Big Take

When it comes to measuring economic pain, the cost of a humble breakfast sandwich might not be top of mind. But Bloomberg has an index that tracks the rising cost of a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich, plus a cup of coffee. And this year, it’s reached record highs. 

On today’s Big Take podcast, we hear from people up and down the BEC supply chain — from a wheat farmer to a coffee roaster to a guy who turned his life-long love of eggs into a career. What does the most important meal of the day tell us about inflation, supply and demand, and the complexities of financial markets? More importantly: how did this sandwich get so expensive?

Follow the BEC Index on the Bloomberg Terminal: {ECAN US BEC<Go>}

Read more: A Classic New York Cheap Breakfast Hits $8 on Steep Eggs Prices

Further listening: Why Eggs Are So Expensive Right Now

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It’s been a bewildering time for retail investors trying to make sense of global markets. In the week since President Trump unveiled sweeping tariffs, markets have plunged, rebounded — and now, they’re sliding again. Meanwhile, the trade war between the US and China continues. Both announced severe new tariffs this week.

On today’s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg’s Charlie Wells and host Sarah Holder try to make sense of what all this uncertainty means for your money and dig into what experts recommend doing to protect yourself right now and in the weeks and months ahead.

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It’s been a rollercoaster of a week for global markets. As President Trump goes back and forth about the size and scope of his tariffs, Bloomberg is watching one market especially closely: bonds. US Treasuries are widely seen as one of the world’s safest assets, especially in periods of financial volatility. But will they hold?

On today’s episode of the Big Take DC, hosts Sarah Holder and Saleha Mohsin sit down with Bloomberg chief correspondent Liz Capo McCormick to unpack a week of sharp selloffs in the bond market, and how the swings could impact mortgage rates and student loans.

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US President Donald Trump shocked the world -- and global markets -- with tariffs that exceeded expectations last week. But there was one region that was hit harder than most: Asia. Exporting powerhouses like China and Vietnam were slapped with some of the highest levies of any country, with China now facing an additional 50% tariff, bringing the total rate of its levies to more than 100%.

On today's Big Take Asia Podcast, host K. Oanh Ha sits down with Bloomberg's John Liu in Beijing and John Boudreau in Ho Chi Minh City to discuss the reactions from Asian economies and how the tariff onslaught may upend the trading world order.

Read more:

Trump’s Tariffs and China Collide to Shock the $115 Trillion Global Economy 

Tariffs Rip Through Southeast Asia Stocks, Sink Vietnam’s Market

Further listening: 

The Trump Trade War’s First Casualty? The Bull Market

Trump Announces Sweeping New Tariffs. What’s Next

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It's been a volatile few days across global markets. 

As the equity sell-off has deepened, a growing number of market strategists have revised down their targets for where the S&P 500 will be at the end of the year, and economists at several big banks have updated their forecasts. Today on the Big Take podcast, unpacking the seismic effect US President Trump’s tariffs announcement is having on markets. Bloomberg Opinion’s John Authers joins host David Gura to contextualize the market moves — and explain what’s likely to happen next. 

Read more from John Authers here.

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The genetic testing company 23andMe filed for bankruptcy in March, after years of slowing sales, legal trouble, and a declining stock price. And now, the valuable trove of genetic data the company owns is for sale, sparking privacy concerns. 

On today’s Big Take, Bloomberg biotech reporter Gerry Smith traces the rise and fall of 23andMe, and bankruptcy reporter Jonathan Randles outlines what a possible sale could mean for millions of users’ genetic data.

Read more: Bankrupt 23andMe’s DNA Data Gets Sale Nod as Concerns Linger

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Trump announced the steepest American tariffs in more than a century, with a 10% tariff on all exporters to the US and even higher duties on some 60 nations. China now faces a tariff well above 50% on many goods.

On today’s Big Take, Bloomberg reporter Josh Wingrove joins host David Gura to discuss Trump’s “huge” announcement, and how it will reshape global trade.

Read more: Trump Tariffs Everyone, With Rate on China Set to Soar Above 50%
Further listening: The World Is Paying for Trump’s China Tariffs

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India’s historic stock market surge sparked a retail-investing frenzy that minted millionaires. But the boom also became a breeding ground for financial scams. 

On today’s Big Take Asia Podcast, host K. Oanh Ha talks to Bloomberg’s Alex Gabriel Simon about the retail investors that have been cheated out of their life savings, and how this influx of scams could undermine Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s efforts to promote his nation’s stock market to global money managers.

Read more: Scamsters Trick India's Retail Investors Out of Millions in Life Savings

Further listening: Inside Southeast Asia’s Most Notorious Crime Hub

Watch, from Originals: Is India's Stock Market a Bubble About to Burst?

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The Trump administration is targeting higher education. Colleges and universities across the United States are faced with the threat of funding freezes over their handling of free speech, anti-semitism and transgender issues, among other topics, on campus. 

Princeton University President Christopher Eisgruber joins host David Gura to discuss the newly announced freeze on some federal grants, the role of academic research, Princeton’s commitment to free speech and more.

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President Donald Trump is calling April 2nd “Liberation Day” — that’s when the president says the world can expect the biggest salvo in his widening trade war. While the specifics are not yet clear, the symbolism is: Trump wants to usher in an era of American protectionist policy that could re-order global trade.

Today on the show, Bloomberg’s Shawn Donnan joins host David Gura to discuss what we know about these new tariffs and the lessons from similarly broad tariffs in 1930. Plus, a new Bloomberg analysis of the economic impact the tariffs could have on the US economy.

Read more: Trump's Tariffs Set to Make History and Break a System MAGA Loathes

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In the series finale, our reporters try to crack the secretive companies behind nudify apps that let users create deepfakes in minutes. And a new case rocks another small town high school.

Levittown is a real-life horror story for the AI generation. In this six-part series from Bloomberg, Kaleidoscope and iHeart Podcasts, reporters Olivia Carville and Margi Murphy take listeners from quiet suburbs of New York to as far as New Zealand and into the darkest corners of the Internet. Where tech moves faster than the law, and it’s up to everyday people to hold back a rising tide of explicit deepfakes.

For official transcripts and additional information on this series, go to bloomberg.com/levittown

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Kayla faces down her harasser in court. In New Zealand, an investigator summons a global army of hackers.

Levittown is a real-life horror story for the AI generation. In this six-part series from Bloomberg, Kaleidoscope and iHeart Podcasts, reporters Olivia Carville and Margi Murphy take listeners from quiet suburbs of New York to as far as New Zealand and into the darkest corners of the Internet. Where tech moves faster than the law, and it’s up to everyday people to hold back a rising tide of explicit deepfakes.

For official transcripts and additional information on this series, go to bloomberg.com/levittown

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An arrest in Levittown kicks off the next phase of an investigation. The central question for the prosecutors is: Is any of this a crime? And they’re on the clock.

Levittown is a real-life horror story for the AI generation. In this six-part series from Bloomberg, Kaleidoscope and iHeart Podcasts, reporters Olivia Carville and Margi Murphy take listeners from quiet suburbs of New York to as far as New Zealand and into the darkest corners of the Internet. Where tech moves faster than the law, and it’s up to everyday people to hold back a rising tide of explicit deepfakes.

For official transcripts and additional information on this series, go to bloomberg.com/levittown

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Tulum, Mexico has exploded in popularity since the early years of the pandemic. The area’s few Covid restrictions, picturesque beaches and laidback vibes attracted lockdown-weary travelers and helped trigger a real estate boom.

On today’s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg reporters Andrea Navarro and Tanaz Meghjani join host Sarah Holder to discuss the dark side of a pandemic-era development spree in Tulum that has left a trail of ripped off investors, millions of dollars in missing cash and even two bodies in its wake.

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Senator Elizabeth Warren has been shaping US policy for years. She helped create the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau after the 2008 financial crisis, has been a senator since 2013 and ran for president in 2020. Today, she’s a key voice in the Democratic Party’s opposition to President Trump's agenda and the priorities of a Republican-controlled Congress.

Ahead of Thursday’s confirmation hearing of Trump’s Securities and Exchange Commission Chair nominee, Paul Atkins, Big Take host David Gura sat down with Warren for a wide-ranging interview on regulatory independence, the future of the Democratic Party and the Signal group chat leak.

