Bubble Trouble: Laying Out Inconvenient Truths About How Business and Financial Markets Really Work

This week’s episode will “cut like a knife” (pun intended) in that we’re going to make sense of the headcount reductions and cost-cutting strategies we’re witnessing across tech large and small. First cut is the deepest, sung by Cat Stevens, then Rod Stewart, but there’s more than one verse to that song. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we look into the spectacular rise and potential plateau of a not so new medium...our very own: the podcast. Staying power or flash in the pan? Hit driven or long tail smorgasboard of choices. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, we look at that special ‘class’ of investors who are busy raising their heads again to challenge management in a time of turmoil - the activist. Who are they, what gives them power and when they wield that power what’s the fall out. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We don't do shameless plugs here on Bubble Trouble, but we're making an exception for our esteem co-host Will Page on the publication of the paperback edition of Tarzan Economics, renamed Pivot: Eight Principles for Transforming your Business in a Time of Disruption. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today we wrestle with ethics and technology. Stephanie Hare's wonderful new book. Technology Is Not Neutral, gives us a much needed framework for thinking about how the technologies we interact with every day affect our moral lives more. (Repeat) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

One of the giant bubbles of the last decades has been real estate, and for this week's episode we’re looking forward, not backward, with Dror Poleg, an economic historian and an inspirational thinker who is figuring out how we work, where we work and what work we’ll be working on in this post-pandemic world. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With all the emphasis on hard metrics and financials, it's often easy to overlook the culture of companies and the role it plays in their success (or failure). (Repeat) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In our last new episode of 2022, we talk with Clément Pouget.eth-Osmont, whose post on LinkedIn mocking the dubious NFTs ratcheted up a record 8 million impressions. We ask: Where do NFTs go from here? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today we have our second episode with Cory Doctorow, co-author of Chokepoint Capitalism. In this second installment, we dig deep into copyright and how artists can take back control of their precious works. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today we welcome the co-author (along with Rebecca Giblin) of Chokepoint Capitalism Cory Doctorow over two episodes. In this first installment, we focus on market structures. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode, we'll get Will Page’s impressions of the bubbles gathering around that island and what tsunami warning horns ought to be blaring when we talk about NFTs. (Repeat)Visit https://www.bubbletroublepodcast.com/ for the transcript for this episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we continue our exploration of the bait of all click baits, the bandwagon that's traveling across the internet, that is The Metaverse. We're gonna move our dialogue up a gear with our very special, legendary guest, Sir Martin Sorrell, the founder of the WPP Group, and since 2018, the chairman of S4 Capital. He's described her current foray into the metaverse as being in the foothills. So let's get climbing. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week Will’s out of his bat cave and produced his annual global value of music copyright which - when rounded up - would hit $40bn. That means all the worlds music is worth almost as much as Twitter. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we give the right of reply to an earlier episode (BT 49: Newspaper Subscriptions Versus Music Subscriptions) that raised more than a few hackles in the publishing community and opened a can of worms. Our guest is James Hewes, CEO of FIPP. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There are bubbles in politics just like there are in markets, and we're going to talk today about how the markets look at bubbles bursting in the political sphere, what they make of them, and whether this spells more trouble to come. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we want to take stock of the central banks and the hiking interest rates. Those rates are still way behind the rate of inflation. So what does that all mean for bubbles? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, the second of two episodes with Dan McCrum of the Financial Times about his investigative reporting into the massive fraud at the German financial firm Wirecard. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we have the first of two episodes with Dan McCrum of the Financial Times about his investigative reporting into the massive fraud at the German financial firm Wirecard. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As we're all back from our holidays this week is just Will and Richard trading postcards, anecdotes, and observations of what they've seen during our time away. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we get to the good, the bad and the ugly of "goodwill," how it's supposed to be used and how it can often be abused in bubble trouble. (Repeat) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This time we discuss the most important subject of them all: money. More importantly, someone else's money. We'll get to the basics. Where does money even come from? (Repeat) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We talk about financial analysts and why it's sometimes more accurate to call them sycophants and stenographers, and how these analysts become cheerleaders of the companies they're supposed to cover. They praise as opposed to appraise. (Repeat) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We're back to blowing bubbles, the original source of this inspirational podcast, and we deep dive into the force that's driving markets to record highs. Peak FOMO, fear of missing out. (Repeat) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this episode, we’re going to keep this deep dive on the metaverse going with another doer, not a thinker--a three-stripe veteran of the gaming industry whose career dates back to Sega in the early 90’s, Survios CEO Seth Gerson.We’d really appreciate if you could take just a few minutes to fill out our listener survey. Please visit survey.prx.org/bubble to give feedback on the show. Thanks! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we talk about subscriptions, specifically how the subscription business model in newspapers struggles, while half a billion people are willing to pay subscription fees for music.We’d really appreciate if you could take just a few minutes to fill out our listener survey. Please visit survey.prx.org/bubble to give feedback on the show. Thanks! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we're gonna blow the halftime whistle on our travels into the metaverse on Bubble Trouble. Today Will quizes Richard: Is the metaverse the next big thing? Or are we back in bubble trouble? What's the perception and where's the reality. If Richard was at a casino sitting behind Zuckerberg, watching him put all his chips on metaverse, would Richard be leaning over and moving his arm in the same direction--or would he be thinking that this isn't gonna work out well?We’d really appreciate if you could take just a few minutes to fill out our listener survey. Please visit survey.prx.org/bubble to give feedback on the show. Thanks! