Sam Altman & the Battle for OpenAI | If You Come At the King… | 2

As the COVID-19 virus spreads across the globe and forces people inside their homes for months, the world relies on online shopping more than ever. Amazon and Walmart both struggle to keep up with surging demand as their legendary infrastructures are put to the test. And workers inside both companies rise up, arguing that the retail giants are failing to protect them from the virus, prioritizing the bottom line over workers’ health. They’re both more powerful than ever, but also more vulnerable.Listen ad-free on Wondery+ hereSupport us by supporting our sponsors!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

6 Touko 202025min

This episode is brought to you by Wondery in partnership with Dell Technologies. In honor of small businesses, we’re featuring inspiring stories of successful companies that started out small.In 1972, pinball machines and mechanical games ruled the arcades. Then, Atari founders Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney came up with a game on a television screen controlled by two players. Pong helped catapult Atari from a start-up to the leader of video games, where it would stay – almost unopposed – for the next decade. Once Atari made Pong, the company took off like a rocket. But for Dietrich Mateschitz, success was a slog. When he returned home to Austria from a trip to Thailand in 1982, he brought an idea for an energy drink with him. His creation was expensive and tasted foul, and would be rejected over and over. But a slick marketing campaign made it the symbol of club cool and fuel for daredevils — and it took North America by storm.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

5 Touko 202031min

Amazon decides to go after Walmart’s biggest category: fresh food. But moving into groceries is harder than Bezos expected. Meanwhile, Walmart has finally found success in marrying their online operation with their brick and mortar stores by allowing consumers to order groceries online and pick them up at a store. And with an aggressive new head of online sales — who has a personal vendetta against Bezos — Walmart is feeling good. But, determined to make an impact in the world of fresh food, Bezos makes a move that surprises everyone and upends the retail world yet again. Support us by supporting our sponsors!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

4 Touko 202023min

Walmart finally decides to focus aggressively on its e-commerce division, but struggles with the best way to use the internet to reach consumers. They decide their best strategy is to buy up successful online retailers. Unbeknownst to Walmart, Amazon, which is looking to move into apparel sales, is pursuing a similar strategy. As the two companies go head-to-head over an unlikely product, Walmart is unprepared for just how dirty Amazon will play.Support us by supporting our sponsors!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

29 Huhti 202022min

By the mid-2000s, Walmart is starting to show some cracks. They are still successful, but bad press and sluggish growth are taking a toll on their earnings. The company debates the best way to move forward, including focusing on online sales, something they’ve long eschewed. As Walmart waffles, Amazon launches a risky new program that sews internal dissent, but moves the goal posts for e-commerce once again. Support us by supporting our sponsors!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

27 Huhti 202023min

In the late 1990s, Walmart is happily trucking along, dominating the American retail market. They’re expanding locations and increasing their own backend efficiencies to keep prices low. It’s a formula that’s worked for decades and they see no reason to change now.But as Bezos expands Amazon’s offerings, he quickly realizes that he doesn’t have the infrastructure to keep up with his ambitions. His warehouses are in chaos. There is only one company that knows infrastructure at the scale he envisions: Walmart. When Bezos starts poaching Walmart’s executives, he brings Amazon into Walmart’s sights. And they don’t like what they see.Support us by supporting our sponsors!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

22 Huhti 202024min

Ninety-six percent of Americans now shop online, snapping up everything from rare coins to industrial-sized barrels of hand sanitizer. Almost half of those purchases take place on one website: Amazon. But before sales were a click away, Walmart was the top dog, decimating main streets across America with its big-box efficiency and ruthlessly low prices. It’s 1994, and a slim 30-year-old with thinning hair dreams of leaving his high-paying finance job to sell books on the internet — a move he’s convinced is his ticket to one day dominating the world of e-commerce. Jeff Bezos just has to break the news to his parents. Luckily, he’s already found the perfect name for his new venture. Support us by supporting our sponsors!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

20 Huhti 202023min

One of the key players in the story of The North Face is Hap Klopp, who in 1968, bought the then-burgeoning outdoor sports equipment store. He bought the company for the bargain price of $60,000.Klopp was CEO of The North Face for the next 20 years, and turned the small chain of Bay Area stores into a multi-million dollar business. Today, The North Face is a global brand that can be found in 5,000 locations across 50 countries. We’ll hear from Klopp on what the journey was like to become one of the biggest outdoor apparel brands.Support us by supporting our sponsors!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

15 Huhti 202023min