Read more: Elizabeth Warren Warns Fed Chair Powell Could Be Fired by Trump

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Private equity is looking for new ways to raise capital. The industry has its eye on a  $12 trillion piece of America’s retirement market.

On today’s Big Take podcast, private equity reporter Allison McNeely joins host Sarah Holder to explain why PE firms are targeting 401(k)s now and what this could mean for the average American’s retirement savings.

Read more: Private Equity Is Coming for America’s $12 Trillion in Retirement Savings

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Search is the most lucrative part of Google’s business. So when ChatGPT launched in 2022 and offered to answer users’ every question, it posed an existential threat to the company, forcing Google to respond. Google had to figure out how to compete. But integrating generative AI into Google search would fundamentally change the company’s core product, and it introduced big risks.

Bloomberg reporters Davey Alba and Julia Love spoke to Google executives and former employees to get a look inside Google's plans to transform search with AI.

Read more: Google Is Searching for an Answer to ChatGPT

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It’s not just Levittown. The website hosting the doctored photos is the nexus of campaigns to harass women across the world. A victim in New Zealand helps to spark a global battle against the site and its elusive owner.

Levittown is a real-life horror story for the AI generation. In this six-part series from Bloomberg, Kaleidoscope and iHeart Podcasts, reporters Olivia Carville and Margi Murphy take listeners from quiet suburbs of New York to as far as New Zealand and into the darkest corners of the Internet. Where tech moves faster than the law, and it’s up to everyday people to hold back a rising tide of explicit deepfakes.

For official transcripts and additional information on this series, go to bloomberg.com/levittown

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Months after Kayla’s discovery, dozens of women in Levittown, a New York suburb on Long Island, learn they, too, are subjects of faked porn. Most are recent graduates of the local high school, and they zero in on a culprit. One of them sets out to prove it.

Levittown is a real-life horror story for the AI generation. In this six-part series from Bloomberg, Kaleidoscope and iHeart Podcasts, reporters Olivia Carville and Margi Murphy take listeners from quiet suburbs of New York to as far as New Zealand and into the darkest corners of the Internet. Where tech moves faster than the law, and it’s up to everyday people to hold back a rising tide of explicit deepfakes.

For official transcripts and additional information on this series, go to bloomberg.com/levittown

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

SHOW DESCRIPTION

New Year’s Eve. Levittown, New York. Word travels swiftly as one young woman tells the next: “You’re on the website.” Dozens of recent high-school graduates are finding out that their photos have been scraped from their social media accounts, manipulated and posted to a porn website.

Who would have done this? And can the women get the images taken down? Told there isn’t much the police or anyone else can do, they set out to catch whoever did this. 

Along the way, they get some help from a global band of investigators and hackers who could take risks that police and prosecutors sometimes couldn't.

Levittown is a real-life horror story for the AI generation. In this six-part series from Bloomberg, Kaleidoscope and iHeart Podcasts, reporters Olivia Carville and Margi Murphy take listeners from quiet suburbs of New York to as far as New Zealand and into the darkest corners of the Internet. Where tech moves faster than the law, and it’s up to everyday people to hold back a rising tide of explicit deepfakes.

EPISODE 1:  Me… But Not Me

Stuck in her childhood home during the pandemic, Kayla is shocked to learn that photos of her, altered to make her look naked, are posted to a website where men swap violent fantasies about women. A conversation with police leaves Kayla discouraged.

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The International Space Station’s time in the stars will soon come to an end. NASA has said that the ISS is scheduled to be decommissioned in 2030 and replaced with a new station made by a private company. Now, the race is on to win the contract. 

On today’s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg’s Kiel Porter and Loren Grush tell host Sarah Holder why a former crypto tycoon has made a billion-dollar bet that his startup, Vast, will build the next international space station — and what this space race tells us about the future of the commercial space industry.

Read More: One Man’s Crypto Windfall Is Funding a $1 Billion Space Station Dream

Listen More: What NASA’s Reliance on SpaceX Means for Boeing

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Trump's tariffs on China are causing a lot of pain around the world. Products that would've gone to the US are now pouring into other countries, leading to factory closures and layoffs. And this is likely to increase after April 2, when President Trump has promised to put in place a new set of tariffs.

On today’s episode of the Big Take, Katia Dmitrieva joins host David Gura to talk about the collateral damage from Trump’s trade war with China.

Read more: A New ‘China Shock’ Is Destroying Jobs Around the World

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It’s a busy week for the Federal Reserve, between Trump’s nomination of a new vice chair for supervision on Monday and an anticipated rate decision on Wednesday. 

To unpack all the news, host Saleha Mohsin sits down with former Fed and Treasury official Randy Quarles to talk about regulation, DOGE and Trump’s approach to the Fed.

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Crypto optimism soared after President Trump’s re-election and Bitcoin hit an all-time high the day of his inauguration. But it's been on something of a roller coaster since then. And the broader finance industry is watching all of this very closely. 

Bloomberg’s Katherine Doherty hit the road for a conference in South Florida, where members of the financial old guard are embracing digital assets anew, and are considering giving their core products a crypto update. She joins host David Gura to share a vibe check on all things crypto.

Read more: Wall Street Goes All In on Great Crypto Comeback Fueled by Trump

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CEO Jensen Huang has always said Nvidia is “thirty days from going out of business.” Even though Nvidia is now worth trillions, Huang is focused on future-proofing the business to outlast the current AI boom — and possibly even create the next one. 

Businessweek tech editor Joshua Brustein joins host David Gura to discuss the innovations the company is pursuing, its constant search for new markets and the threats to its dominance.

Read more: Nvidia Looks Past DeepSeek and Tariffs for AI’s Next Chapter

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After weeks of uncertainty that ricocheted through markets, President Trump’s 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from every country in the world went into effect on Wednesday morning. 

Immediately after, Canada and the EU retaliated. Now, investors, automakers and American consumers are wondering how it will hit the economy.

On today’s Big Take DC podcast, host Saleha Mohsin is joined by Bloomberg’s Josh Wingrove to explore what Trump’s metals tariffs could mean for domestic manufacturing and for America’s relationships with some of its closest allies.

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As Trump signals a warmer relationship with Putin and a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine comes into focus, optimistic investors and businesses are eyeing potential opportunities in a re-opened Russian economy. But investing in Russia is still a risky bet.

On today’s episode of the Big Take, host Sarah Holder talks to Bloomberg’s Anthony Halpin about why some investors are enthusiastic about Russia’s possible return to global financial markets.

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Mauritius and neighboring islands in the Indian Ocean are at the center of a great-power chess match involving the US, China and India. All want to use them as bases to protect shipping lanes and project military might in the region.

On today’s Big Take Asia Podcast, host K. Oanh Ha is joined by Bloomberg correspondent Peter Martin to discuss the power struggle, and the implications of China’s growing clout in the region.

Further listening: The Shadowy Fleet of Tankers Moving Iranian Oil to China 

Watch, from Originals: The Illicit Shipping Trade Hiding in Plain Sight

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It has been a wild few weeks in markets.

By last week, the S&P 500 had wiped out all its gains since Election Day – $3.4 trillion in value. When Trump was asked about the possibility of a recession over the weekend, he said the US was in a “period of transition.”

Then on Monday, the Nasdaq 100 saw its worst day since 2022, tumbling 3.8% and extending a selloff that has put it into correction territory. 

On today’s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg’s Charlie Wells and host Sarah Holder discuss whether the Trump bump has become the Trump slump — and what this moment of market volatility means for your money.

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A crippling property crisis, mounting debt, weak consumer spending… and now a trade war. Despite the headwinds, China has set an ambitious economic growth goal of about 5% this year.

On today’s Big Take Asia podcast, host K. Oanh Ha speaks to Bloomberg’s John Liu about how Xi Jinping intends to meet the target, and how Trump’s tariff war might sabotage his plans.  

Read more: Trump’s Tariffs Push Xi to Overhaul China’s Ailing Growth Model

Further listening: 

China’s New Game Plan For Dealing With Trump Tariffs
Xi Has Embraced China’s Tech Titans Once Again. Will It Last?

Watch, from Originals: Can China Avoid Japan’s Lost Decades?

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Since taking office in January, President Trump has set in motion a series of sweeping rollbacks on US climate policy. This comes at a time when governments around the world have lagged behind their stated environmental goals.

