Corporate Gossip

Please rate and review this podcast!! For bonus episodes and book club join us on Patreon Advertise with us We're willing to bet that there's a 92% chance that Prediction Markets are a pyramid scheme! Prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket are EVERYWHERE. Are the the future of democracy powered by collective wisdom? OR just another product of the 30 under 30 grift factory? Thanks to our sponsor Orange Marketing You should hire Jennifer Tisdale! Pictures Watch on YouTube Timestamps: 00:00 - An orgy at a SF Area tech convention?? WHO COULD HAVE GUESSED!!! 11:30 - BREAKING NEWS: A group of isolated white 20 something men with a high risk appetite have it all figured out! 21:00 - It's not called insider trading, it's called "having an edge" 35:00 - Do you like my new app? I designed it on the toilet 53:00 - Good News: Meta on trial Links: Resources for problem gambling The Wager That Betting Can Change the World The CEOs of Kalshi and Polymarket Are Betting On the Most Hated Experiment in Business They quit their day jobs to bet on current events. A look inside the prediction market mania Polymarket shouldn't allow people to profit by betting on the L.A. firestorm On Polymarket, 'privileged' users made millions betting on war strikes and diplomatic strategy. What did they know beforehand? America's financial markets are ready for a golden age Email our good news correspondant with tips: elizabethliu526@gmail.com Good News: Social media companies face legal reckoning over mental health harms to children

Palantir - a new custom hellscape or same sh*t different toilet? Has Silicon Valley gone completely red-pilled or was technofacism in the valley's DNA all along? Adam and Becca trace the cookie crumbs from a pioneering mid-century nobel prize winning white supremacist to the post-9/11 origins of Palantir and ultimately meet CEO Alex Karp. Lately, he's been hitting the eject button on his own brain and twisting himself into pretzels both physically and metaphorically to justify his belief that he personally should be rich and successful! Toronto Copy Editing (Use code OLD-F for 10% off!) Join us on Patreon Watch on YouTube Pictures on Substack Advertise on the Corporate Gossip Podcast Submit a good news story by email to our good news correspondent elizabethliu526@gmail.com Links: Democrats Drove Silicon Valley Into Trump's Arms How a racist genius created Silicon Valley by being a terrible boss Headed for technofascism': the rightwing roots of Silicon Valley Unlocking Secrets, if Not Its Own Value Trump Taps Palantir to Compile Data on Americans 'ELITE': The Palantir App ICE Uses to Find Neighborhoods to Raid Palantir CEO Alex Karp Recorded a Video About ICE for His Employees Alex Karp Goes to War CEO of Palantir Says He Spends a Large Amount of Time Talking to Nazis. Tech Workers Coalition Central Ohio businesses form mutual aid network to help families impacted by ICE Minnesota Mutual Aid Fund Instagram of Columbus Mutual Aid Fund: @corazonhilado Immigration and Mutual Aid Resources

We'll be back with season 7 on February 13th! This Patreon episode is free for all (no paywall) in solidarity with the National Strike on January 31st. If you like what you hear, please consider joining us on Patreon. It seems that for every person energized to activism this year, there's another three ready to shit on their efforts (it's not organized enough! it's not widespread enough! You'll never make a difference!). They're wrong. We're going to prove it by getting on our mumus and night caps and becoming the ghosts of general strikes past. We take you with us to the Minneapolis General Strike of 1934 (02:50), the Bahamas General Strike of 1958 (16:00), and the NYC Hard Hat Riot of 1970 (27:30). Three events that are essential to understanding where we are today. Hopefully when we deposit you back to the present, you feel jacked up on history and ready to rip in 2026. Then, we'll wash it all down with an investigation into Larry Ellison and the biggest AI deal of 2025 (37:00). Was it a shrewd business move? Or a foolish plot by an old man desperate to conquer his inner demons before he croaks? Links: Watch on YouTube Advertise on the Corporate Gossip Podcast Pictures from the episode Join me in Albany on Feb 25 Q1 Book Club: Little Bosses Everywhere Minneapolis: Labor then and now: 90 years after the Minneapolis Teamsters' strikes Minneapolis Teamsters Strike Documentary Part 1 Minneapolis Teamsters Strike Documentary Part 2 The Citizens Alliance of Minneapolis Bahamas: 60th Anniversary of The General Strike: 19 Days That Changed The Bahamas The 1958 General Strike and the Making of the Modern Bahamas – Bahama Pundit The Bahamas: Bad News for the Boys Hard Hat Riots: The riot that started the culture wars Watch Hard Hat Riot | American Experience - PBS The Coffee Klatch with Robert Reich Larry Ellison: TikTok Is Now Collecting Even More Data About Its Users. Here Are the 3 Biggest Changes TikTok users say they are being censored after change to U.S. ownership Oracle, OpenAI Sign $300 Billion Cloud Deal Larry Ellison Is More Interesting Than Ever at 81 The Billionaire, His Mystery Wife and College Football's Wildest Recruiting Saga Big Tech tax breaks could've funded benefits for millions, Senator Warren finds