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we continue to deconstruct the metaverse with our brilliant Eric Kress of Gossamer Consulting Group, an independent research boutique that provides investors and industry clients with primary research on console mobile and other related technology companies.We’d really appreciate if you could take just a few minutes to fill out our listener survey. Please visit survey.prx.org/bubble to give feedback on the show. Thanks! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We’re going to keep this deep dive on the Metaverse going with a doer, not a thinker - someone with skin in the game, bacon not eggs! AmazeVR had longer queues at SXSW than any live band and there’s a reason for that: they are the real deal. We have the founder and CEO Ernest Lee.We’d really appreciate if you could take just a few minutes to fill out our listener survey. Please visit survey.prx.org/bubble to give feedback on the show. Thanks! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this episode, we're in conversation with our third special guest, the source of truth and the mad men and women of advertising, Mr. Mike Follett. The point where quantity goes up and quality goes down, we call that hyper competition, and certainly there's a lot of advertising competing for our time. (Repeat)We’d really appreciate if you could take just a few minutes to fill out our listener survey. Please visit survey.prx.org/bubble to give feedback on the show. Thanks! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, and in coming weeks, the Bubble Trouble team will turn our attention to the phase dejour, the bait of all click baits, the mother of all bubbles--the Metaverse. We’re going to begin this deep dive at the beginning and invite Yoshio Osaki, founder of the respected IDG Consulting group.We’d really appreciate if you could take just a few minutes to fill out our listener survey. Please visit survey.prx.org/bubble to give feedback on the show. Thanks! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We're back with more of our conversation with Brooke Masters, the Chief Business Commentator and Associate Editor of the Financial Times. (Repeat.) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we salvage what's left of the crypto bubble and delve into the recent dollar devaluations of stable coins with our guest Kenny Estes, founder of Diffuse Digital. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today we have our first of two episodes featuring Brooke Masters, the Chief Business Commentator and Associate Editor of the Financial Times. (Repeat) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today we will not be powdering your nose, but be sprinkling our conversation with a little dry powder. That's cash or marketable securities that look like it's low risk and highly liquid and convertible to cash, but needs to be put to work. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we're going to be jumping the shark. That is we're going to be looking at why tech companies and their success, their growth, their user numbers often resemble a shark fin: how they scale up really fast, then taper off then fall really, really fast in a straight line all the way down. (Repeat) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today, we're treading deep in some chicken sh*t with Propublica investigative journalist Jesse Eisenger.Visit https://www.bubbletroublepodcast.com/ for the transcript for this episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Recently, in the most European city of Brussels, there was mingling with the finest folks in competition law and economics. They were all trying to figure out if, and how, tech should be regulated. Will and Richard discuss.Visit https://www.bubbletroublepodcast.com/ for the transcript for this episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today, we target those analysts notes that tell us what they think the price should be and how much faith we should put in that moving target. We have Aman Verjee who served as a VP of Paypal from 2002 to 2010 and was first to call out the price target fiasco behind Twitter's defense of Elon's hostile takeover.Visit https://www.bubbletroublepodcast.com/ for the transcript for this episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today we wrestle with ethics and technology. Stephanie Hare's wonderful new book. Technology Is Not Neutral, gives us a much needed framework for thinking about how the technologies we interact with every day affect our moral lives more.Visit https://www.bubbletroublepodcast.com/ for the transcript for this episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Every March music, film and tech converge on this blue liberal island of Austin in a red Republican sea of Texas for the South By Southwest conference. This week, we'll get Will Page’s impressions of the bubbles gathering around that island and what tsunami warning horns ought to be blaring when we talk about NFTs.Visit https://www.bubbletroublepodcast.com/ for the transcript for this episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we explore the current craze in the mergers and acquisitions going on just now. And asking, do they actually create additional value? Or is it the case that two plus two does equal two? (Repeat)Visit https://www.bubbletroublepodcast.com/ for the transcript for this episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We've made quantitative easing easy-ish to understand, now we need to infiltrate the institutions that do that easing: the central banks with the award-winning New York Times journalist and author of the aptly titled best-selling book, Lords of Easy Money, Christopher Leonard.Visit https://www.bubbletroublepodcast.com/ for the transcript for this episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A lot of financial journalism about companies and markets lives and dies based on access. But what are other ways of finding out what's really going on? Joining us this week is Martin Peers, Senior Writer for The Information.Visit https://www.bubbletroublepodcast.com/ for the transcript for this episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today we bring on the sexy topics of fractional reserve lending and quantitative easing with Michael McMahon from the Bank of England and Oxford University.Visit https://www.bubbletroublepodcast.com/ for the transcript for this episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Joining us this week is writer Kurt Andersen discussing his books Fantasyland and Evil Geniuses.Visit https://www.bubbletroublepodcast.com/ for the transcript for this episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we look into rating agencies and ask: Why were they invented? What is their purpose? Who pays their wages? (Repeat)Visit https://www.bubbletroublepodcast.com/ for the transcript for this episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With all the emphasis on hard metrics and financials, it's often easy to overlook the culture of companies and the role it plays in their success (or failure).Visit https://www.bubbletroublepodcast.com/ for the transcript for this episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

SPACs Are This Year's Vanilla: Our Conversation with the FT's Brooke Masters Part Two.Visit https://www.bubbletroublepodcast.com/ for the transcript for this episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today we have our first of two episodes featuring Brooke Masters, the Chief Business Commentator and Associate Editor of the Financial Times. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we look at the vague way in which various groups have measured the concept of time spent or tried to parcel out the attention economy. How do you really measure attention, and even better, how do you measure the quality of attention or time spent in this attention economy? (Repeat)Visit https://www.bubbletroublepodcast.com/ for the transcript for this episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.