Episode 40: Activision Blizzard

Acquired kicks off our China tech mini-series by teaming up with the best in the business: Hans and Zara from GGV’s 996 Podcast! Together we cover the largest technology IPO in the world since fellow China tech giant Alibaba in 2014: Xiaomi, where Hans has been an investor and board member from the very beginning. This episode is chock full of history and insight on both Xiaomi and what’s happening in China tech more broadly, and why we all should be paying attention. No matter where you live, this is definitely not one to miss!Sponsors:Anthropic: https://bit.ly/acquiredclaude25Statsig: https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig25ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsnMore Acquired!Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodesJoin the SlackSubscribe to ACQ2Merch Store!© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC

6 Aug 20181h 20min

Acquired kicks off Season 3 with a gangbuster two-hour extravaganza on America’s most successful automotive startup since The Ford Motor Company: Tesla. We cover everything, from founding to its 2010 IPO to all that’s happened since, including the question on the minds of superhero fans everywhere: who came first, Elon Musk or Tony Stark? (Spoiler: Elon)Sponsors:Anthropic: https://bit.ly/acquiredclaude25Statsig: https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig25ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsnMore Acquired!Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodesJoin the SlackSubscribe to ACQ2Merch Store!© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLCCarve Outs:Ben: The Dissect podcastDavid: Harry Potter and the Sacred Text podcast

17 Jul 20182h 5min

Acquired wraps up Season 2 with our first “elusive” private-private merger: Rover.com and its 2017 combination with rival pet care marketplace DogVacay. We’re joined by Rover CEO Aaron Easterly to dive into the full history of how the crazy idea of “Airbnb for dogs” not only became a billion-dollar company, but also brought our heroes together for the first time and led to the founding of Acquired!Sponsors:Anthropic: https://bit.ly/acquiredclaude25Statsig: https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig25ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsnMore Acquired!Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodesJoin the SlackSubscribe to ACQ2Merch Store!© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLCLinks: The original Rover pitch from Startup Weekend

18 Jun 20181h 13min

We’re live on the scene the day following the biggest announcement in the open source software world since well, open source software: Microsoft acquiring GitHub for $7.5B in stock. How did we get here? What does it mean for software developers going forward? And most importantly, why is there a creepy half-cat / half-octopus plastered all over everything? As always, Acquired has the answers.Sponsors:Anthropic: https://bit.ly/acquiredclaude25Statsig: https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig25ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsnMore Acquired!Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodesJoin the SlackSubscribe to ACQ2Merch Store!© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLCCarve Outs:Ben: The Idea Maze by Chris DixonDavid: Invisible Asymptotes by Eugene Wei

6 Jun 20181h 30min

If you thought the telecom business was boring, think again! Acquired brings you an episode packed with more drama than an entire season of Game of Thrones. Starting with a death in the family, we follow a tale of fortunes lost and rebuilt, bitter battles between rivals who once worked for each other, and at the center of it all, a lesson in the power of stable cashflow businesses. This is one call you don’t want to drop!Sponsors:Anthropic: https://bit.ly/acquiredclaude25Statsig: https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig25ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsnMore Acquired!Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodesJoin the SlackSubscribe to ACQ2Merch Store!© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLCLinks: Seattle Times’ infographic on Bellevue’s wireless company historyJohn Legere at CES 2013Carve Outs:Ben: Andrew Chen on the Intercom podcastDavid: The 996 Podcast from Zara & Hans at GGV Capital

21 Mai 20181h 28min

Acquired returns with a classic, delving into Microsoft’s first acquisition ever: Forethought Inc, the makers of PowerPoint. Hate it or love it, you can’t deny the combined companies’ impact: by the early 90’s PowerPoint had transformed the way businesses, educators and governments communicate, ensuring job security for pointy-haired Dilbert bosses everywhere.Sponsors:Anthropic: https://bit.ly/acquiredclaude25Statsig: https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig25ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsnMore Acquired!Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodesJoin the SlackSubscribe to ACQ2Merch Store!© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLCLinks: Robert Gaskins’ definitive history of building PowerPoint: Sweating BulletsAbsolute Powerpoint by Ian Parker Carve Outs:Ben: Mindfulness in Plain English and discussion on Hacker NewsDavid:  The Birds have landed…

4 Mai 20181h 21min

Acquired wraps up a big few weeks of coverage with not an IPO or an M&A or a fundraising round, but what’s still the largest tech exit in recent memory: Spotify’s $30B direct public listing. We dive into what it all means and how we got here: from Napster to iTunes to Facebook (and even some Justin Timberlake thrown in for good measure). Acquired FM is on the scene and spinning all the hits from this new wave music industry titan! Note: We incorrectly described Spotify CEO Daniel Ek’s ownership stake in Spotify as 25%+; that is actually his voting control. His economic ownership is 9.3%, and cofounder Martin Lorentzon’s is 12.4%. We apologize for the error!Sponsors:Anthropic: https://bit.ly/acquiredclaude25Statsig: https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig25ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsnMore Acquired!Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodesJoin the SlackSubscribe to ACQ2Merch Store!© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLCLinks: Internet History Podcast on the Napster Story with Jordan Ritter Sean Parker’s email to Daniel EkCarve Outs:Ben: Black Panther (and  soundtrack on Spotify!)David: “Silicon Ballet” panel at San Francisco Ballet on Saturday, April 28

6 Apr 20181h 51min

Acquired is live on the scene following Dropbox’s public market debut. From playing a central role in the early days of Y Combinator, to having Steve Jobs famously label the company a “feature not a product”, to pivoting from consumers to enterprise to developers and back again, the silicon valley history runs deep with this one. What twists and turns lie ahead for Dropbox as a public company? We speculate!Sponsors:Anthropic: https://bit.ly/acquiredclaude25Statsig: https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig25ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsnMore Acquired!Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodesJoin the SlackSubscribe to ACQ2Merch Store!© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLCLinks: Dropbox’s Y Combinator applicationOriginal Dropbox demo videoCarve Outs:Ben:  Raytracing comes to DirectXDavid: Lazy Game Reviews

26 Mar 20181h 44min