Thank you for listening to another season of the podcast! We'll be back in January with new episodes. Got suggestions / thoughts / feedback? Email becca@nitetoast.com For bonus episodes, book club, and the aftershow, join us on Patreon Trigger warning: suicide, drug use, overdose Tony Hsieh had a life other entrepreneurs dreamed of. He was the wealthy CEO of a wildly successful ecommerce company with a legion of devoted customers and employees, currently on a bus tour to spread the gospel of his unique management style. But under the surface, cracks were starting to show, and Tony was falling into a severe drug and alcohol addiction. Years after his death that bus tour was a clear turning point in Tony's story, but for those around him at the time, it was just Tony being Tony. They had no clue how much darker things could get. See pictures from today's episode on Substack Thank you to our episode sponsors: New York Interventionist Goodword Email our good news correspondant with tips: elizabethliu526@gmail.com Timestamps: 2:00 - Intro / show notes 6:00 - Zappos / Tony Hshei story 1:20:00 - Good News & Adam breaks a chair Links: Wonderboy (Book) Internal Memo: Zappos is offering severance to employees who aren't all in with Holacracy How Tony Hsieh Tried to Single-Handedly Transform Downtown Las Vegas The Rise and Fall of the Management Visionary Behind Zappos The Death of Zappos's Tony Hsieh: A Spiral of Alcohol, Drugs and Extreme Behavior Amazon Changes at Zappos Slowly Dismantle Tony Hsieh's Legacy 'Money's a powerful motivator,' Friends, documents detail Las Vegas entrepreneur Tony Hsieh's final months alive Spinato's Employees Get a "Slice of the Pie" as Spinato Family Transitions 49% of Company Ownership to Eligible Employees Iconic Cincinnati company Graeter's to become partially employee-owned

Listen to the full episode on Patreon. Join today at the Murdoch's Mates level and get FOUR bonus epiosdes every month plus the Corporate Gossip Book Club and group chat! On Monday morning thousands of travelers were locked out of their Sonder hotel rooms and told: Sorry! Our business isn't businessing anymore :) Executives at both Marriott and Sonder turned their phones on Do Not Disturb as frazzled front line employees tried to manage fuming customers. At first glance, this just seems like a mismanaged PR crisis, but there's SO much more to the story: A bay area unicorn led by a Forbes 30 under 30 wunderkind, co-opted by VC maniacs speeding down the the 2021 SPAC super highway, bailing right before the crash and leaving unwitting investors holding the bag. INTO THE CORPORATE DUMPSTER!!! Links: Hospitality Startup Sonder Raises $170 Million At A $1.3 Billion Valuation During Covid-19 Travel Collapse Gores SPAC's High Redemptions Signal Worsening Sector Sentiment Sonder faces class action investigation after delaying financial results due to errors in past statements Sonder Seeks Room in Post-Covid-19 Lodging San Francisco property-tech company, once worth $1.9B, suddenly goes belly-up Dear Sonder Guest, Your Hotel Is Closed

