Foundering

McAfee Bonus: Q&A

Tue, 16 May 2023 13:55:22 +0000 · 24 min

A live Q&A with this season’s host, Jamie Tarabay, and a cybersecurity expert featured in the series, Allan Liska. This bonus episode was recorded following a live production of “Foundering: The John McAfee Story” in San Francisco at the RSA Conference in April 2023. The conversation, moderated by Foundering’s editor Mark Milian, explores the reporting process for the show and McAfee’s lasting imp

Foundering: The Killing of Bob Lee (Trailer)

Tue, 14 Apr 2026 10:00:00 +0000 · 1 min

Three years ago, Bob Lee, a tech executive best known for creating Cash App, was found stabbed in the streets of San Francisco. His killing set off a wave of online fury. Rumors and misinformation ran rampant. Several tech industry leaders weighed in, including David Sacks, who “bet dollars to dimes” that Lee was stabbed by “a psychotic homeless person,” and Elon Musk, who disparaged the district

Amazon Part 5: The Price of Speedy Delivery

Thu, 31 Mar 2022 04:01:00 +0000 · 37 min

For its first 20 years, Amazon relied on UPS and other delivery companies to get packages to its customers’ doorsteps. Then a shipping disaster one Christmas made Jeff Bezos decide to build his own transportation network.Reporter Brad Stone chronicles the remarkable expansion of the Amazon transportation network into our communities, the company’s strained relationship with its delivery contractor

Foundering: The OpenAI Story (Trailer)

Thu, 30 May 2024 07:00:00 +0000 · 2 min

The biggest story in tech is artificial intelligence, and the biggest story in AI is OpenAI. The company’s rapid progress and blazingly popular consumer products like ChatGPT have pushed tech giants to dump billions of dollars into an AI arms race. OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman, has been dogged by persistent allegations of being manipulative, deceitful, and power hungry – even to the point of being fir

Bob Lee Part 4: The Made-for-TV Murder Trial

Thu, 30 Apr 2026 10:05:00 +0000 · 50 min

Nima Momeni's trial for murdering Bob Lee began in October 2024. Lee's killing, no longer a stand-in for random street crime, no longer fit neatly into the political zeitgeist. Instead, the tabloids latched onto the story for its salacious mix of drugs, violence and sex. Reporter Shawn Wen brings listeners inside the made-for-TV murder trial, which also served as a referendum on San Francisco. See

OpenAI Part 5: Beware the Ides of November

Thu, 27 Jun 2024 10:05:00 +0000 · 47 min

Right as Sam Altman was at the peak of his success, touring the world to espouse the virtues of AI, his board turned on him. Altman was unceremoniously fired. OpenAI’s coup is a story of secrets, betrayal, employee revolt and Altman’s expert political maneuvering to regain his position of power. In this episode, reporter Ellen Huet also examines Altman’s history of broken promises and alleged mani

Amazon Part 4: The Virtual Bazaar

Thu, 24 Mar 2022 04:01:00 +0000 · 34 min

Jeff Bezos made an unorthodox decision two decades ago to open the Amazon’s virtual shelves to merchandise from outside sellers, turning the site from a simple online store into a virtual flea market. But converting Amazon.com into a marketplace also brought unexpected challenges. Cheap knockoffs flooded onto the site. Small businesses discovered that their professional lives were dictated by the

McAfee Part 6: The Demise

Thu, 23 Mar 2023 04:01:00 +0000 · 42 min

A desperate escape by sea finds John McAfee deported to Europe. He ends up in a small Spanish town, but the walls are closing in on him. Reporter Jamie Tarabay investigates the final days of McAfee and the circumstances surrounding his death.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

McAfee Part 2: The Yogi

Thu, 23 Feb 2023 05:01:00 +0000 · 38 min

After cashing out, John McAfee uproots and tries to reinvent himself. He starts a new company and forms a yoga retreat. Reporter Jamie Tarabay also looks into a new and extremely dangerous hobby that captures McAfee’s interest.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bob Lee Part 3: The Brilliant Programmer and a Lot of Wild Living

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 10:05:00 +0000 · 38 min

Weeks after his death, Bob Lee’s toxicology report was released, indicating that he had alcohol, cocaine, and ketamine in his system. While his killing no longer fit neatly with the San Francisco Doom Loop narrative, a new story emerged that Lee traveled through an underground party scene known as “the Lifestyle.” Lee was twisted into a symbol for a second time, now representing the secret world o

