Acquired's 3.5-hour deep dive into The Home Depot chronicles the company's founding through its evolution into the highest-returning equity in US stock market history. The episode opens with the dramatic origin story: Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank, fired at ages 48 and 35 from Handy Dan hardware chain, were…
Worth it if you're interested in retail history, business strategy, leadership transitions, or want a masterclass in how companies build and maintain competitive advantage over decades.
This is the second part of Acquired's deep-dive into Disney's corporate history, spanning from 1984 to 2026. The episode chronicles Disney's transformation from a company worth more dead than alive in 1984 to a global media empire. It covers Michael Eisner and Frank Wells's arrival and the Animation Renaissance…
Worth it if you're interested in business strategy, media history, corporate acquisitions, or want to understand how Disney became the defining media empire of the 21st century.
Acquired's 4.5-hour deep dive into The Walt Disney Company traces Walt's era from his childhood through his death in 1966, examining how Disney accidentally invented the modern "flywheel" business model. The episode spans Walt's early artistic ambitions, the transition from commercial art to animation, the creation of…
Worth it if you're fascinated by business history, want to understand how Disney became dominant, enjoy long-form narrative storytelling grounded in primary sources, or appreciate analysis that goes beyond surface-level business journalism.