This is an updated and unlocked version of an episode that was earlier published exclusively on Patreon. Join now and enjoy FOUR extra episodes a month for as little as $5! Ty Haney is back at Outdoor voices, the cult athleisure brand she founded. Can she successfully suck us all into her time machine back to 2014? Or will this company's death rattle be loud enough to convince the brand's private equity investors to put OV out of its misery. Today, Adam and Becca try to figure out how the once beloved brand got so weird and shitty and how Ty Haney fell off the top of the Abby Lee Miller girl boss pyramid. All pics can be found on Substack Watch on Youtube Email our good news correspondant with tips: elizabethliu526@gmail.com Advertise on the Corporate Gossip Podcast Links: Outdoor Voices Became A Staple For Millennial Cool Girls Thanks To Its Chill Aesthetic. Employees Say They Were Drowning. Outdoor Voices Founder Ty Haney Has Moved On. Mostly. Three years after her dramatic exit as CEO, she still has some things she'd like to say. How Outdoor Voices, a Start-Up Darling, Imploded Ty Haney is Elon Musk's Reply Guy Outdoor Voices founder Ty Haney accused of defrauding investors in $3M energy drink deal

The demon living inside Les Wexner's head brings us into the Victoria's Secret gremlin lair! Adam and Becca go back to the early 2000s to tell the story of the rise and fall of this retail behemoth and the corporate crooks who drove it into the ground. CW: Sexual Assault, Suicide Join us on Patreon for bonus episodes and the aftershow Pics from this episode on Substack Watch on YouTube Thanks to our sponsor, Manager Method. Use code GOSSIP for 10% off! Visit the Pullman National Historical Park Email our good news correspondant with tips: elizabethliu526@gmail.com Timestamps: 00:00 - Intro & Ed Razek's creep club 16:30 - The toxic culture inside Victoria's Secret 25:00 - Les Wexner's childhood & mommy issues 42:00 - Jack Fucking Welch shows up!!! The fall of Victoria's Secret Links: Selling Sexy: Victoria's Secret and the Unraveling of an American Icon 'Angels' in Hell: The Culture of Misogyny Inside Victoria's Secret The Mogul and the Monster: Inside Jeffrey Epstein's Decades-Long Relationship With His Biggest Client

Listen to the full episode on Patreon. Join today at the Murdoch's Mates level and get FOUR bonus epiosdes every month plus the Corporate Gossip Book Club and group chat! On a chilly October night, I like to cuddle up with a good ponzi scheme. It's my comfort fraud <3 Links: ‘Do You Believe I’m a Scam? Haha’ Tai Lopez became YouTube famous promising men they too could own a Lamborghini. Then came the alleged Ponzi scheme. Tai Lopez's RadioShack Ponzi Scheme Read the SEC complaint This Clown Is Still Around its always the guy you suspect the most

Please Rate and Review this Podcast!! Join the Patreon for the aftershow and tons of bonus content No game developer would even think to create a dungeon troll as sinister as Bobby Kotick. Bobby's life is a video game where gobbling up cash is the mission and when it comes to retribution there is no side quest too small! When the WSJ drops a bombshell report about years of sexual harassment and toxic culture at Activsion Blizard, will Bobby Kotick finally run out of lives? Or will he respawn in the form of a trash goblin who gets bonus points for punching down? Thanks to our sponsor Borough House Creative Advertise on the Corporate Gossip Podcast Watch on YouTube Time Stamps: 00:00 - Background on Activision Blizzard 09:30 - Bobby Kotick meets Daddy Wynnbucks and becomes an adopted nepo baby, starts game publisher Activision and develops expert level skill in suing people less rich than him 29:30 - Blizzard origin story, early reports of sexual harassment 51:00 - Activision Blizzard merger, Bobby Kotick turns the company into the Triangle Shirtwaist factory while board members look the other way 56:00 - Bobby Kotick completes the CEO right of passage - bending over for the CCP! 60:00 - The lights come on and everyone realizes Bobby Kotick is a little dungeon troll Note: Activision Blizzard denied any wrongdoing, and the settlement confirms California Civil Rights Department (CRD) could not substantiate those claims. As part of the settlement, the CRD withdrew the claims related to harassment from its complaint. Links: Play Nice (book) ‘Scorched earth’ and big profits: How embattled gaming titan Bobby Kotick outlasts his opponents At Blizzard, groping, free-flowing booze and fear of retaliation tainted ‘magical’ workplace Blizzard Sets Off Backlash for Penalizing Hearthstone Gamer in Hong Kong Activision CEO Bobby Kotick Knew for Years About Sexual-Misconduct Allegations at Videogame Giant A group of Activision workers say their C.E.O. should step down. Parents Say Sexual Harassment at Activision Blizzard Led to Their Daughter’s Suicide

