Jacob Goldstein
Jacob Goldstein spent more than a decade as co-host of the Planet Money podcast. He's also the author of the book Money: The True Story of a Made-Up Thing, which the New…
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Wayne Huizenga came from a long line of trash collectors. It was a rough, fragmented, mom-and-pops business which notoriously attracted mobsters. But Huizenga set out to buy his small competitors – to roll them up – to form the biggest waste management firm in the world.
Huizenga bought up rival companies at a furious pace – several per week – and when he tired of the trash business he looked for something new. In the 80s, video stores also tended to be mom ‘n pops outfits. Huizenga spotted that there was a golden opportunity to consolidate the rental industry, so used roll ups to build the giant Blockbuster Video chain.
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The Hosts
Robert Smith
Robert Smith, co-host of the Business History podcast, is a Professor of Journalism at Columbia University and contributing host of NPR's Planet Money where he tells stories about how the…