OpenAI Part 4: Heaven and Hell, Part 2

Thu, 20 Jun 2024 10:04:00 +0000 · 22 min

It’s widely predicted that AI will upend the economy and threaten many existing jobs. Sam Altman, in trying to stay ahead of public fears of mass unemployment, has offered universal basic income as a solution. He also has envisioned an AI future of abundance. In this episode, reporter Ellen Huet looks at Altman’s proposals for ending poverty and his current relationship with his sister, Annie Altm

Amazon Part 3: The Bumpy Road to Hollywood

Thu, 17 Mar 2022 04:01:00 +0000 · 34 min

Before Mrs. Maisel was marvelous and Jack Ryan saved the world, Jeff Bezos was convinced that the internet would change how people watched TV shows and movies. His response to the opportunity was called Prime Video –a seemingly prescient bet to bring a selection of video programming into the bundle of perks for Prime members. Reporter Brad Stone tells the story of Amazon’s bumpy road into Hollywoo

McAfee Part 5: The Descent

Thu, 16 Mar 2023 04:01:00 +0000 · 34 min

John McAfee forms a new operation to capitalize on a financial opportunity in cryptocurrencies. Drugs and paranoia take over. Reporter Jamie Tarabay chronicles the beginning of the end for McAfee.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

McAfee Part 1: The Virus

Thu, 16 Feb 2023 05:01:00 +0000 · 39 min

McAfee antivirus software was ubiquitous in the 1990s, and its creator John McAfee helped define the modern cybersecurity industry. McAfee was an archetype of the Silicon Valley founder — bombastic, enigmatic and brilliant. But his life would take a dark turn. Reporter Jamie Tarabay investigated the early days of his career and found that the warning signs were there from the beginning.See omnystu

Bob Lee Part 2: The Brother Did It

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 10:10:00 +0000 · 47 min

Nine days after Bob Lee was found stabbed in San Francisco, police arrested Nima Momeni for his murder. Desperate to squash the ‘Doom Loop’ narrative, San Francisco officials insisted that Bob Lee was killed by someone he knew, a fellow tech executive. But the Cash App founder’s friends and family had never heard of Momeni. Reporter Shawn Wen tells the story of Momeni’s teen years in the East Bay,

Bob Lee Part 1: San Francisco Has Blood On Its Hands

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 10:05:00 +0000 · 37 min

Three years ago, Bob Lee, a tech executive famous for creating Cash App, was found stabbed in San Francisco. His killing set off a wave of online fury. Reporter Shawn Wen takes us back to the turbulent days before his killer was arrested, when misinformation and rumors ran rampant. Several tech industry leaders decried violent crime in San Francisco, including David Sacks, who “bet dollars to dime

Amazon Part 7: The Final Frontier

Thu, 14 Apr 2022 04:00:00 +0000 · 35 min

It was the end of an era. Jeff Bezos announced he was leaving the CEO role at Amazon and becoming executive chairman. But as one epic business story was ending, another was beginning. His handpicked successor, Andy Jassy, would have to defuse the company’s mounting confrontations with regulators and employees, including a rising labor union at a Staten Island warehouse.Reporter Brad Stone chronicl

OpenAI Part 3: Heaven and Hell, Part 1

Thu, 13 Jun 2024 10:03:00 +0000 · 31 min

A group of high-level early employees who had glimpsed the fluidity and power of the technology behind ChatGPT left OpenAI to start a new company. Their exit sparked concerns that OpenAI is not prioritizing safety. Meanwhile, the success of ChatGPT drove a craze within the tech industry but also added fuel to existing apocalyptic fears. In this episode, reporter Ellen Huet examines the frenzy arou

Amazon Part 2: The Obsessive Secrecy Around Alexa

Thu, 10 Mar 2022 05:02:00 +0000 · 33 min

One day in 2011, a small team of Boston-based AI scientists got an unexpected call: Amazon wanted to buy their company. Its founder and CEO, Jeff Bezos, was leading a secret team to develop a unique device, a voice-activated computer that could recognize and respond to user questions from across a noisy room. The world would soon know the device as the Amazon Echo, and its virtual personality as A

Amazon Part 1: The Inventor vs. The Monopolist

Thu, 10 Mar 2022 05:01:00 +0000 · 38 min

Today Amazon is an inescapable juggernaut. Back in 1994, it was just an idea, pitched by a former Wall Street banker named Jeff Bezos to disbelieving investors at the very birth of the internet era. Reporter Brad Stone, who has spent years chronicling the Amazon story, describes how the company almost flamed out the dot.bomb era and how Bezos rescued the company in part by ginning up two new lines