Listen to the full episode on Patreon. Join today at the Murdoch's Mates level and get FOUR bonus epiosdes every month plus the Corporate Gossip Book Club and group chat! In this episode: Brian Niccol TRIES HIS HARDEST to get us to like Starbucks again as he tries to escape the living ghost of Howard Shultz. I also went to the Charlie Javice Sentencing yesterday - my report starts at 48:15. 7 YEARS!!! I was shocked - I was certain she'd be sentenced to no more than 5. Links: Starbucks is closing more stores and laying off 900 workers Starbucks CEO’s turnaround isn’t happening fast enough for Wall Street Howard Schultz says he is a big fan of Brian Niccol's 'brilliant' Starbucks revival strategy Starbucks enters the protein wars with test of new drink option Starbucks to use AI to track inventory, free up baristas to connect Starbucks seeks to slash million-dollar store upgrade costs Write to Starbucks Corporate: https://customerservice.starbucks.com/sbux Starbucks Customer Contact Center: 1 (800) 782-7282 Charlie Javice Sentenced to 85 Months in Prison for Fraud <3333

Join the Patreon for the aftershow and tons of bonus content It's the quintessential American company - gaslighting the public, twisting regulators by the balls, and killing consumers in the name of shareholder value! This story is a smorgasbord of deviance - lies, fraud, corruption, cults, and a very sweaty CEO. So put on your lab coats and take out your popcorn as we dive into the pharmaceutical trash heap known as Johnson & Johnson - and yes, we're going to talk about Tylenol. Watch on YouTube Pics from today's episode Thank you to our sponsors: Twin Cities Comic Con Studio Govan Hear YOUR ad on the pod Submit a good news story to our good news correspondent elizabethliu526@gmail.com Timestamps: 00:00 - History of J&J 12:15 - Busting the myths of the 1982 Tylenol cyanide murders 24:00 - Tylenol, liver failure, and the cost of doing business 38:30 - FDA <3 J&J 46:00 - The J&J credo on opposite day (Risperdal kills nursing home patients and gives young boys breasts!) 01:08:00 - Oops! Extra Asbestos (J&J Talc based baby powder) Links: No More Tears: The Dark Secrets of Johnson & Johnson Dose of Confusion How Independent is the FDA How Johnson & Johnson has somehow survived scandal after scandal $8 Billion Verdict in Drug Lawsuit Is Reduced to $6.8 Million Johnson & Johnson knew for decades that asbestos lurked in its Baby Powder

We are an independent podcast with no corporate sponsors. The Patreon helps keep the lights on, please consider joining at the Skillling's Sweeties level and get FOUR bonus episodes every month or the Murdoch's Mates level to join our live book club and group chat! Hear the rest of the episode on Patreon TW: Sexual Assault Wallstreets skankiest trash goblin, Jamie Dimon, has had the worst week EVER after a mind-blowing investigation was published by the NYT last week. Some truly flabbergasting revelations had us asking, can Dimon widdle baby his way out of this one? Links (please DM me if you need a gift link!): How Jeffrey Epstein Used the Billionaire Behind Victoria’s Secret for Wealth and Women How JPMorgan Enabled the Crimes of Jeffrey Epstein THE TALENTED MR. EPSTEIN Why Didn’t Vanity Fair Break the Jeffrey Epstein Story? “She Was Shaking Uncontrollably”: Powerful Men, Disturbing New Details in Unsealed Jeffrey Epstein Documents Senators Call for Hearings About JPMorgan’s Ties to Jeffrey Epstein

