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Good Bad Billionaire

How did the richest people make their billions? New episodes include: Beyoncé and Steven Spielberg. Let us know whether you think they are good, bad or just another billionaire.

World Service,96 episodes

Episodes

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Cristiano Ronaldo: Football's first billionaire player
How Cristiano Ronaldo went from childhood poverty to record-breaking footballer
08 Jun 2026,43 mins
Steven Spielberg: Directing dreams and deals
How Steven Spielberg became the most commercially successful movie director ever
01 Jun 2026,42 mins
Beyoncé: The business of Queen B
How Beyoncé went from talent show tween to music mogul
01 Jun 2026,44 mins
Trailer
Simon and Zing are back with another batch of billionaires
27 May 2026,2 mins
Toto Wolff: Mercedes's billion-dollar F1 boss
How Toto Wolff became the most successful boss in Formula One
02 Mar 2026,45 mins
Ronnie Screwvala: The cable guy
How Ronnie Screwvala changed the viewing habits of India
23 Feb 2026,39 mins
Larry Ellison: Winning the database wars
Larry Ellison is one of Silicon Valley’s most combative and controversial billionaires
16 Feb 2026,46 mins
Elizabeth Holmes: From CEO to criminal
Elizabeth Holmes's Silicon Valley dream became one of its biggest corporate scandals
09 Feb 2026,47 mins
Peggy Cherng: Engineering a fast-food fortune
How Peggy Cherng used engineering and orange chicken to create a fast-food empire
02 Feb 2026,38 mins
Ben Francis: UK’s youngest billionaire
How Gymshark's Ben Francis went from pizza delivery boy to the UK’s youngest billionaire
26 Jan 2026,45 mins
Elon Musk: You decide!
It’s time to hear what you, our listeners, think of Elon Musk
23 Jan 2026,16 mins
Lucy Guo: The woman training AI
How Lucy Guo went from college dropout to training the AI you use today
19 Jan 2026,41 mins
David Geffen: The Hollywood power broker
How David Geffen, the man behind your favourite music and movies, conquered Hollywood
12 Jan 2026,47 mins
Sara Blakely: Shaping the world with Spanx
How Spanx reshaped celebrity style and made Sara Blakely a billionaire
05 Jan 2026,42 mins
Guy Laliberté: Cirque du Soleil’s clown turned CEO
How Guy Laliberté reinvented the greatest show on earth
05 Jan 2026,41 mins
Elon Musk: Money, memes and Mars
How Elon Musk became the richest person on the planet
01 Dec 2025,55 mins
Luciano Benetton: Famous fashion to cultural controversy
How fashion and controversy fuelled the rise of Luciano Benetton
24 Nov 2025,41 mins
Tyler Perry: Homeless to Hollywood entrepreneur
How Tyler Perry went from living in his car to becoming a Hollywood mogul
17 Nov 2025,42 mins
Lakshmi Mittal: King of steel
How Lakshmi Mittal built a steel empire and reshaped an entire industry
10 Nov 2025,44 mins
Michael O’Leary: Ryanair’s cost-cutting king
How Michael O’Leary turned Ryanair into the largest airline in Europe by cutting costs
03 Nov 2025,48 mins
Diane Hendricks: Building a fortune
From teen mom to roofing mogul: how Diane Hendricks built a $22 billion empire
27 Oct 2025,38 mins
John Fredriksen: Tanker king
Norwegian shipping magnate John Fredriksen owned the world’s largest fleet of oil tankers
20 Oct 2025,44 mins
Evan Spiegel: Snapchat fratboy
How disappearing messages app Snapchat made Evan Spiegel a billionaire at 25
13 Oct 2025,46 mins
Tatyana Kim: Russia’s online retail queen
How Tatyana Kim went from English teacher to head of Russian’s largest online retailer
06 Oct 2025,44 mins
Arnold Schwarzenegger: Muscles, movies, money
Arnold Schwarzenegger, from Mr Universe to cinematic superstar and billionaire investor
06 Oct 2025,46 mins
Coming soon: More tales of the mega-rich
The latest batch of billionaires includes film stars, tech bros and online retail giants
19 Sep 2025,1 min
Encore - Film Stories: George Lucas and Peter Jackson
How film directors George Lucas and Peter Jackson went from zero to a billion
08 Sep 2025,64 mins
The dead billionaires: What do you think?
Your verdicts on Rockefeller, Ford, Hughes, Walton and Green
27 Aug 2025,10 mins
Hetty Green: The 'witch' of Wall Street
Hetty Green was America’s richest woman, but was renowned as the nation’s biggest miser
28 Jul 2025,47 mins
Sam Walton: Walmart’s founder
Sam Walton’s discount store Walmart is the largest retailer on Earth
21 Jul 2025,44 mins