1949-1951)00:27:20 Joining Wellington Management (1951)00:30:38 The Go-Go Years & Fidelity's Ascent (1958-1965)00:40:36 Jack Takes the Reins & The Ivest Merger (1965)00:46:04 The Go-Go Bust & Jack's Crisis of Conscience (1970-1973)00:53:28 Jack is Fired: The Genesis of Vanguard (1974)01:13:03 The Journal Article That Inspired It All (1974-1976)01:35:02 Building the Fund & Early Struggles (1976-1981)01:44:32 The Rise of Indexing & Vanguard's Growth (1988-1992)01:49:06 Jack's Health & The CEO Transition (1995-1996)02:00:06 The ETF Debate & Jack's Second Firing (1999)02:24:18 The 2008 Financial Crisis: Vanguard's Moment02:30:46 The Warren Buffett Bet (2008-2019)02:41:28 Fidelity & BlackRock's Resurgence (Post-2008)02:52:04 Salim Ramji: Vanguard's First Outside CEO03:04:43 Wellington's Comeback & Mutual Ownership03:08:23 Analysis03:30:58 Quintessence03:39:35 Carve-Outs + Outro‍Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
    Mostra di più Mostra meno
    3 ore e 48 min
  • Ferrari

    Ferrari
    Apr 13 2026
    Ferrari is the pinnacle of luxury scarcity — across its entire 79-year history, the company has sold just 330,000 cars at an average price today of $500,000. For context, Hermès sells that many Birkins and Kellys roughly every 2 years, and Rolex moves that many watches every 3 months. And yet this ultimate luxury product also lives under the same roof with a widely beloved professional sports team… one with 400 million rabid fans from all walks of life who live and die by the Scuderia’s performance every F1 race weekend! How is it possible that these two seemingly contradictory customer bases can coexist within the same company? And far from destroying each other’s value, only reinforce it? The answer, it turns out, is a beautiful, bloody, tragic and romantic opera that spans two families and three generations — and just might be one of the best tales we’ve ever told on Acquired. Buckle up for the story of Ferrari. Sponsors:Many thanks to our fantastic Spring '26 Season partners:J.P. Morgan PaymentsVercelServiceNowStatsigLinks:Sign up for email updates, get out takeaways and research photos from each episode, and vote on future topics!Our Ferrari "episode preview" in WSJEnzo Ferrari by Luca Dal MonteSeeing Red on IMDbGo Like Hell by A.J. BaimeStephen Wilmot's great WSJ piece on FerrariFerrari factory tourWorldly Partners' Multi-Decade Ferrari StudyAll episode sourcesCarve Outs:Ford v FerrariMaison Wheat sweatersCraighill scissorsAmazon grocery serviceTravelpro Altitude backpackMore Acquired:Get email updates and vote on future episodes!Join the SlackCheck out the latest swag in the ACQ Merch Store!00:00:00 Start00:01:08 Intro00:06:11 Enzo Ferrari's Early Life & Tragedies (1898-1919)00:12:39 Scuderia Ferrari: Enzo's Racing Dream (1920-1933)00:25:08 The Prancing Horse & Ferrari's Branding00:35:41 First Ferrari Road Cars & Le Mans Victory (1947-1949)00:51:31 F1 & The Tragedies of Enzo's Life (1950s)01:14:03 Ford vs. Ferrari: The Le Mans Rivalry (1963-1966)01:21:24 Enzo Sells 50% to Fiat (1969)01:29:10 Luca di Montezemolo's Return to F1 Glory (1971-1976)01:52:40 Ferrari's "Pepsi Challenge" and how Luca rescued the company (1991)02:27:41 Post-IPO Ferrari: New Models & Growth (2015-Present)02:48:24 The FUV Purosangue & Model Range03:07:16 Ferrari Luce: The EV Future with Jony Ive03:12:37 Ferrari Today by the Numbers03:29:39 Analysis03:50:04 Carve-Outs + Thank Yous‍Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
    Mostra di più Mostra meno
    3 ore e 59 min
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1
Ancora nessuna recensione