On today’s episode of the Big Take, host Sarah Holder is joined by Akshat Rathi, host of the Zero podcast, to talk through the Trump administration’s key climate actions, how they could impact investment in green energy, and what it all means for the global fight to stop the warming of the planet.

Read more: Trump's Climate Pullback Endangers Crucial Funds for Poor Nations

Further listening: Global Leaders Wrestle With Costs of Climate Change in the Wake of the US Election

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On Tuesday night, President Donald Trump appeared before a joint session of Congress for the first time since the start of his second term. It was his fifth such appearance, and he celebrated what he saw as early wins in his first 43 days back in office — and spoke about what’s next on his agenda.

Bloomberg Businessweek national correspondent Josh Green and Big Take DC host Saleha Mohsin explore what the speech reveals about Trump’s vision for trade, the US economy and America’s role in geopolitics.

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The data is in: The number of Black first-year students at Harvard Law fell dramatically after the Supreme Court’s decision to ban the consideration of race in admissions.

On today’s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg higher education reporter Janet Lorin shares what she’s learned about how Harvard has changed its application process and what the institution has historically meant for generations of Black leaders. Plus, we hear from a Harvard Law student who’s involved in efforts to recruit more Black students.

Read more: Harvard Law’s Fast Track to the American Elite Is Losing Black Students

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In January 2024, the US Embassy issued a warning to all American travelers: Be careful using dating apps in Colombia. Eight men had been killed in two months — several of them after traveling to Medellin and using apps to connect with women online. 

Bloomberg’s Natalie Lung and Antonia Mufarech investigated and found an even darker situation. On today’s Big Take podcast, they join host Sarah Holder to explain how apps from US-based tech companies are being used for sex trafficking and child exploitation in Colombia — and why it’s so hard for the companies to keep criminals off their platforms.

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Over the last few months, a spate of high-profile air travel incidents in North America have captured public attention. And it’s raised concerns about whether air travel is as safe as it used to be.

On today’s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg’s global aviation editor Benedikt Kammel joins host David Gura to discuss how recent accidents — especially the fatal collision between American Airlines Flight 5342 and a military helicopter and, weeks later, the crash landing of Delta Flight 4819 — have undermined public trust in flying. And they examine what’s going on inside the FAA in the midst of mass government lay-offs. 

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The Hopeful Primitive Baptist Church in Fayetteville, Georgia, has been standing for two hundred years. Now, with a huge, private equity-backed data center coming to town, it will soon be surrounded by towering power poles — and power lines will run through the yards of more than a hundred homes and private properties.

Today on the show, energy reporter Josh Saul reports on the AI boom, the demand it’s creating for data centers, and what it looks like on the ground in the communities where those are being built. Plus, the pastor from Hopeful Primitive Baptist talks about the community’s response.

Read more: Blackstone’s Data-Center Ambitions School a City on AI Power Strains

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Four years after launching a regulatory crackdown that plunged the tech sector into turmoil, China’s President Xi Jinping sat down publicly with Alibaba Group’s co-founder Jack Ma, whose firm bore the brunt of that campaign, and a number of other tech titans.

On today's Big Take Asia Podcast, host K. Oanh Ha talks to Bloomberg’s Lucille Liu and Opinion columnist Catherine Thorbecke about Xi’s shifting stance and where the tech industry goes from here.

Read more: Xi’s Embrace of China Tech CEOs Spurs Hope of Big Economic Shift - Bloomberg

Further listening: China’s New Game Plan For Dealing with Trump Tariffs

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More than half of Americans enrolled in Medicare receive their coverage from a private insurer through a program called Medicare Advantage. But according to whistleblowers, some of those companies may be overcharging the government and getting billions of taxpayer dollars in the process. Several Justice Department investigations have followed those claims.

On today’s Big Take podcast, we hear from one of those whistleblowers and Bloomberg health-care reporter John Tozzi about how Medicare Advantage took off and the questions these fraud allegations raise about how taxpayer dollars are spent.

Read more: 

• Major Insurers Are Scamming Billions from Medicare, Whistle-Blowers Say
• Medicare Advantage Fraud Case Settled for Up to $100 Million
• UnitedHealth Falls on DOJ Probe Into Medicare Billing

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Doug McMillon has been running Walmart since 2014. He’s credited with pushing the company into the digital age and successfully steering it through the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, he’s turning his attention to the company's next chapter and new challenges ahead.

On today’s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg reporters Jaewon Kang and Devin Leonard travel to Bentonville, Arkansas, to interview McMillon about navigating a second Trump presidency, appealing to higher-end shoppers and the company’s ambition to go after Amazon’s e-commerce crown.

Read more: 

• Walmart Wants to Be Something for Everyone in a Divided America
• Inside Walmart’s Corporate Culture Clash Over E-Commerce
• How Walmart Keeps an Eye on Its Massive Workforce

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The price of eggs was up 15% in January, driving overall inflation higher. The cause? Bird flu.

We’re joined by farmer Jim Hayes, as well as the hosts of Bloomberg’s Odd Lots podcast, Joe Weisenthal and Tracy Alloway, to talk about how bird flu threatens the chicken supply chain and public health — and what, if anything, can be done to lower egg prices.

Listen to Beak Capitalism from Odd Lots.

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Monday marks the three year anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. And over the last few days, Trump has revealed his approach to ending the conflict. It would reverse years of US foreign policy in the region and has, so far, left Ukraine out of direct conversations with Russia.

On today’s Big Take DC podcast, Bloomberg reporter Iain Marlow takes us inside the historic US-Russia talks in Saudi Arabia and explains what Trump’s pivot in policy and alliances could mean for America’s role on the global stage.

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Over the last four-and-a-half years, the footprint of Elon Musk’s Texas business empire has undergone rapid expansion. It now includes SpaceX facilities and a sprawling Tesla gigafactory outside the state capital.

New Bloomberg reporting shows that undocumented workers helped to build some facilities — even as Musk ratcheted up his anti-immigration rhetoric and advocated for a border crackdown.

On today’s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg’s Julia Love investigated how undocumented workers ended up at these sites — and the conditions they encountered — and joined host Sarah Holder to share what she found. 

Read more: The Undocumented Workers Who Helped Build Elon Musk’s Texas Gigafactory

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Since its US launch in 2022, Chinese marketplace Temu has rapidly risen to become America’s biggest e-commerce platform after Amazon, thanks to ultra-low prices on almost every product imaginable.

On today’s Big Take Asia Podcast, host K. Oanh Ha speaks to Bloomberg’s Spencer Soper and Rachel Chang about Donald Trump’s order to close a tariff loophole and what it means for American shoppers and the giants supplying them with goods direct from China.

Further listening: The Tariff Wars Are Here — And They’re Messy

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Prospera is a city-state operated by a private company on the Honduran island of Roatan. It offers businesses single-digit tax rates and the ability to choose their own regulations. Its proponents have touted it as a poverty relief initiative for the country and as the most ambitious experiment in self-governance ever undertaken.

But that dream is now facing an existential crisis. A little more than a decade after Honduras changed its constitution to allow for places like Prospera, a new political party is in charge — and they’re looking to shut the whole thing down.

On today’s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg Industry Group’s Umar Farooq and Bloomberg’s Michael McDonald join host Sarah Holder to break down the $11 billion battle over the fate of a special economic zone in the Caribbean.

Read more: A Libertarian Island Dream in Honduras Is Now an $11 Billion Nightmare

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This Valentine’s Day, as many as 13 million more Americans are single than before the pandemic. 

On today’s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg reporter Ben Steverman shares what he’s learned about the cause of this love slump and how it’s taking a toll on Americans’ hearts and on the US economy. And host Sarah Holder meets a group of singles taking matters into their own hands.

Read more: The Covid Pandemic Left an Extra 13 Million Americans Single

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President Trump’s attacks on a key international aid agency, USAID, has left its work frozen and kicked off a fierce legal battle between his administration and US courts over its future. 

On today’s Big Take DC podcast, we hear from Bloomberg’s Simon Marks and health care workers on the ground in Nairobi about how the fight playing out more than 7,000 miles away is affecting HIV treatment there. And national security editor Nick Wadhams explains why Trump has taken aim at USAID and what a gutting of the agency could mean for US soft power.

