Good Bad Billionaire
By BBC World Service
How did the planet's richest people make their billions? From celebrities and secretive CEOs to sporting legends and tech titans, Simon Jack and Zing Tsjeng find out, and then decide whether they think they’re good, bad, or just another billionaire.
Ever wondered how Taylor Swift went from country singer to money-spinner? How Amazon boss Jeff Bezos came to launch one of the biggest corporations of the internet age? And how six-time NBA champion Michael Jordan made his fortune with Nike? Good Bad Billionaire is here to analyse the minds, motives and money of some of the world's wealthiest individuals. No detail is too small and no story too wild to uncover.
Join us on a global journey, discovering all we can about some of the richest people on the planet. We hear about billionaires in Russia, China, New Zealand, India, Nigeria and the UK. In the United States, there are those who made their money in Silicon Valley, on Wall Street and high street fashion.
Exploring the lives of Oprah Winfrey, Bill Gates, Rupert Murdoch, El Chapo, Narayana Murthy and Kim Kardashian, this podcast paints a vivid picture of business, entrepreneurship, capitalism and how our world really works.
In season two, we learn how the likes of Jerry Seinfeld, Peter Jackson, Doris Fisher and George Soros came to join the billionaires' club. We explore how Tiger Woods went from a child golfing prodigy to the world’s highest paid athlete, how a communist mime artist became the boss of fashion house Prada and how Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich bought an English football club. Find out how Mukesh Ambani became Asia’s richest person, and how Patrice Motsepe became the first black billionaire in a post-apartheid South Africa.
Plus, we examine some of the biggest names behind the technology shaping our world – the founders of TikTok, Google, ChatGPT, Alibaba and Bumble. But it's not just how these billionaires made their money; it's what they did with it next. Ultimately, Simon and Zing consider whether they think these people are a force for “good”, the opposite, or somewhere in between.
Join Simon Jack, business editor for BBC News, and journalist, author and podcaster Zing Tsjeng as this podcast unravels tales of fortune, power, ambition and moral responsibility, and invites you to make up your own mind: are they Good, Bad, or Just Another Billionaire?
New episodes released on Mondays.
Latest episode
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Yvon Chouinard: A $3 billion giveaway
The founder of sporting apparel firm Patagonia made billions - then gave it all away -
Whitney Wolfe Herd: Dating app entrepreneur
How the woman who founded dating apps Bumble and Tinder was briefly a billionaire -
Aliko Dangote: Africa’s richest person
Aliko Dangote started a cement business, and went on to become Africa’s richest person -
Sam Altman: ChatGPT and the AI revolution
Sam Altman made a billion investing in tech start-ups, but made his name through AI -
Zhang Yiming: TikTok’s tech boss
How Chinese tech company ByteDance became a multi-billiondollar social media business -
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw: Beer, brewing and biotech
How India’s first female self-made billionaire built a pharmaceutical empire -
George Soros: 'The man who broke the Bank of England'
A hedge fund tycoon who became one of the most successful investors ever -
Jerry Seinfeld: The world’s richest comedian
How a hit sitcom made a New York stand-up the richest comedian in history -
Peter Jackson: Lord of the films
A blockbuster tale: How the Lord of the Rings director became a billionaire -
Miuccia Prada: ‘Ugly fashion’
How a communist mime artist became the boss of one of the world’s biggest fashion houses