Please rate and review this podcast. What ever happened to AOL?! We go all the way back to 1999 (home video included) and meet Steve Case, the CEO of, at the time, the largest technology company in America. High on his own supply, he wrangles Time Warner CEO Jerry Levin into a business noogie and manages to destroy a third of a TRILLION DOLLARS in shareholder value almost instantly. TW: murder Pictures Watch on Youtube Join the Patreon for the aftershow and tons of bonus content Thank you to today's sponsors: Aster + Lupine RainBao Food Truck Links: Stealing Time (book) Fools Rush In (book) There Must be a Pony in here Somewhere (book) Gerald M. Levin, Time Warner Chief in a Merger Debacle, Dies at 84 How the AOL-Time Warner Merger Went So Wrong

Please rate and review this podcast! We're back with part two of our series on Open AI (we're done after this one for a while). Everyone's making everything up all the time and no one has any idea what will happen in the future. In this episode, we cover the wild claims made about AI and AGI and how those predictions are being used to justify environmental destruction and human exploitation. Also Sam Altman stands on his tippytoes. Listen to the aftershow on Patreon Today's sponsors are Darling Beasts, a book by Michelle Gable and The Talent Spot Advertise with us! Pictures from this episode Submit a good news story by email to our good news correspondent elizabethliu526@gmail.com Links: Empire of AI (Book) ‘There was all sorts of toxic behaviour’: Timnit Gebru on her sacking by Google, AI’s dangers and big tech AI is draining water from Areas that need it most Small Oregon county reckons with fallout from data center scandal Arizona city defeats massive data center project over water, energy concerns Behind the AI boom, an army of overseas workers in ‘digital sweatshops’ TIME100 AI 2024: Mophat Okinyi

Please rate and review this podcast! Meet Sam Altman, one of the most powerful men in tech (also maybe evil Pete Buttigieg??) and his posse of boy pests. We take you deep into the bunkers of Silicon Valley to Sam's inner circle to figure out how he became so rotted. Was it insecurity? Napoleon syndrome? OR SCURVY INDUCED PSYCHOSIS ??? Listen to the aftershow on Patreon Watch on Youtube Today's sponsors are Brick of Chicago and Neurorenew PT Advertise with us! Pictures from the episode Submit a good news story by email to our good news correspondent elizabethliu526@gmail.com Links: You look like a thing and I love you (Book) Empire of AI (Book) Sam Altman Is the Oppenheimer of Our Age Sam Altman’s Manifest Destiny Sam Altman on His Plan to Keep A.I. Out of the Hands of the “Bad Guys” Leaked OpenAI documents reveal aggressive tactics toward former employees Know Your Rights Virtual Workshop

Why is it that no one wants to see a hot guy succeed?!!!? This is the story of the three best friends, lead by Bell Air Boy Boss Sean Rad. They created Tinder and became the coolest millenials in LA, hosting parties with Jason Derulo and Kristen Doute and preparing their bank accounts for an influx of cash after being acquired by Match.com. But it's hard to read the fine print on a legal document by the light of a glow-stick! And while they were partying, Barry Diller was scheming from his megayacht. Soon, their viral app would be swiped from under them. Join the Patreon for bonus episodes! Advertise on Corporate Gossip Pictures from today's episode 10:00 - Intro 23:30 - Corporate Gossip #1: Here, put on this bedsheet and gladiator sandals, we’re going to a COLLEGE TOGA PARTY!! FOR BUSINESS!! 37:00 - Corporate Gossip #2: Business daddy issues 46:00 - Corporate Gossip #3: Tinder founders - “we’re stupid, BUT we’re also sexual harassers, (allegedly)" 51:30 - Corporate Gossip #4: Nanci Jo Sales strikes 56:30 - Corporate Gossip #5: The VC urge to give a bunch of 20 somethings a million dollars and no oversight 1:04:00 - Corporate Gossip #6: Literally Match I Double dog dare you to find someone to be CEO who isn’t a dumb creep 1:12:25 - Corporate Gossip #7: Nasty Grams from Blatt 1:15:00 - Corporate Gossip#8: Follow up & Takeaways Thank you to today's sponsors! Karinas Confectioneries Ellin lolis