Read more: 

• USAID Cuts in Kenya Reveal Risks to Lives and American Influence Worldwide
• After DOGE's Chaotic USAID Shutdown: Wasted Supplies, Layoffs and Lawsuits

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Intel invented computer processors and was a dominant supplier of chips for decades. Now AI is fuelling record demand for next-generation chips. But Bloomberg’s Ian King says Intel is no longer the go-to partner for the global tech industry, and the company is at risk of disappearing. What went wrong?

Today on the show: The rise and fall of Intel, and where it could go from here.

Read Ian King’s coverage of Intel.

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As US President Donald Trump imposes new tariffs on China, Xi Jinping's government has had a far more muted response than it did during the trade war in Trump’s first term.

On today’s Big Take Asia Podcast, host K. Oanh Ha is joined by Bloomberg editor Jenni Marsh and Bloomberg Opinion columnist Shuli Ren to unpack China’s response to Trump’s barrage of tariffs and discuss what’s at risk for both countries if they find themselves in another trade war.

Read more: China’s Mr. Big Won’t Cave In to Trump for Nothing

Further listening: The Tariff Wars Are Here — And They’re Messy

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Financial markets in Europe have long been fragmented and constrained, driving home-grown startups to list and raise capital in the US. Now, Europe is trying to reverse the trend. Can it hold onto innovative firms — and talent? 

Today on the show, host Sarah Holder talks to Bloomberg’s Sagarika Jaisinghani about why location matters so much for startups and what Europe’s challenges mean for the region’s economic outlook.

Read more: Broken Markets Hold Back Europe as Trump Amps Up the Pressure

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It’s bonus season on Wall Street. But if you work for a bank, you know that the number you’re quoted is almost never the number you get when it comes time for that bonus to pay out.

On today’s Big Take podcast, global finance reporter Laura Noonan shares what she learned by crunching the numbers on which banks deliver more or less than they promised.

Read more: How Much Your Wall Street Bonus Is Really Worth

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Nine days after his swearing in, Scott Bessent sat down with Big Take DC host Saleha Mohsin at the US Treasury Department.

They discussed topics in his purview dominating the headlines — Elon Musk’s DOGE efforts, tariffs — and his plans for taxes, trade, the Fed and more.

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Silicon Valley tech leaders have been brimming with optimism in recent years about the future of artificial intelligence — and investors have bet big on the transformational power of the technology. 

Then last week, China’s DeepSeek emerged as a disruptive force and the value of Nvidia Corp. fell by half a trillion dollars. More than ever, investors are wondering about whether big bets on AI will pay off in the long run.

Bloomberg Economics Chief Economist Tom Orlik sees three cases for how AI could reshape the global economy, ranging from the rosy to the dystopian. On today’s Big Take podcast, he and host David Gura break them down and explore what that future may hold not just for companies and investors — but for us all.

Read more: AI Has Rocked the Stock Market, But What Will It Do for the Economy?

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Trump says the president should be able to decide how to spend taxpayer money – not Congress. Part of his plan? Impoundment: A controversial maneuver that could wrest control of trillions of dollars in federal spending away from Congress.

Bloomberg politics reporter Gregory Korte joins Big Take DC host Saleha Mohsin to explain what impoundment is, the pushback against Trump’s efforts and how the battle over its legality could play out.

Is there an idea in the news that you want explained? Email us at [email protected].

Read more: Trump Vows to ‘Impound’ Money Congress Appropriates. Can He Do It?

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Is it a trade war or is it whiplash? 

On Saturday, President Trump announced new 25% tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico, and an additional 10% tariff on Chinese goods. On Sunday, he said tariffs were coming for the European Union, too.

The tariffs were initially supposed to take effect at 12:01 am Tuesday morning eastern time, but since that weekend announcement, the tariffs on Mexican and Canadian goods have been delayed for one month. Meanwhile, the tariffs on Chinese goods are proceeding as scheduled.

On today’s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg’s global economy reporter Enda Curran and host Sarah Holder make sense of the news — and discuss how this could disrupt the US economy and reshape global commerce.

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Shuibei, in southern China, is home to one of the world's biggest retail markets for gold. Over the past year, it's seen a boom in demand for the jewelry, sold by thousands of stallholders, as the Chinese property crisis and slowing economy spurred a flight into gold. So much so that Chinese consumers helped propel the global gold price to record highs in 2024.

On today's Big Take Asia podcast, K. Oanh Ha talks to Bloomberg's Chongjing Li about the enduring appeal of the precious metal in China, and what lies ahead.

Read more: The Epicenter of China’s Gold Craze Is a Former Fishing Village

Watch, from Bloomberg Originals: What Gold’s Crazy Run Says About China

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On Wednesday, the Navajo Nation and the mining company, Energy Fuels Inc., announced a new agreement detailing how uranium could be transported through tribal lands.  

The agreement ends a stalemate between the two parties. And it comes at a time when interest in nuclear energy — and the cost of the uranium that fuels it — is surging.

On today’s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg’s Jacob Lorinc joins host Sarah Holder to break down the painful history of uranium mining in the Navajo Nation and what the dispute reveals about the human costs of “clean power.”

Read more: Uranium Fever Collides With Industry's Dark Past in Navajo Country

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It’s been a tough stretch for Boeing. Its new CEO Kelly Ortberg is trying to rebuild public trust and turn the company’s finances around, all while navigating pressure from President Trump to deliver new Air Force One jets and working with the founder of one of Boeing’s chief rivals, Elon Musk.

On today’s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg senior aerospace reporter Julie Johnsson joins host David Gura to explain the turbulent road ahead for the US planemaker.

Read More: Elon Musk’s Air Force One Scrutiny Tests Boeing’s Path to Recovery

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Chrystia Freeland sent shockwaves through Canada when she resigned as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Finance Minister in December. Her public resignation letter blasted Trudeau for not doing enough to prepare for the second Trump administration. Now, she’s running to replace him.

Freeland sat down with Big Take host David Gura in Toronto on Tuesday to discuss her views on US-Canada trade, and how she says she would negotiate with Trump if she becomes Canada’s next leader.

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The AI chatbot from DeepSeek, a Chinese company, rocketed to the top of US app stores over the weekend — and sent US tech shares plummeting Monday morning. The US has been trying to choke off China’s access to cutting-edge AI chips, but DeepSeek claims it’s still managed to develop tech that rivals ChatGPT and its competitors at a fraction of the cost.

Today on the show, Bloomberg’s Jackie Davalos on what DeepSeek’s models can do, why they’ve sent tech stocks tumbling — and what kind of pressure they could put on the US AI industry.

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Zyn nicotine pouches hit the market as a run-of-the-mill tobacco-replacement product, but over the past few years, they’ve gone viral thanks to so-called “Zynfluencers”: content creators who post about Zyn. They’re not paid by Zyn’s parent company Philip Morris, and while the online hype has likely helped sales, it also presents risks for the tobacco giant.

Today on the show, Bloomberg Businessweek writer Ellen Huet joins host Sarah Holder to discuss what could become an existential question: Can the company ride the Zynfluencer wave without getting in trouble if kids get hooked?

Read more: Zyn’s Online Hype Risks Leading to the Nicotine Pouches’ Downfall

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As President Trump and JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon require workers to come back to the office full-time, the costs and benefits of remote versus in-office work are still up for debate. Bloomberg’s work and management editor Heather Landy says many CEOs are at odds with their employees and what they want.

On today’s Big Take podcast, Landy joins host David Gura to explain what’s behind the return-to-office trend and how US workers feel about it.

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With Donald Trump back in the White House, global business leaders attending the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland this week seem to be falling into line with the US president’s “America First” agenda.

Today on the show, host David Gura talks to Bloomberg’s Ted Mann about Trump’s influence over Davos, and the CEOs who missed the opening of the conference — including Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg — but had front-row seats at his inauguration.

Read more: ‘Which Time Were You Lying?’: The Great CEO Flip-Flop Over Trump Hits Davos

Further listening: Davos Is Learning the ‘Art of the Deal’ With Trump

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The US ban on TikTok saw millions of users – predominantly Americans – flock to another Chinese social media platform: Xiaohongshu, also known as RedNote. So far, the vibe between Chinese and American users has been convivial.

But can the good times last? On today’s Big Take Asia Podcast, host K. Oanh Ha is joined by a TikTok user from Mississippi who recently joined RedNote and by Bloomberg reporter Gao Yuan to discuss what this sudden influx means for the app, its users and China’s censorship machine.

