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Acquired

Acquired

Written by: Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal
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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 Economics Personal Finance
Episodes
  • The Home Depot

    The Home Depot
    Sep 14 2026
    The Home Depot's founding story is like an Avengers movie… if the Avengers got fired, went broke, and stacked empty paint cans ten feet high to look legitimate. After being unceremoniously fired from their previous hardware chain at ages 48 and 35, Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank took the words of their New York banker Ken Langone (who had also just accidentally caused their firings) to heart: they'd just been "kicked in the ass with a golden horseshoe.” They proceeded to author the greatest compounding story in American retail history, helped by some legendary cameos along the way from Sol Price, Jamie Dimon, and Ross Perot (to name a few). And the ending is as good as any superhero film: from its 1981 IPO to today, The Home Depot has been the single highest-returning equity in the entire US stock market — higher than Apple, Microsoft, Berkshire Hathaway, and everything else!Sponsors:Many thanks to our fantastic Fall '26 Season partners:SierraWorkOSAnthropicSentryLinks:Sign up for email updates, get our takeaways and research photos from each episode, and vote on future topics!The Official Acquired Meetup on Sept 17th with our friends at Sentry. Join us!The Acquired Home Depot Companion PDFOur Visual Artifacts page for Home DepotBuilt from Scratch by Bernie Marcus and Arthur BlankKick Up Some Dust by Bernie MarcusThe Board Wore Chicken Suits by Joe Nocera, The New York TimesFrank Blake on Invest Like the BestKen Langone's interview with Arvind NavaratnamWorldly Partners' Multi-Decade Home Depot StudyAll episode sourcesCarve Outs:Silo Season 3Tires Season 3Ratio 8 Coffee MakerTrade CoffeeQuarterbackComedianMore Acquired:Get email updates and vote on future episodes!Join the SlackCheck out the latest swag in the ACQ Merch Store!00:00:00 Start00:00:43 Intro00:05:32 Bernie Marcus's Early Career and meeting Arthur Blank (1972)00:15:58 Ken Langone & Handy Dan (1970s)00:33:08 Ken Buys Handy Dan, Bernie & Arthur Fired00:43:55 Ross Perot Almost Buys Home Depot00:51:20 Pat Farrah & The HomeCo Interlude01:05:03 First Stores & Early Model (1979)01:14:16 Home Depot Goes Public & Expands (1981)01:24:35 Home Depot's Unique Operating System01:46:01 Arthur Blank Takes CEO & Early Cracks (1997)01:56:07 The Bob Nardelli Era (2000-2007)02:12:09 Nardelli's Public Downfall & Firing (2006-2007)02:24:24 Frank Blake's Turnaround: Crisis & Culture (2007)02:42:30 E-commerce & Distribution Revolution02:59:57 Home Depot Today: Pro & DIY (2024)03:12:04 Analysis: The Paradox of Specialness03:16:18 7 Powers: Home Depot's Competitive Advantages03:19:17 Quintessence: Why It Got So Big03:26:27 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.
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    3 hrs and 35 mins
  • Disney: The Renaissance and the Empire

    Disney: The Renaissance and the Empire
    Aug 10 2026

    In 1984, the Walt Disney Company was worth more dead than alive. Disney Animation — the heart of Walt's famous flywheel — had stagnated for years, bleeding away talent while corporate raiders circled, salivating over offers to sell off the film library to MGM and offload the parks to hotel operators. But what followed instead was the greatest turnaround in media history under Michael Eisner and Frank Wells. Beauty and the Beast. The Lion King. Broadway. Bringing the Disney Vault home on VHS and DVD. And the greatest media acquisition of all time — ESPN.

    And then... it all almost fell apart. Again. Euro Disney turned into a money pit. Boardroom and executive infighting ran rampant. Animation descended into a dumpster fire. (Remember Chicken Little? Us neither.) Comcast — Comcast!! — tried to steal the company via a hostile takeover. Out of the chaos, a new generation of Disney management emerged under Bob Iger to stage yet another epic comeback with Pixar, Marvel and Lucasfilm, creating the defining media empire of the 21st century…until the tech companies came along. Tune in for the ultimate Acquired thrill ride: Disney, Part II.

