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Business History

Business History

By: Pushkin Industries
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About this listen

It’s the history of business. How did Hitler’s favorite car become synonymous with hippies? What got Thomas Edison tangled up with the electric chair? Did someone murder the guy who invented the movies? Former Planet Money hosts Jacob Goldstein and Robert Smith examine the surprising stories of businesses big and small and find out what you can learn from those who founded them.

2026 Pushkin Industries 2025
Economics World
Episodes
  • The War on The A&P: When America Decided Cheap Groceries Were "Evil"
    Feb 18 2026

    Mom and Pops grocery stores were charming, but inefficient. They contributed to Americans either spending a lot on their food or having to go hungry. The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company changed the entire model. The A&P established a chain of stores selling branded goods at the lowest prices.

    The A&P kept its profit margins slim and allowed Americans to buy more food for less - but this wasn't celebrated as a success story. Politicians, radio stars and vested interests ganged together to hound The A&P. They demanded the grocery chain change its strategy, raise prices and even put its owners on trial on criminal charges. So why didn't America like cheap groceries?

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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    48 mins
  • The 115-Year-Old Train Tunnels Turned National Emergency (from HISTORY This Week)
    Feb 16 2026

    For more historical deep dives just like these, check out HISTORY This Week wherever you get your podcasts!

    February 14, 1905. A stick of dynamite detonates under the Hudson River — and the ground above swallows a locomotive whole. It's the latest setback in an audacious plan to tunnel beneath the river and bring trains into Manhattan. The Pennsylvania Railroad is the largest corporation in the world, but the goopy riverbed keeps fighting back. How did they finally break through? And why are these 115-year-old tunnels still the most critical infrastructure in America?

    Special thanks to our guests: Polly Desjarlais, content and research manager at the New York Transit Museum; Jill Jonnes, author of Conquering Gotham: A Gilded Age Epic: The Construction of Penn Station and Its Tunnels; and Andy Sparberg, former LIRR manager, transit historian, and author of From a Nickel to a Token: The Journey from Board of Transportation to MTA.

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    34 mins
  • When E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial Tanked Atari
    Feb 11 2026

    Nolan Bushnell loved weed, hot tubs and games... especially games. He took computer games out of the laboratory and put them in bars. His arcade game Pong was a monster hit, so he set up Atari to build a home games console which became the must-have Christmas present of 1975.

    Atari was the name on every kid's lips... but then investors came onboard to help the company expand. Bushnell and his engineers were sidelined, and Atari embarked on a crazy plan to rush out a game based on Spielberg's movie E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. It was so bad... it sank Atari.

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    50 mins
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