Read more: TikTok Refugees in US Test Xi’s Firewall While Embracing Chinese

Further listening: Inside Microsoft’s Censorship of Bing in China

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On Monday at the US Capitol, Donald Trump was sworn in as the 47th American President. He then took to the podium to make his inaugural address and, shortly after, gave a rally-style speech for his supporters. 

Today on the show, Washington, DC bureau chief Peggy Collins joins host Sarah Holder to discuss what Trump’s first remarks say about his priorities for the next four years.

Read more: Trump Inaugural Speech Vows ‘Golden Age’ to Reverse US Decline

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In his final month as the United States’ chief diplomat, Secretary of State Antony Blinken raced around the globe, responding to conflicts in the Middle East and the latest developments in the war in Ukraine.

During a stop in New York, he sat down with host David Gura to talk about how he is preparing to hand over the country’s sprawling foreign policy portfolio to the incoming Trump administration.

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Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has been a fixture in the economic policy world for decades. She was President Clinton’s chief economic adviser, a Federal Reserve governor and served as Fed Chair under President Obama.

As her tenure at Treasury comes to an end, Yellen sits down with host David Gura to discuss the possibility of additional sanctions on Russian oil and communication between the US and China, and she reflects on her long career as a pioneering economic policymaker.

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Gary Gensler’s tenure as Wall Street’s top regulator is coming to an end, and the US Securities and Exchange Commission chair is reflecting on his time at the agency.

In an interview with host David Gura, Gensler responds to his critics, discusses his concerns about AI, China and crypto — and shares the advice he gave President-elect Trump’s pick to replace him.

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The relentless rise in government bond yields has Wall Street worried. Higher treasury yields can impact borrowing costs on everything from mortgage rates to auto loans.

Today on the show, host David Gura talks to Bloomberg’s Liz McCormick about why bond yields have been climbing, and what the consequences could be for consumers, markets and the economy.

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Scott Bessent is President-Elect Trump’s pick to be the treasury secretary, a role that spans oversight of the $28 trillion market for US government debt to economic sanctions.

Today on the show, Big Take DC’s Saleha Mohsin joins host David Gura to discuss the tightrope act that landed Bessent the nomination: winning over both MAGA and Wall Street.  

Read more: How Scott Bessent Won Over MAGA and Wall Street

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After 15 months of a grueling war that has claimed tens of thousands of lives, Israel and Hamas agreed to phase one of a ceasefire deal on Wednesday. The agreement will create a pause in fighting that will allow critical aid to reach Gaza, and begin an exchange of hostages held in Gaza and Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

But the next phases of negotiations are expected to be more complicated — and it’s unclear if this pause in fighting will hold. 

On today’s Big Take podcast, Israel bureau chief Ethan Bronner and Fares Alghoul, who covers Gaza, join host Sarah Holder to discuss the details of the ceasefire deal, how it finally came together, and what lies ahead for Israel, Gaza and the region. 

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A record 600,000 people traveled to South Korea for medical procedures in 2023, with roughly half of those visiting dermatology and plastic surgery clinics.

On today's Big Take Asia Podcast, host Rebecca Choong Wilkins talks to Bloomberg's Oanh Ha about the rise of the medical tourism industry, and how it’s colliding with a shrinking supply of doctors and a struggling medical system.

Further listening: Netflix’s Big Bet On ‘Squid Game’

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The US Supreme Court is set to rule on TikTok’s fate this week. 

The social media platform is in court challenging a law that would force its Chinese parent company ByteDance into a sale or face a US TikTok ban. After hearing oral arguments for and against the ban, the Supreme Court appears poised to uphold it. It would go into effect on Sunday.

But incoming President Donald Trump will be sworn in the following day, and could scramble whatever decision is reached this week.

Legal editor Sara Forden joins Big Take host Sarah Holder to discuss the case and what a ban would mean for TikTok users, competitor tech platforms and US-China relations. 

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Gary Gensler’s tenure as Wall Street’s top regulator is coming to an end, and the US Securities and Exchange Commission chair is reflecting on his time at the agency.

In an interview with host David Gura, Gensler responds to his critics, discusses his concerns about AI, China and crypto — and shares the advice he gave President-elect Trump’s pick to replace him.

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Deadly wildfires in the Los Angeles area have forced nearly 180,000 residents to evacuate their homes. As they wait to learn the extent of the damage, another crisis is on the horizon: whether private and state-funded insurance can handle a disaster on track to be one the worst in the region’s history. 

Today on the show, Bloomberg Green reporter Leslie Kaufman discusses why this fire has been so destructive and the state of wildfire insurance in California. 

Read more: Los Angeles Fires Become Existential Test for California’s Stopgap Insurer

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US intelligence officials say that a hacking campaign known as “Volt Typhoon” has the potential to disrupt critical infrastructure systems in Guam — a significant hub for the US military that holds particular importance in US-China relations. 

On today’s Big Take DC podcast, Bloomberg national security reporter Katrina Manson shares what she’s learned about the threat and how it could limit America’s ability to push back if China were to invade Taiwan.

Read more: The US’s Worst Fears of Chinese Hacking Are on Display in Guam

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On Monday, Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced he was resigning — the latest in a series of incumbents around the world who’ve been ousted or stepped aside as their countries grapple with the effects of inflation.

Today on the show, Bloomberg reporter Brian Platt joins host Sarah Holder to track Trudeau’s rise and fall. Platt explains how housing costs, a surge in immigration and the loss of a key party ally pushed Trudeau to step down — and where Canada goes from here. 

Read more: Canada Tilts Right: Inflation Claims Trudeau as Its Latest Victim

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After CEO Sam Altman was dramatically fired and rehired in November 2023, he got right back to work building up OpenAI, best known for ChatGPT.

Now, about a year after that leadership upheaval, and two years after the seismic launch of that chat bot, Altman sat down with Josh Tyrangiel for a wide-ranging interview. Josh joined David Gura to talk about Altman’s evolution from Silicon Valley venture capitalist to a leader of the AI revolution, and how Altman is approaching the future of OpenAI — and planning to navigate the next four years under the Trump administration.

Read more: Sam Altman on ChatGPT’s First Two Years, Elon Musk and AI Under Trump

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A new series from the Big Take podcast investigates the booming market for human eggs.

In this episode, host Sarah Holder and Bloomberg’s Jessica Brice focus on the Kemptons, an Australian couple who needed donor eggs to get pregnant. They wanted access to a market they felt offered transparency. They especially wanted information about potential donors. What followed was an around-the-world quest to create a family — filled with promise, gutting losses and extreme cost. 

Read more: The Egg

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Every year, senior markets editor Sam Potter reads predictions for the year ahead from leading financial institutions around the world. The theme of this year’s predictions: uncertainty.

One event on the horizon has contributed to both their predictions for 2025 and the uncertainty in a unique way: Donald Trump’s return to the White House. Potter joins host David Gura to unpack what financial institutions are expecting for this year, given what they know and what they don’t.

Read more: Here’s (Almost) Everything Wall Street Expects in 2025

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2024 was the year AI broke into the music industry. Record labels that had fought AI-generated songs at every turn started to consider how they might want to use AI tools. But as the technology creeps into more parts of the music production process, not everyone agrees on where to draw ethical and legal lines.

On today’s Big Take podcast, Grammy Award-winning producer Timbaland, Universal Music Group executive Michael Nash, Bloomberg audio reporter Ashley Carman and host Sarah Holder examine who stands to benefit from the AI-music boom — and who has the most to lose.

Read more: Ashley Carman’s Soundbite newsletter

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Indonesia has embarked on an ambitious project to build a new capital city from scratch because Jakarta is overcrowded, polluted and sinking, fast.

But the multibillion dollar new city, Nusantara, was plagued with problems from the very start. On today’s Big Take Asia Podcast, host K. Oanh Ha talks to Bloomberg’s Faris Mokhtar about what went wrong, and what’s at stake for Southeast Asia’s largest economy if it fails.

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Frequent flyer programs began as a way for airlines to build loyalty and fill empty seats. They’ve since morphed into a complex financial ecosystem that’s drawn the ire of even the most savvy consumers and the scrutiny of the US Department of Transportation.

Bloomberg’s global aviation editor Benedikt Kammel joins David Gura to talk about points, miles, qualifying trips — and how we got here in the first place.

