Good Bad Billionaire
Episodes
Lucy Guo: The woman training AI
26 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
She skateboards to work, has a skydiving license, and was the world’s youngest self-made female billionaire. Journalist Zing Tsjeng and BBC Business...
Elon Musk: You decide!
23 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
It’s time to hear what you, our listeners, think of Elon Musk. Journalist Zing Tsjeng and BBC business editor Simon Jack read your feedback to our E...
David Geffen: The Hollywood power broker
19 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
David Geffen is the money man behind Crosby, Stills and Nash, Guns N' Roses, Cher, Shrek, Gladiator, and even Cats the musical. Journalist Zing Tsjeng...
Sara Blakely: Shaping the world with Spanx
12 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Sara Blakely grew up in Florida and dreamed of becoming a lawyer, but after failing the LSAT twice, she pivoted to sales and later entrepreneurship. F...
Guy Laliberté: Cirque du Soleil’s clown turned CEO
05 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Guy Laliberté went from busking on the streets of Quebec to entertaining Hollywood celebrities and wearing a clown nose on the International Space St...
Elon Musk: Money, memes and Mars
08 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Elon Musk’s extraordinary rise, from a troubled childhood in apartheid-era South Africa to becoming the first person to amass half a trillion dollar...
Luciano Benetton: Famous fashion to cultural controversy
01 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Luciano Benetton rose from poverty in postwar Italy to found a chain of 7,000 high street fashion stores and create some of the most controversial adv...
Tyler Perry: Homeless to Hollywood entrepreneur
24 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
From a childhood marked by abuse and trauma, Tyler Perry worked whatever jobs he could to fund his self-written and produced play for six years: somet...
Lakshmi Mittal: King of steel
17 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Lakshmi Mittal grew up in Kolkata, where he gained early experience in his father’s steel business before founding his own steel mill in Indonesia i...
Michael O’Leary: Ryanair’s cost-cutting king
10 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How Michael O’Leary, the outspoken CEO of Ryanair, turned a struggling regional airline into a €28 billion powerhouse by relentlessly cutting cost...
Diane Hendricks: Building a fortune
03 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Diane Hendricks rose from a teenage mother on a Wisconsin dairy farm to become America’s richest self-made woman, building a $22 billion fortune thr...
John Fredriksen: Tanker king
27 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Norwegian shipping magnate John Fredriksen once owned the world’s largest fleet of oil tankers. He made billions shipping goods round the globe and ...
Evan Spiegel: Snapchat fratboy
20 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Snapchat co-founder Evan Spiegel dropped out of Stanford Business School when the disappearing messages app made him a millionaire. Four years later, ...
Tatyana Kim: Russia’s online retail queen
13 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How Tatyana Kim went from working as an English teacher to running Russia’s largest online retailer, Wildberries, and being Russia’s richest woman...
Arnold Schwarzenegger: Muscles, movies, money
06 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How bodybuilder Arnold Schwarzenegger went from Mr Universe to all-action cinematic superstar and billionaire investor.BBC business editor Simon Jack ...
Coming soon: More tales of the mega-rich
19 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Film stars, tech bros, shipping magnates and online retail giants... BBC business editor Simon Jack and journalist Zing Tsjeng introduce the latest ba...
Encore - Film Stories: George Lucas and Peter Jackson
08 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
George Lucas created Star Wars and Peter Jackson directed the Lord of the Rings films, two of the movie world’s most epic adventures. Ahead of a...
The dead billionaires: What do you think?
27 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What did you think of John D Rockefeller, Henry Ford, Howard Hughes, Sam Walton and Hetty Green?These five titans of American industry include an oil ...
Hetty Green: The 'witch' of Wall Street
04 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Hetty Green was America’s richest woman, but was renowned as the nation’s biggest miser. But she built her investment fortune in an era before wom...
Sam Walton: Walmart’s founder
28 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Sam Walton put discount megastores on the map and built the largest retailer on Earth. He founded Walmart, which now has around 10,500 stores across 1...
Howard Hughes: Eccentric aviator
21 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The original weird billionaire, Howard Hughes was a filmmaker, a playboy and a world record-breaking aviator. He was also an obsessive germophobe who ...
