Corporate Gossip

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 (05:50), 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:
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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 February with new episodes. Got suggestions / thoughts / feedback? Email [email protected]
For bonus episodes, book club, and the aftershow, join us on Patreon
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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: [email protected]
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 
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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 
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Pics from this episode on Substack
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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: [email protected] 
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