McAfee Part 4: The White House

Thu, 09 Mar 2023 05:01:00 +0000 · 40 min

John McAfee is back in America. He meets a new business partner who helps broker a lucrative deal. As reporter Jamie Tarabay learns, the new associate eventually inspires McAfee to make a long-shot bid for the US presidency.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Introducing: The John McAfee Story

Thu, 09 Feb 2023 09:00:00 +0000 · 2 min

This season of Foundering retraces the life and gruesome death of John McAfee. In the 1980s and ’90s, the McAfee name was synonymous with computer antivirus software, and he helped establish the modern cybersecurity industry. But afterward, his life took a strange and dark turn. He was accused of murder and went on the lam. He sought to reinvent himself as a cryptocurrency guru and as a candidate

Bob Lee Part 5: Tech vs. San Francisco

Thu, 07 May 2026 10:05:00 +0000 · 38 min

With Nima Momeni convicted of second degree murder, the media storm around Bob Lee faded. Reporter Shawn Wen tries to make sense of the widespread fascination with Lee’s death. She looks to the period before his death, when San Francisco was gripped by a bitter political fight over street crime, and to the years afterwards, when it emerged from the doom loop and into the AI boom. See omnystudio.co

Amazon Part 6: The Billionaire and the Tabloid

Thu, 07 Apr 2022 04:01:00 +0000 · 42 min

A wayward CEO, a tabloid newspaper determined to humiliate the world’s richest person, a callously disloyal brother and dramatic allegations of cyberespionage and international intrigue.The events surrounding the divorce of Jeff Bezos and MacKenzie Scott in early 2019 were almost too far-fetched to believe. A day after they announced the dissolution of their 25-year marriage with a tweet, the Nati

OpenAI Part2: Ilya Dreams of AGI

Thu, 06 Jun 2024 10:02:00 +0000 · 35 min

OpenAI employees were motivated by the dream of building an artificial general intelligence, which could think and solve problems like a human mind. In reality, they sometimes spent their days building bots that played video games. But new research allowed the company to create increasingly powerful AI models, giving them a lead in the AI race. Meanwhile, a power struggle between Sam Altman and El

OpenAI Part 1: The Most Silicon Valley Man Alive

Thu, 06 Jun 2024 10:01:00 +0000 · 39 min

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, shot to tech stardom with the release of ChatGPT. His company is one of the most valuable startups in the world, and he is treated like an ambassador for the AI future, zipping around the globe, meeting with world leaders. But how did he amass so much power? In this episode, reporter Ellen Huet looks at Altman’s rise and his penchant for forming close bonds with powerful

Introducing: Crash Course

Thu, 05 Jan 2023 15:48:17 +0000 · 1 min

Hosted by Bloomberg Opinion senior executive editor Tim O'Brien, Crash Course will bring listeners directly into the arenas where epic business and social upheavals occur. Every week, Crash Course will explore the lessons to be learned when creativity and ambition collide with competition and power -- on Wall Street and Main Street, and in Hollywood and Washington.See omnystudio.com/listener for p

McAfee Part 3: The Jungle

Thu, 02 Mar 2023 05:01:00 +0000 · 48 min

John McAfee seeks to evade a lawsuit and leaves the US behind. He makes a new life for himself in Central America, but reporter Jamie Tarabay finds it doesn’t take long before a new crisis envelops him.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Preview: The Sixth Bureau, Episode 1

Sat, 14 Feb 2026 15:00:00 +0000 · 12 min

It’s an open secret that the Chinese government has engaged in a global campaign to acquire intellectual property from foreign rivals. At the center of that campaign is the Ministry of State Security, China’s elusive intelligence agency. The US has apprehended hundreds of people accused of giving information to the MSS, but the agency’s inner workings have been a mystery — until now. Today, we’re

Introducing - Spellcaster: The Fall of Sam Bankman-Fried

Fri, 12 May 2023 13:31:44 +0000 · 2 min

Coming soon: When nerdy gamer Sam Bankman-Fried rocketed to fame as the world’s richest 29-year-old, he pledged to donate his billions to good causes. But then his crypto exchange FTX collapsed Billions of dollars were missing, and Sam was in handcuffs. Those who knew him were left wondering — who was Sam really? A well-meaning billionaire who made a mistake? Or a calculating con man? From Wondery