Henry Ford: Putting the world on wheels
14 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Henry Ford may not have invented the car, or even the assembly line, but he perfected them. His Model T – nicknamed “Tin Lizzie” – made cars a...
John D Rockefeller: The first billionaire
07 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
John D Rockefeller built his fortune refining oil and founding Standard Oil. A pioneer of the U.S. business trust, he helped shape the structure of th...
Coming soon: Good Bad Dead Billionaire
23 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We’re back – but with a difference! Find out how some of the world's most famous dead billionaires made their money. Meet five billionaires who he...
Eike Batista: Golden grifter
02 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Mining magnate Eike Batista was once Brazil’s richest person, but corruption led to his downfall. BBC business editor Simon Jack and journalist Z...
LeBron James: King of the court
26 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
LeBron James was selling out basketball arenas while still in high school. At just 18, he said he was offered a $10 million cheque from Reebok - on th...
Masayoshi Son: High-tech gambler
19 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Investor Masayoshi Son became notorious for making huge bets on technology companies. He once lost 96% of his fortune, but he’s still a billionaire ...
Strive Masiyiwa: Connecting a continent
12 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Telecoms magnate Strive Masiyiwa escaped kidnap to become Zimbabwe’s first billionaire.BBC business editor Simon Jack and journalist Zing Tsjeng tel...
Ike Perlmutter: Marvel’s empire builder
05 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Former Marvel CEO & Chairman Isaac "Ike" Perlmutter brought Marvel back from the brink of ruin and helped launch the Marvel cinematic universe. He...
Selena Gomez: Actress, singer, beauty mogul
28 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Selena Gomez is one of the youngest newly minted billionaires, thanks to her Rare Beauty brand. But you likely know her from her Disney kid days on Th...
Orlando Bravo: Tech dealmaker
21 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Orlando Bravo failed to become a tennis pro, but became richer than any tennis player in history by pivoting to the world of finance. He’s the first...
Vince McMahon: Wrestling's ringmaster
14 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Vince McMahon made stars out of wrestlers like Hulk Hogan, John Cena and Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson. He turned professional wrestling into a $6.8 b...
Markus Persson: Minecraft maker
07 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Minecraft is the most successful computer game ever. It's sold 300 million copies, built an active community of fans and there's now even a Minecraft ...
John de Mol: Big Brother’s daddy
31 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
By reinventing reality TV, John de Mol changed television history and made a billion dollars. He’s the father of Big Brother and the man behind The ...
Sir James Dyson: Sucking up the cash
24 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A blocked vacuum cleaner led to a billion-dollar idea for British inventor Sir James Dyson. After studying art, then reinventing the wheelbarrow, Dyso...
Martha Stewart: The original lifestyle influencer
17 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Martha Stewart revolutionised home entertaining with her recipes, home decor and TV shows, becoming one of the world's most successful women in busine...
Encore - Chuck Feeney: All duty
17 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When Charles "Chuck" Feeney first appeared on the world's rich lists in the 1980s, he had built a billion-dollar business selling duty free goods to t...
Encore - Taylor Swift: Swiftonomics
03 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A year after first being declared a billionaire, Taylor Swift’s rarely been out of the headlines or the charts. The pop superstar’s Eras tour fina...
Peter Thiel: Paypal mafioso
02 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What do Airbnb, Facebook, Spotify, and LinkedIn all have in common? Peter Thiel. They made his fortune, but he’s since rejected Silicon Valley for b...
Doris Fisher: Don’t mind The Gap
25 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The woman behind the brand that revolutionised the way the world shopped and dressed. Doris Fisher and her husband Don founded The Gap together and ma...
Carlos Slim Helú: Telecom titan
18 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Carlos Slim Helú's financial might has led some people to nickname his native Mexico ‘Slimlandia’. He dominates the country’s businesses, from ...
Roman Abramovich: Premier League oligarch
11 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Roman Abramovich was known as the "stealth oligarch" before he stepped into the limelight as Chelsea football club’s sugar daddy owner. The man love...