Read more: The Airline Rewards Game Is Getting Tougher to Win

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From inflation data to unemployment rates, the US government releases numbers every month that move markets and shape policies. But the agencies responsible for gathering that data are struggling — and President-elect Donald Trump’s promise to find cuts across agencies could further strain their resources.

On today’s Big Take DC podcast, Bloomberg economics editor Molly Smith joins host Saleha Mohsin to dig into what’s at stake if the federal government scales back on its investment in economic data.

Read more: 

• Market-Moving Data Under Threat as Trump Returns to Washington

• BLS Needs Culture Revamp After Botched US Releases, Review Finds

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The gory, dystopian South Korean thriller Squid Game is the most popular series Netflix has ever released. This week, it drops season two — in the midst of the company’s efforts to grow the show beyond the screen.

On today’s Big Take Asia Podcast, host Rebecca Choong Wilkins talks to Bloomberg’s Sohee Kim and Lucas Shaw about the new season, the story of how the show was nearly never made and all the ways Netflix is trying to expand Squid Game into a global franchise — from reality TV and video games to in-person fan experiences. 

Read more: ‘Squid Game’ Returns in Test of Netflix Global Marketing Muscle

Further listening: K-Pop’s Big Bet on Becoming Less Korean

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Drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy have skyrocketed in popularity over the past few years. To capitalize on that demand, telehealth companies started offering compounded versions of those drugs. That’s made them easier to access, but it’s also introduced new potential risks for people recovering from eating disorders like anorexia.

On today’s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg reporter Madison Muller joins host Sarah Holder to share what she’s learned about the ways telehealth can make it easier for people to get prescriptions that could harm them.

Read more: The Weight-Loss Drug Gold Rush Has a Dangerous Prescription Problem

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A new series from the Big Take podcast investigates the booming market for human eggs. It’s a global and opaque market where demand is so great, that even where regulations are in place, there are powerful incentives to evade them.

In this episode, host Sarah Holder and Bloomberg’s Vernon Silver focus on one fertility clinic in Greece that police say stole the eggs of as many as 75 women. It’s a story that shows how the actions of one clinic can have ripple effects around the world and reveals the unique ways that the fertility industry runs not only on capital, but on trust. 

Read more from Bloomberg Businessweek: The Egg

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In his final month as the United States’ chief diplomat, Secretary of State Antony Blinken is racing around the globe, responding to conflicts in the Middle East and the latest developments in the war in Ukraine. 

During a stop in New York, he sat down with host David Gura to talk about how he is preparing to hand over the country’s sprawling foreign policy portfolio to the incoming Trump administration.

Read more: Syria: Blinken Says US Weighs Sending Officials for Talks - Bloomberg

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Tens of thousands of migrants in Mexico are currently in limbo after new policies put in place there and in the US changed the process for how people seek asylum. Now, with President-elect Trump promising an immigration crackdown as soon as he takes office, some asylum-seekers are anxious to make it into the US before Inauguration Day.

On today’s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg reporter Alex Vasquez joins host Sarah Holder to explain the complex intersection of these policies and to share the story of one family navigating that system. 

Read more: Stranded in Mexico: Trump’s Looming Crackdown Scares Migrants

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China’s property crisis has become a massive headache for the world’s second-largest economy. Tens of millions of newly built apartments lie vacant, home prices have tumbled and cash-strapped developers are struggling to finish construction.  

On today’s Big Take Asia Podcast, host K. Oanh Ha talks to Bloomberg’s Lulu Chen about what China is doing to try and solve its housing crisis. We go to Zhengzhou, home to the world’s biggest iPhone factory and the city where the housing market first imploded. It's now become a testing ground for government efforts to revive the ailing property sector. We look at whether they’re working, and what it will mean for China’s economy if the big push fails. 

Read more: China’s Housing Rescue Falls Short in City That Signaled the Crisis

Further listening: What Comes Next in China’s Property Crisis

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Germany’s economy is stagnating; households have less disposable income, and businesses report having less faith in the future. Once the growth engine of Europe, the country has gradually been losing its competitive edge. Now, economic anxieties have fuelled a political crisis that led to Monday’s no confidence vote in the German government.

On today’s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg’s Chris Reiter talks to host Sarah Holder about the consequences of Germany’s economic troubles — for the country and for Europe — and what it could take to turn things around. 

Read more: Germany Is Unraveling Just When Europe Needs It Most

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A new series from the Big Take podcast investigates the booming market for human eggs. It’s a global and opaque market where demand is so great, that even where regulations are in place, there are powerful incentives to evade them.

In this episode, host Sarah Holder is joined by Bloomberg’s Natalie Obiko Pearson to unpack an investigation in India that revealed how far some people will go to get a cut of this trade, even if it means exploiting a child.

Read more from Bloomberg Businessweek: The Egg

Plus, watch the documentary from Bloomberg Originals: Inside India's Fertility Underworld

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Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has been a fixture in the economic policy world for decades. She was President Clinton’s chief economic adviser, a Federal Reserve governor and served as Fed Chair under President Obama.

As her tenure at Treasury comes to an end, Yellen sits down with host David Gura to discuss the possibility of additional sanctions on Russian oil and communication between the US and China, and she reflects on her long career as a pioneering economic policymaker.

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South Korea’s family-run conglomerates – or chaebols – have been big drivers of economic growth, and because of that they’ve largely been seen as untouchable. Until now. The chaebols are being challenged, at a time when the stakes have potentially never been higher, with the country mired in political turmoil.

On today’s Big Take Asia Podcast, Rebecca Choong Wilkins talks to Bloomberg reporter Youkyung Lee about how a surprise takeover bid for one of the world’s biggest refined metal producers, Korea Zinc, is sending a chill through the chaebol world.

Read more: Powerful Families Who Dominate South Korea Face an Investor Revolt

Further listening: The Six Hours of Martial Law That Stunned South Korea

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Since UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was killed last week, there’s been a deluge of posts on social media expressing rage at the insurance industry and solidarity with the shooter.

Bloomberg reporter Riley Griffin joins Big Take host David Gura to discuss what the shooting revealed about public sentiment toward American health care, and how United and its peers are responding to the attack and its aftermath. 

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After rebels took Syria’s capital, President Bashar Al-Assad fled Damascus for Russia, ending his brutal 24-year reign. His ouster marks the beginning of a new, uncertain phase for a country that’s been ravaged by 13 years of civil war.  

On today’s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg’s Paul Wallace joins host Sarah Holder to discuss how Assad’s toppling has opened up a power vacuum in Syria — and what it means for the Middle East, the Syrian people and the world.

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Surveys have shown that business leaders around the US are excited about Donald Trump’s return to the White House. But not all of the policies he’s promising appeal to every CEO. 

On today’s Big Take DC podcast, Business Roundtable CEO Josh Bolten joins host Saleha Mohsin to share what the business leaders he represents want from tax and trade policy — and Bloomberg’s Nancy Cook describes how Trump relishes one-on-one negotiations with fellow executives.

Read more: US Executives Turn More Optimistic After Trump Win, Surveys Show

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In an address broadcast live on Tuesday night, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law in a move that shocked the nation – and the world. But within hours, after lawmakers unanimously rejected the move and protesters converged on parliament, Yoon went on live television again and backed down, promising to lift the emergency measure.

On today's Big Take Asia Podcast, host K. Oanh Ha sits down with Bloomberg’s Sam Kim in Seoul to break down the stunning turn of events. They talk about what happened on the ground during the brief period of martial law, and what the political chaos means for an emerging democracy that remains a key military ally and trading partner of the US.

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The government of French President Emmanuel Macron collapsed Wednesday after losing a no-confidence vote. The outcome brings the country one step closer to a far-right government — the one thing President Macron has sought to avoid at all costs.

Bloomberg’s Stephen Carroll and Big Take co-host David Gura break down the current pressures on France’s government, what led to the vote and what we know about what comes next. 

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For companies with extra cash, it's a popular season for buying back their own shares. In the past few years alone, publicly traded companies in the US executed hundreds of billions worth of stock buybacks. And 2024 is on track to be the biggest year in buybacks ever.

So how do they work? And what’s behind their rise in popularity? Bloomberg reporter Lu Wang joins Big Take co-hosts David Gura and Sarah Holder to explain the logic behind buybacks, and unpack who wins and who loses when companies turn to them.

