Global Disruptors with Rod Liddle

PCs powered by Windows have became ubiquitouis all over the world meaning that he was been a billionaire since 1987. Through the people that know him best, you'll hear the story of how he conquered the world's workplaces from humble beginnings in 1975 when he co-founded Microsoft with his childhood friend Paul Allen.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Starting out as a keen track runner at college in Oregon, USA, Knight has built his sportwear empire into one of the world's biggest and most profitable brands. He began selling Japanese sports shoes and since 1969 has revolutionised sportswear, sponsoring sporting icons such as Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods and Rafael Nadal. As of 2024 he is worth a staggering $41 billion.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In cities all over the world, the taxi industry has been turned upside down by Uber, the US rideshare company. The app's global expansion, often deliberately taking on complacent taxi firms and city halls, was led by Travis Kalanick. But his aggresive approach meant that by 2019, he had sold all the shares in the company he founded. Hear how he built Uber, what was he like to work for and how he was forced out.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

One of the people who killed the video store. Netflix started by mailing out DVDs and is now one of the world's biggest TV streaming services. How did Hastings do it? What advantages did he have growing up? And what's he like to work with?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

She upended online journalism by launching her Huffington Post news site in 2005. Born in Greece, she studied at The Uninversity of Oxford and became a well known media commentator in the 1990s in the US. In 2011, The Huffington post was aquired by AOL for $315 million.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jack Ma started his businesses by offering tours of his hometown, Hangzhou in China to English speaking tourists but is the man who brought online shopping to China. How did he do it? What's he like to work with? How did he create a company worth an estimated $200 billion.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jeff Bezos has revolutionised internet shopping, the book publication industry and cloud computing. He's even built a rocket to take himself and other space tourists into orbit. How did he start out? What's he like to work with? And what happened in his upbringing to make him so driven?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

She is so famous, she is known by only her first name. Arguably the most powerful women in television, she revolutionized the daytime chat-show format in the 1980s and 1990s and has a net worth of nearly $3 billion. How did she grow up? What's she like to worth with? And how did she conquer the world of TV?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

He's lost more money than any other human in history, Tesla has revolutionised the car industry, SpaceX has reinvented space travel and was a founder of PayPal. To some he's 'space Karen' who ruined Twitter, to others he's a real life Tony Stark, so what makes Elon Musk tick?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How did Richard Branson change music, airlines and even space travel? You'll hear from the people who worked with him as lay in bed in a London flat as he started out in the 1960s, as well as the people who helped him take on the state based flag carrier airlines and how he nearly died in a flying accident to promote Virgin airlines.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.