Mukesh Ambani: Asia’s richest person
04 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Mukesh Ambani caught the world’s attention when he forked out $600m on his son’s wedding, including a performance by Rihanna – but how did he be...
Patrice Motsepe: Mining magnate
28 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Metal man and football fan Patrice Motsepe rose out of post-apartheid South Africa to become the country’s first black billionaire. Under apartheid,...
Jack Ma: China's ecommerce CEO
21 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Jack Ma is the king of ecommerce in China. Nicknamed 'Daddy Ma', the former school teacher even appeared alongside martial arts legend Jet Li in a kun...
Yvon Chouinard: A $3 billion giveaway
14 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The story of how Yvon Chouinard, a reluctant billionaire who only wanted to climb and surf, harnessed his passions to create outdoor apparel brand Pat...
Whitney Wolfe Herd: Dating app entrepreneur
07 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Whitney Wolfe Herd, the “queen of the swipes”, launched a female-led dating app after a public scandal around her sexual harassment and discrimina...
Aliko Dangote: Africa’s richest person
30 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Industrialist Aliko Dangote is known as a mild-mannered cement tycoon who often drives himself to business meetings. How did he become the world’s r...
Sam Altman: ChatGPT and the AI revolution
23 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How is freshly minted billionaire Sam Altman shaping our future through his company OpenAI and ChatGPT? He made his fortune by investing in huge tech ...
Zhang Yiming: TikTok’s tech boss
16 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How did an unassuming software engineer become one of the richest people on the planet? This is the story of how Zhang Yiming transformed social media...
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw: Beer, brewing and biotech
09 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw built a pharmaceutical empire after failing to get a job brewing beer. She also overcame gender bias to become India’s first sel...
George Soros: 'The man who broke the Bank of England'
02 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
George Soros escaped Nazi occupation in Hungary, before becoming one of the most successful investors in history. After making his name on Wall Street...
Jerry Seinfeld: The world’s richest comedian
26 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Jerry Seinfeld has a life-long obsession with jokes, but his smash hit sitcom turned the New York stand-up into the richest comedian of all time. Sein...
Peter Jackson: Lord of the Films
19 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How did Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson become one of only four filmmakers worth a billion dollars, and one of just three billionaires from N...
Miuccia Prada: ‘Ugly fashion’
12 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How a communist mime artist became the billionaire boss of a luxury fashion house. Miuccia Prada changed her name, then made it famous with one of the...
Sergey Brin: Googling billions
05 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
By founding Google, tech titan Sergey Brin helped shape the internet. He also got very, very rich, as his company Alphabet became one of the biggest i...
Tiger Woods: Golf’s ‘golden boy’
29 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Golfing superstardom made him incredibly rich. Personal disasters nearly took it all away. How did Tiger Woods go from a child golfing prodigy to the ...
Mark Zuckerberg: Move fast and get rich
26 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How one social media site birthed an empire. The story of Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook.BBC business editor Simon Jack and journalist Zing Tsjeng take ...
Sir Richard Branson: Sky's the limit
19 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
From The Exorcist to 400 companies: how music sent Virgin entrepreneur Richard Branson into space. He's an island owning adventurer, but he's incredib...
Sir Jim Ratcliffe: Man U mogul
12 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
He's spent a billion on Manchester United, but how did Jim Ratcliffe become a billionaire?BBC business editor Simon Jack and journalist Zing Tsjeng le...
Bernie Ecclestone: Fast money
05 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How Bernie Ecclestone won control of Formula One, and how it all came crashing down. BBC business editor Simon Jack and journalist Zing Tsjeng trace a...
Gina Rinehart: The other Iron Lady
27 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How mining magnate Gina Rinehart amassed a $30 billion fortune to become Australia's richest person, but also earned a reputation for being highly lit...
Charles Koch: Dark money’s slick operator
20 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How oilman Charles Koch turned black gold into dark money. BBC business editor Simon Jack and journalist Zing Tsjeng investigate the feuding family th...
Taylor Swift: Swiftonomics
13 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Journalist Zing Tsjeng and BBC business editor Simon Jack uncover the huge public feuds and private legal battles that made the most famous woman in t...
