Episodes

  • Is the World Cup a raw deal for host cities? FIFA’s New York frontman disagrees.

    Is the World Cup a raw deal for host cities? FIFA’s New York frontman disagrees.
    Jul 7 2026
    The World Cup prints money — an estimated $10 billion this year. FIFA keeps almost all of it. The business case for the host cities shouldering much of the costs, however, isn’t so clear. New York-New Jersey Host Committee CEO Alex Lasry joins Liz and Rohan this week to break down what’s really in it for New York (and, ahem, New Jersey), why he thinks you can’t put a price on the opportunity, and the hypothetical logistical nightmare that keeps him up at night. He also reflects on his family’s time owning the Milwaukee Bucks to make the case for public funding of stadiums, and argues that more sports owners should prioritize the fan experience over the bottom line. Sign up to get the Semafor Business briefing in your inbox. This season of Compound Interest is in partnership with Amazon Business. Amazon Business is a trusted partner that transforms business buying by combining Amazon's vast selection, competitive pricing, and fast delivery with added tools and insights to help businesses simplify purchasing, manage spend, and buy smarter. Image Credit: Reuters/Kai Pfaffenbach/Shannon Stapleton/Bob Donnan-Imagn Images Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    47 mins
  • Silicon Valley’s go-to fixer on AI’s unfixable problem

    Silicon Valley’s go-to fixer on AI’s unfixable problem
    Jun 30 2026
    One of Silicon Valley’s top political fixers, Bradley Tusk, built a career helping startups like Uber and FanDuel brawl their way to legitimacy — in his words, “legalize disruptive sh*t.” His message to AI companies: You have no idea what’s coming. This season of Compound Interest is in partnership with Amazon Business. This episode is commercial content produced by Semafor Global Studio with Amazon Business. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    54 mins
  • Wall Street fell in love with your life insurance. Should you be worried?

    Wall Street fell in love with your life insurance. Should you be worried?
    Jun 23 2026
    Anant Bhalla had a front-row seat to Wall Street's takeover of the life insurance industry, which turned a sleepy corner of American finance into a multitrillion-dollar investment engine. Now, even he’s worried it’s gone too far. He talks to Liz and Rohan about “zombie” insurers, ratings shopping, and where the next big blowup will happen. This season of Compound Interest is in partnership with Amazon Business. Amazon Business is a trusted partner that transforms business buying by combining Amazon's vast selection, competitive pricing, and fast delivery with added tools and insights to help businesses simplify purchasing, manage spend, and buy smarter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    57 mins
  • How Amazon Business made business buying smart by rebuilding its consumer platform for companies

    How Amazon Business made business buying smart by rebuilding its consumer platform for companies
    Jun 16 2026
    In this special episode of Compound Interest, Semafor’s Chief Commercial Officer Rachel Oppenheim sits down with Todd Heimes, Vice President and General Manager at our season sponsor, Amazon Business. Todd and Rachel sit down to discuss how Amazon Business is reshaping how organizations buy. Heimes has been scaling Amazon since he started there in 1999, and has been growing Amazon Business since it started in 2016. His goal is to help organizations of all sizes save time and money by making business buying smarter, easier, and more strategic. Heimes discusses how the solution cuts the friction of age-old systems through immense selection, fast delivery, and a foundation built on customer obsession and earned trust. This season of Compound Interest is in partnership with Amazon Business. This episode is commercial content produced by Semafor Global Studio with Amazon Business. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    30 mins
  • Klarna’s Sebastian Siemiatkowski on agentic commerce, credit cards, and financing everything

    Klarna’s Sebastian Siemiatkowski on agentic commerce, credit cards, and financing everything
    Jun 9 2026
    Klarna, best known as a buy now, pay later giant, came of age during the e-commerce boom. But as AI takes over everything, including our shopping, Liz and Rohan ask Sebastian about what an agentic commerce future means for his business, if Klarna will eventually become a bank, the truth about his AI customer service experiment, whether people should really be financing their DoorDash orders, and much more. Sign up to get the Semafor Business briefing in your inbox. This season of Compound Interest is in partnership with Amazon Business. Amazon Business is a trusted partner that transforms business buying by combining Amazon's vast selection, competitive pricing, and fast delivery with added tools and insights to help businesses simplify purchasing, manage spend, and buy smarter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    47 mins
  • Anthony Pompliano thinks you're smarter than your financial advisor

    Anthony Pompliano thinks you're smarter than your financial advisor
    Jun 2 2026
    Bitcoin evangelist Anthony Pompliano has reinvented himself as the champion of a new kind of investor: digitally native, high-net-worth, and deeply skeptical of Wall Street expertise. He joins Liz and Rohan to talk about his AI-powered CFO product, why he thinks independent investors outperform the pros, what's left in crypto worth caring about, and the uncomfortable politics of the Trump family's meme coin. Sign up to get the Semafor Business briefing in your inbox. This season of Compound Interest is in partnership with Amazon Business. Amazon Business is a trusted partner that transforms business buying by combining Amazon's vast selection, competitive pricing, and fast delivery with added tools and insights to help businesses simplify purchasing, manage spend, and buy smarter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    48 mins
  • Vail CEO Rob Katz knows what you think of his business — and he thinks he can fix it

    Vail CEO Rob Katz knows what you think of his business — and he thinks he can fix it
    May 26 2026
    If you ski or snowboard, you probably have an opinion of Rob Katz’s business. The Vail Resorts CEO joins Liz and Rohan on Compound Interest to talk about the criticisms of crowding, lift lines, and pricing of the season pass that changed winter sports forever. Katz also explains why the company doesn’t hedge weather, how the industry’s high-end clientele complicates customer relations, why he isn’t hearing Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince’s bid to buy Park City, and the impacts of climate change on his business. Sign up to get the Semafor Business briefing in your inbox. This season of Compound Interest is in partnership with Amazon Business. Amazon Business is a trusted partner that transforms business buying by combining Amazon's vast selection, competitive pricing, and fast delivery with added tools and insights to help businesses simplify purchasing, manage spend, and buy smarter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    42 mins
  • Joe Weisenthal on the business of business media and why AI won’t replace podcasters

    Joe Weisenthal on the business of business media and why AI won’t replace podcasters
    May 19 2026
    Bloomberg’s Odd Lots podcast has been at the forefront of a new kind of business media for more than a decade. Co-host Joe Weisenthal joins Liz and Semafor editor-in-chief Ben Smith to talk about how the business of business media has evolved throughout his career and how he and Tracy Alloway approach making a podcast that gets into the weeds of supply chains for an audience that ranges from high schoolers to Wall Street executives. They also talk about why the website formerly known as Twitter is still the place to be for finance and tech watchers — but why Substack’s drive to monetize expert amateurism has made it worse — and why he’s optimistic that the age of AI may actually be good for journalism … or at least podcasts. This season of Compound Interest is in partnership with Amazon Business. Amazon Business is a trusted partner that transforms business buying by combining Amazon's vast selection, competitive pricing, and fast delivery with added tools and insights to help businesses simplify purchasing, manage spend, and buy smarter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    45 mins