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Power brokers, administration nominees and even the prime minister of Canada have travelled to Mar-a-Lago in recent weeks to meet with President-elect Donald Trump at his resort, making it a new center of political power.

On today’s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg wealth reporter Amanda Gordon joins host David Gura to discuss Trump’s use of Mar-a-Lago in the lead-up to his inauguration, the impact he’s had on the surrounding area and South Florida’s growing influence on national politics.

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If you’ve bought an airplane ticket recently, you may have noticed that there are a lot more options to choose from — and a lot more line items to pay for. It’s all part of airlines’ strategy of “premiumization.” And it’s why the front of the plane is getting cushier, while coach can feel like a low-cost shakedown. 

On today’s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg Businessweek senior reporter Amanda Mull joins host Sarah Holder to discuss how airlines are rethinking their pricing — and what it means for airline revenue and your flight experience.

Read more: Why the Flying Experience Feels So Much Worse

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What can the humble chicken reveal about the economic conditions shaping our lives? Turns out, a lot. 

Understanding the chicken industry can help explain some of the thorniest issues facing the US economy. In “Beak Capitalism,” a new three-part series, Odd Lots hosts Joe Weisenthal and Tracy Alloway trace chicken from the farm to the factory to the table.

In the first episode, they examine the consumer side of the industry – including the chicken sandwiches war back in 2019 and the rising cost of eggs.

Further listening: Beak Capitalism, Part 2: The Chickenization of Everything

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Gambling on sports is now legal in almost 40 states in the US, and pro-football is at the center of the rapidly growing, multibillion dollar industry that’s cropped up since the Supreme Court paved the way for it in 2018.

Big Take host David Gura joins Bloomberg’s Jason Kelly, who co-hosts The Deal podcast with Alex Rodriguez, to discuss the ways that the normalization of betting culture is impacting the NFL, its athletes and its fans.

Read more: ‘I’m So Scared’: NFL Players on How Betting Changes the Sport

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India’s Gautam Adani, one of the world’s richest men, was charged last week by US prosecutors over his alleged involvement in a $250 million bribery scheme. The indictment sent the stocks and bonds of Adani’s vast conglomerate tumbling and is the second governance crisis to hit the group in two years. 

On today’s Big Take Asia Podcast, host K. Oanh Ha and Bloomberg’s Menaka Doshi discuss what the charges mean for Adani’s empire and corporate India, and the implications for US-India relations.

Read more: Gautam Adani Bribery Charges Impact His Net Worth, Markets Beyond India

Further listening: $200 Billion, Four Heirs And One Mighty Empire

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After a messy, public competition between hopefuls, President-elect Donald Trump nominated hedge fund manager Scott Bessent to be the next Treasury secretary. 

On today’s Big Take DC podcast, hosts Saleha Mohsin and David Gura discuss why Trump chose Bessent, and how Bessent might approach the job.

Become a Bloomberg.com subscriber using our special intro offer at bloomberg.com/podcastoffer. You’ll get episodes of this podcast ad-free and unlock access to deep reporting, data and analysis from reporters around the world.

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New York City has some of the highest housing costs in the US. In addition to sky-high rents, tenants often have to pay a fee to a real estate broker when they sign a new lease — whether they hire them or not. But that’s about to change.

Today on the show, host Sarah Holder speaks with City Councilmember Chi Ossé about the passage of his bill that will eliminate upfront broker fees for most renters, and hears from supporters and opponents of the legislation. And Bloomberg reporter Paulina Cachero unpacks what the effort could mean for New York’s renters.

Become a Bloomberg.com subscriber using our special intro offer at bloomberg.com/podcastoffer. You’ll get episodes of this podcast ad-free and unlock access to deep reporting, data and analysis from reporters around the world.

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A record number of Pakistanis are leaving at a rapid speed. Among them are some of the country’s top talent including doctors, engineers, accountants and managers. Over the last three years, one million skilled workers like them have left Pakistan.

On today’s Big Take Asia Podcast, host Rebecca Choong Wilkins talks to Bloomberg’s Pakistan Bureau Chief Faseeh Mangi about what’s behind the severe brain drain in one of the world’s most populous nations, where the immigrants are going, and what it means for the country’s already fragile economy that depends on loans from the International Monetary Fund.

Read more: Pakistan’s Top Talent Is Leaving the Country in Record Numbers

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This year’s G-20 summit in Brazil revealed a new reality: The world order is shifting as President Joe Biden wraps up his final months in office and President-elect Donald Trump returns to power.

On today’s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg’s Flavia Krause-Jackson and host David Gura join the show from Rio de Janeiro to talk through the gathering of the world’s largest economies and how they’re preparing for a new geopolitical era.

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Every year, billions of dollars of sanctioned Iranian oil finds its way to China, even though on paper the country hasn’t imported a single drop in more than two years. How? On today’s Big Take Asia podcast, host K. Oanh Ha speaks to Bloomberg’s Serene Cheong on her team’s investigation into a clandestine shipping hub off the coast of Malaysia that funnels Iranian crude to China.

Read more: The Clandestine Oil Shipping Hub Funneling Iranian Crude to China

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Bloomberg reporter Leslie Patton has noticed a pattern looking at the earnings of mid-priced, brand name companies like Kraft and Luvs. Their sales are down, while the sales of similar products on either end of the price spectrum — cheaper generics and high-end premium goods — are up.

On today’s Big Take podcast, Leslie joins host Sarah Holder to discuss how this “middle brand squeeze” is playing out on grocery store shelves.

Read more: Shoppers Are Ditching Classic Brands They Once Loved

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Climate leaders from around the world have convened in Baku, Azerbaijan for the UN’s biggest annual climate conference, COP29. And this year, it’s all about money. 

Member nations are negotiating over how much responsibility rich countries have to finance the energy transitions of smaller economies. But larger global tensions loom over the proceedings — including the reelection of Donald Trump.

In today’s episode, Bloomberg’s senior climate reporter and host of Zero Akshat Rathi calls in from COP29 to update host Sarah Holder on the unfolding negotiations and how America’s new president-elect changes the conversation. 

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Over the last week, President-elect Donald Trump has announced his nominees for the top jobs in his administration. But one key position that hasn’t been filled yet is Treasury secretary, and the person Trump picks will play a crucial role in shaping US economic policy.

Senior Washington correspondent and host Saleha Mohsin joins David Gura to tick through the top candidates under consideration and how each might shape the Treasury’s priorities if chosen and confirmed. 

Read more: Bessent Hails Trump Agenda as Candidates Vie for Treasury Post

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Higher tariffs. Geopolitical flare-ups. Inflammatory comments. All across Asia, countries are bracing for the return of Donald Trump.

On today’s Big Take Asia Podcast, we unpack what a second Trump term means for China, India and other Asian economies – who are the potential winners and losers and what’s ahead. Host K. Oanh Ha is joined by Daniel Ten Kate, Bloomberg’s executive editor for Asia economy and government, Chan Heng Chee, the ambassador-at-large with the Singapore Foreign Ministry, and Erin Murphy, deputy director of Chair on India and Emerging Asia Economics at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. 

Read more: Trump Is Set to Elevate China Hawks, Deepening Beijing Rift

Further listening: The Economic Impact of Trump’s Promises

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Since Donald Trump’s reelection, Bitcoin has surged to its highest value ever, surpassing $89k per coin on Tuesday. It’s a trend playing out across cryptocurrency, an industry that could benefit from deregulation under President Trump. 

On today’s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg’s stacy-marie ishmael and David Gura break down whether the recent “melt up” in crypto prices is part another of boom-bust cycle or if the US’s first crypto-friendly president is likely to usher in a new era in digital assets.

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President-elect Trump ran on a promise to help American consumers. As he prepares to take office, the question becomes whether his policies will play out the way he sold them — and how they could evolve as he tries to put them into practice.

Bloomberg Economics has done the math on Trump’s plans, and chief economist Tom Orlik joined host Sarah Holder to look at what Trump’s agenda could mean for inflation, GDP and US taxpayers.

Read more: Your Guide to Trump’s Day-One Agenda — From Taxes to Tariffs

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President-elect Donald Trump’s business ventures, from Truth Social to crypto, stand to benefit from his return to power. But just how much? 

Today on the Big Take podcast, Bloomberg’s Tom Maloney joins host David Gura to break down Trump’s business interests and assets, and explore how he could cash in on his second term in office.

