Billionaire Biographies
Behind every billion-dollar fortune is a story they don’t want told. Billionaire Biographies is the definitive podcast that uncovers the real lives of the titans who have shaped our world for the last one hundred years—from the robber barons of the Gilded Age to the tech gods of Silicon Valley. We go beyond the sanitized myths and official histories to expose the ambition, the genius, and the brutal tactics that built the world’s greatest empires. This isn't a celebration of wealth; it's an investigation of power.
We dissect the lives of figures like John D. Rockefeller, Rupert Murdoch, Steve Jobs, and Elon Musk, revealing the scandals, the family feuds, and the human cost behind their legendary success. We explore how their innovations transformed society and how their relentless pursuit of money and influence reshaped politics, culture, and the very rules of the game.
If you want to understand how true power is acquired and wielded, and the price the rest of the world pays for it, this is the podcast for you. Join us for an unflinching look at the figures who control our past, present, and future.
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Episodes
Monday Oct 13, 2025
Monday Oct 13, 2025
In our final episode, we look back at the century of wealth we've explored and look forward to the century to come. We synthesize the key themes of our series: the evolution of power from industrial muscle to financial engineering to data and algorithms. We trace the recurring patterns of monopoly, disruption, scandal, and the constant, often-successful, effort by the ultra-wealthy to translate their economic power into political influence.
We then turn our eyes to the future. Who will be the billionaires of the next generation? Will they come from fields we can barely imagine today, like artificial intelligence, genetic engineering, or asteroid mining? We explore the new ethical dilemmas that will arise with these new fortunes and ask whether our current systems of governance and taxation are equipped to handle a world with trillionaires. Will new models of philanthropy and social responsibility, like those championed by MacKenzie Scott, become the norm or remain the exception?
This finale is a reflection on everything we've learned and a sober look at the challenges ahead. The names and the industries may change, but the fundamental questions about the concentration of wealth, the nature of power, and the responsibilities of the rich to the society that created them will remain more urgent than ever. The story of the billionaire is far from over.