Warren Buffett: The oracle of Omaha
06 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How Warren Buffett became the richest investor in history, amassing a fortune of over $120 billion, without moving from the Nebraska home he bought in...
NR Narayana Murthy: India's IT innovator
30 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How NR Narayana Murthy, now known as the father-in-law of UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, first became known as the father of India's IT boom.Journalis...
Rupert Murdoch: The Succession prequel
23 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How Rupert Murdoch inherited an Australian newspaper and turned it into a global media empire. BBC business editor Simon Jack and journalist Zing Tsje...
El Chapo: Cocaine kingpin
16 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The story of Mexican drug lord Joaquín Archivaldo Guzmán Loera, better known as El Chapo, the leader of one of the world’s most prolific, violent ...
Jay-Z: A business, man
09 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
How hip-hop’s first billionaire went from grams to Grammys. Journalist Zing Tsjeng and BBC business editor Simon Jack chart Jay-Z's meteoric rise fr...
Michael Bloomberg: Market master
12 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
How did being fired from Wall Street lead Michael Bloomberg to a $96 billion fortune and a failed presidential campaign? Journalist Zing Tsjeng and BB...
Patrick Soon-Shiong: Cures for cash
05 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Why was biotech billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong sued by his brother... and Cher? BBC business editor Simon Jack and journalist Zing Tsjeng trace his j...
Bill Gates: Software hardman
28 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Microsoft boss Bill Gates spent more than a decade as the richest person in the world, after becoming the youngest self-made billionaire in history.Jo...
Sam Bankman-Fried with Michael Lewis
21 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The spectacular rise and incredible fall of crypto empire FTX and its unconventional founder, Sam Bankman-Fried - a billionaire wannabe philanthropist...
Denise Coates: Ultimate gambler
14 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
How did an accountant from Stoke-on-Trent gamble it all to become the world's highest paid woman? Denise Coates founded online betting company Bet365 ...
Michael Jordan: Most valuable player
07 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
How did basketball's biggest superstar become the world's first athlete billionaire? Michael Jordan turned his prodigious talent on the court into a m...
Kim Kardashian: Breaking the internet
31 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
How does the subject of a leaked sex tape become a billionaire business mogul? Journalist Zing Tsjeng and BBC business editor Simon Jack find out how ...
Bernard Arnault: The wolf in cashmere
24 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The rise and rise of the French entrepreneur who vies with Elon Musk for the title of richest person in the world. Bernard Arnault is the head of luxu...
Viktor Bout: Merchant of death
17 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Just who was the arms dealer prisoner swapped for US basketball star Brittney Griner? Viktor Bout was a man who built his empire selling arms to anyon...
George Lucas: Box office billions
10 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In the podcast that uncovers how the world's 2,668 billionaires made their money and asks if they are good or bad for the planet, Simon and Zing follo...
Oprah Winfrey: Queen of all media
03 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
How did Oprah become the richest African American of the 20th Century? BBC business editor Simon Jack and journalist Zing Tsjeng find out, and then th...
Chuck Feeney: All duty
26 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The story of the billionaire who wasn't. When Charles "Chuck" Feeney first appeared on the world's rich lists in the 1980s, he had built a billion-dol...
Adam Neumann: The cult of WeWork
19 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
How did WeWork founder Adam Neumann oversee one of the most spectacular business fails in modern history? BBC business editor Simon Jack and journalis...
Sir Philip Green: King of the high street
12 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
How did Sir Philip Green go from being a respected retail mogul to becoming the unacceptable face of capitalism? BBC business editor Simon Jack and jo...
Rihanna: Turning beauty into billions
05 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
How did pop star Rihanna become the richest-ever person from Barbados? Simon Jack and Zing Tsjeng explain, and then decide if she's good, bad, or just...
Jeff Bezos: Get big fast
29 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
How did Amazon boss Jeff Bezos become the first person worth over $100 billion? BBC business editor Simon Jack and journalist Zing Tsjeng tell the sto...
Introducing... Good Bad Billionaire
22 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Coming Tuesday 29th August...The podcast that finds out how the richest people on the planet made their billions, and then judges them for it. Are the...