The CEO of tech company Astronomer was caught at a Coldplay concert canoodling with the head of HR in a video that has since gone mega-viral. And SUDDENLY everyone is interested in what I thought was a niche topic - CEOs behaving badly!! In this emergency episode, I review the latest in the Astronomer scandal and recap my favorite executive cheating scandals that we've covered on the podcast. Correction: In an earlier version of this epiosde, I said Friends and ER were on CBS. They were not, they were on NBC. I also said Rupert Murdoch's wife was "Jerry Halloway" not "Jerry Hall" that's because I'm a millenial and I'm always thinking about the Spice Girls. Timestamps: 00:00 Astronomer 07:25 - Kevin Plank (Under Armour) 13:30 - Sergey Brin (Google) 20:00 - Les Moonves (CBS) 24:30 - SBF (FTX) 26:00 - Jack Welch (GE) 27:20 - Rupert Murdoch (NewsCorp / Fox News) I also touch on Dov Charney (American Apparel), Eddie Antar (Crazy Eddie), The Insys Sales Reps, and Vince McMahon (WWE)

Checking in before our OFFICIAL Corporate Gossip Summer Research Break! We'll be back in July with regular episodes. Join us on Patreon Sign up for the Corporate Gossip Ad program here This Brain Had a Mouth: Lucy Gwin and the Voice of Disability Nation Audubon chapter rejects offer from The Hartford to reinstate coverage

For bonus content and discussions on each episode join us on Patreon We wrap up this absolute UNIT of a two part episode by examining the Facebook story by stepping into our proverbial blue sequined rompers and seeing the world behind Mark Zuckberg's baby bangs. BUCKLE UP as Becca and Adam try to figure out - did the accumulation of unchecked power and extraordinary wealth over 20 years take ice cream scoops out of Mark Zuckerberg's brain? OR did his unique position on top of business boy mountain give him the freedom to reveal the curly-haired gremlin that was always hiding within?? Links: Pics from the episode The Zuckerberg Files It’s Time to Break Up Facebook How Mark Zuckerberg Led Facebook’s War to Crush Google Plus Mark Zuckerberg Apparently Didn’t Tell Congress the Whole Truth About Facebook An Ugly Truth Careless People Good News: Inside a Union’s Fight Against Trump’s Federal Job Cuts Got good news? Email our Good News Correspondent elizabethliu526@gmail.com

For bonus content and discussions on each episode join us on Patreon If Sheryl Sandberg & Mark Zuckerberg never encountered one another at a Christmas party in Atherton in 2007 would the world have been a better place? Find out as we go ALLL the way back and trace the story of Sheryl Sandberg's Dr. Frankenstein and her Mark Zuckerberg monster. Was there sexual tension between the two of them (no one explicitly has said that but I PICKED UP ON A FEW THINGS!)??. Were either of them good people who were corrupted? Or were they destined to seek power and destroy once they reached the top? What about now? Do they feel ashamed about the lives they’ve destroyed, directly or indirectly? Do they hate themselves more than we could ever hate them? Are there ANY heroes in this story at all? What do you think?! Links: Why Sheryl Sandberg Quit Facebook’s Meta “When You Get That Wealthy, You Start to Buy Your Own Bullshit”: The Miseducation of Sheryl Sandberg An Ugly Truth Careless People Got good news? Email our Good News Correspondent elizabethliu526@gmail.com Pics from the episode