    Sponsors:

    Many thanks to our fantastic Fall '26 Season partners:

    • Sierra
    • Sentry
    • WorkOS
    • Anthropic

    Links:

    • Sign up for email updates, get our takeaways and research photos from each episode, and vote on future topics!
    • The Official Acquired Meetup on Sept 17th with our friends at Sentry. Join us!
    • The Acquired Disney Part II Companion PDF
    • The Acquired Disney Part II Artifacts visual hub
    • Our Disney Part II column in WSJ
    • Worldly Partners' Multi-Decade Disney Study
    • All episode sources

    Carve Outs:

    • Warby Parker Transitions Extra Active
    • Michael Arndt's Toy Story 3 Story Presentation
    • The Golden State Valkyries

    More Acquired:

    • Get email updates and vote on future episodes!
    • Join the Slack
    • Check out the latest swag in the ACQ Merch Store!

    00:00:00 Start
    00:00:50 Intro
    00:05:07 Disney in Chaos (1984)
    00:11:33 Eisner, Wells, Katzenberg Arrive (1984)
    00:24:30 Animation Renaissance & CAPS Tech (1989)
    00:37:33 Flywheel Extensions: Home Video, Retail & Broadway
    00:54:32 Challenges & ABC/ESPN Acquisition (1994-1995)
    01:05:55 ESPN: Disney's Accidental Goldmine
    01:21:26 Eisner's Decline & Save Disney Campaign (2001-2004)
    01:34:53 Comcast Hostile Takeover Bid (2004)
    01:41:58 Bob Iger's Vision & Pixar Acquisition (2005-2006)
    01:52:17 Pixar: From Lucasfilm to Steve Jobs (1979-1995)
    02:03:11 Toy Story, IPO & Eisner Conflict (1995)
    02:34:30 Disney Acquires Pixar (2006)
    02:46:37 Marvel & Lucasfilm Acquisitions (2009-2012)
    02:58:01 Streaming Pivot: Cord Cutting & BAMTech (2015)
    03:06:30 The Disney+ Strategy & FOX Acquisition (2017-2019)
    03:19:01 The Disney+ Launch, COVID, & Chapek's Tenure (2019-2022)
    03:42:15 Iger's Return, Challenges & Parks Revival (2022-2026)
    03:50:54 The Business Today: Parks & Streaming Focus
    03:59:22 Analysis: Disney+ Strategy & The New Media Landscape
    04:10:01 Analysis: Bull/Bear Cases
    04:21:20 Quintessence
    04:24:39 Carve-Outs + Outro

    ‍Note: 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.
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    4 hrs and 33 mins
  • 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” articleWalt 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 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 Start01:10 Intro06:03 Walt's Early Life & Artistic Calling (1901-1919)12:22 From Commercial Art to Laugh-o-grams (1919-1923)23:05 Hollywood, The Alice Comedies & Oswald's Loss (1923-1928)43:27 Mickey Mouse & The Synchronized Sound Breakthrough (1928)01:01:21 The IP Flywheel & Mickey Merch Explosion (1929-1933)01:09:57 Flywheel Terminology Unpacked01:18:53 Snow White: Walt's $1.5M Folly (1934-1937)01:52:01 The Burbank Studio, Debt & Strike (1938-1941)02:04:28 The Animators' Strike & Walt's Disillusionment (1941)02:15:43 WWII, The Vault & Creative Slump (1941-1950)02:24:27 Post-War Slump to Cinderella's Comeback (1945-1950)02:33:48 Walt's Obsession: Model Trains to Disneyland (1950-1952)02:38:44 Financing Disneyland: ABC, SRI & Davy Crockett (1953-1955)03:17:05 Disneyland's Grand Opening & The Evolving Flywheel (1955-1958)03:41:55 The Florida Project & Walt's Last Dream (1961-1966)03:54:26 Walt's Untimely Death & Roy's Legacy (1966-1971)03:57:57 Roy Finishes Walt Disney World (1966-1971)04:01:09 The Post-Walt Slump & Corporate Raiders (1970s-1984)04:09:44 Analysis: Why No Other Disney Flywheels?04:17:15 7 Powers04:20:45 Quintessence04:23:50 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.
    Show More Show Less
    4 hrs and 31 mins
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Is it you is it you is it you baby?
Idk, listen to figure out..
they’ve also got an extended catalogue of information related to their research on the podcast topics. Amazing for someone who likes to go down the rabbit hole in history of companies.

Who’s got the truth?

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Everything is Alive," a unique interview-style podcast where inanimate objects tell their stories. For fictional storytelling, popular options are "Dust," "Myths and Legends," and "The Amelia Project," known for their immersive

very good 👍 podcast especially details story Everything 😊

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