Read more: Donald Trump’s Billion-Dollar Windfall After Election Is Just the Start

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Less than two days after Donald Trump won a second term, the Federal Reserve announced a rate cut. But speaking to reporters, Fed’s Powell faced difficult questions about the path forward for interest rates — and for him — under Trump.

Bloomberg economic policy editor Kate Davidson joins host Saleha Mohsin to discuss how Powell’s answers today set up for a rematch between him and Trump over the Fed’s mission and independence. 

Read more: Trump’s Victory Casts a Shadow Over the Federal Reserve

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In a stunning political comeback, Donald Trump has been elected the 47th president of the United States. Just before 2:30 on Wednesday morning, he took the stage at his campaign headquarters in Mar-a-Lago, heralding the “greatest political movement of all time” after Vice President Kamala Harris’ path to the Oval Office had all but evaporated.

On today’s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg’s Wendy Benjaminson joins host Sarah Holder to break down how Election Day played out, the surge of the so-called Trump Trade, and what we can expect from a second Trump term.

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As America heads to the polls for Election Day, thousands of poll workers and local officials are taking extreme measures to keep things running smoothly and to convince the public that they can trust the results.

On today’s Big Take podcast, we hear from election officials and from Bloomberg national security reporter Chris Strohm on efforts to ensure the safety and integrity of the 2024 US election.

Read more: ‘What Worries Me? Everything’: Officials Brace for US Election Day

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Be in the know this election with Bloomberg Podcasts. Follow Bloomberg News Now for up-to-the minute election results, all night long. And go deeper with The Big Take podcast, featuring in-depth global analysis of the US election every day this week. 

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From conflicts in Europe and the Middle East, to global issues like trade and migration, whoever becomes the next president of the United States will have a huge impact on the rest of the world.

Bloomberg’s Flavia Krause-Jackson and a team of reporters around the world asked government officials one question: How are you preparing for what happens next? Today on the Big Take podcast, she joins host David Gura to share what they found.

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Elon Musk has become one of Donald Trump’s most formidable — and vocal — allies. He’s spoken at Trump rallies, formed a pro-Trump PAC, and funneled more than $100 million into Trump and his allies’ campaigns. This political pivot stunned people who long thought of Musk as a hero of the green energy transition. So how did this happen?

In the first episode of Citizen Elon, host Max Chafkin explains the grievances, grudges and online influences that have shaped Elon Musk’s political ideology — and the ways his money and megaphone are shaping the race. 

Read More: When Elon Musk Got Political

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The world is watching for instability after the US election next week. If there’s a repeat of the chaos that followed the 2020 results, it could damage not just American democracy, but something else: the global financial system that America dominates.

Today on the show, host Saleha Mohsin is joined by former Senator Pat Toomey to unpack what’s at stake for a world that runs on US dollars if a peaceful transfer of power is no longer a given in the world’s oldest democracy.

Read more: Election-Violence Risk Threatens US Dollar Dominance

Further listening: Bloomberg’s Trump Interview: Inside His Economic Vision for a Second Term

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It sounds like science fiction, but it’s real: Venture capitalists, startup founders, and Silicon Valley elites are pouring money into a controversial technology called solar radiation modification that could cool the planet by blocking the sun.

Today on the show, host Sarah Holder talks to Bloomberg reporter Sophie Alexander about the international coordination needed for something like this to work, and why funding for it is ramping up even as researchers express concerns about the possible consequences. 

Read more: Silicon Valley’s Elite Pour Money Into Blotting Out the Sun

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China is making steady progress in its quest to dominate key industries of the future, despite years of US tariffs, export controls and sanctions. 

On today's Big Take Asia Podcast, host K. Oanh Ha talks to Bloomberg’s Rebecca Choong Wilkins about how the US is struggling to curb Beijing’s technological advances, and whether the upcoming election could change the dynamic.

Read more: US Efforts to Contain Xi’s Push for Tech Supremacy Are Faltering

Further listening:

• How China’s BYD Became King of the Affordable EV

• On Thursday, Odd Lots will dig into Bloomberg’s research on the Made in China plan, and why it largely succeeded in spite of US efforts. Subscribe here.

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With the US presidential election just over a week away, most major polls, including the latest Bloomberg/Morning Consult poll, show Vice President Harris and former President Trump in a dead heat. But Wall Street seems increasingly convinced Trump is going to win. And that is manifesting in what's come to be called “The Trump Trade.”

Today on the Big Take podcast, Bloomberg Opinion’s John Authers sits down with host David Gura to break down what the trade is, and what it reveals about how Wall Street sees this election and the future of the economy.

Read more: Prediction Markets Reflect That the Clock Favors Trump

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For a small business, going viral might sound like a good thing. But when a TikTok video turns a shop into an overnight success, that attention can come with major challenges. 

On today’s Big Take podcast, host Sarah Holder visits small business owners riding the wave of overnight success, and explores the economics of virality with Amanda Mull.

Read more: 

• How Online Influencers Got Addicted to Swedish Candy
• Amanda Mull’s “Buying Power” column

Bloomberg wants to hear from you! Help make shows like ours even better by taking the Bloomberg audience survey and have a coffee on Bloomberg for doing so.

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Decades-long efforts to save Brazil’s Amazon have hit a brutal reality. Impoverished local communities often turn to agribusiness and other industries that drive deforestation. 

On today’s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg’s Brazil bureau chief Vanessa Dezem joins host Sarah Holder to talk through the link between poverty and deforestation and the country’s new efforts to save its rainforest by building up local economies.

Read more: The Amazon’s Relentless Poverty Cycle

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Bloomberg News and Morning Consult have spent the past year polling voters in the seven key swing states that could decide the election: Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, and Wisconsin.

The results are in for the last poll before Election Day — and the race between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris could hardly be closer.

Senior editor Wendy Benjaminson leads Bloomberg’s polling coverage. She joins Big Take DC host Saleha Mohsin to unpack the state of the race and the economic concerns motivating these voters as November 5 approaches.

Read more: Two Weeks Out, Trump and Harris Are Locked in a Dead Heat

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Started as a battery company in the 1990s in Shenzhen, BYD is now one of the best-selling EV brands in the world. Once mocked by Elon Musk, the company’s startling growth made it a global player and has sparked tariffs in the US and EU.

On today’s Big Take Asia Podcast, host K. Oanh Ha talks to Bloomberg’s Gabrielle Coppola and Danny Lee about the company’s aggressive expansion and what it means for the global auto market.

Read more: BYD Is Winning the Global Race to Make Cheaper EVs

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In recent years, investors of all kinds bet big on the future of the so-called Green Economy. But now, some hedge funds are shorting green stocks — a sign that investor enthusiasm may be waning.

A new Bloomberg analysis examines the positions that more than 500 hedge funds have taken on the green economy. On today’s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg ESG reporter Sheryl Lee joins host David Gura to discuss the findings, and why some investors who had bet on a sustainable future are now betting against it.

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The education system has an AI problem. As students have started using tools like ChatGPT to do their homework, educators have deployed their own AI tools to determine if students are using AI to cheat.

But the detection tools, which are largely effective, do flag false positives roughly 2% of the time. For students who are falsely accused, the consequences can be devastating. 

On today’s Big Take podcast, host Sarah Holder speaks to Bloomberg’s tech reporter Jackie Davalos about how students and educators are responding to the emergence of generative AI and what happens when efforts to crack down on its use backfire.

Read more: AI Detectors Falsely Accuse Students of Cheating—With Big Consequences

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Since 2023, more than 165 lawsuits have been filed challenging nearly every dimension of this year's presidential election. Across 37 states, including all seven swing states, these court cases could determine who can vote, how they vote, and how those votes will be counted.

Bloomberg’s Zoe Tillman is tracking these cases as Election Day nears, and joins host Saleha Mohsin to discuss the role courts will play in the outcome of the presidential race — and what this all means for public trust in the voting process.

Read more: More Than 165 Lawsuits Are Already Shaping the 2024 US Presidential Election

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With the US presidential election less than a month away, and the economy top of mind for many voters, former President Donald Trump sat down for an interview with Bloomberg Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait at the Economic Club of Chicago on Tuesday.

On today’s Big Take podcast, host David Gura highlights the key takeaways from the interview. From Trump’s defense of tariffs, to his plans for the Federal Reserve and immigration, the interview offers a view of what a second Trump term could mean for the global economy.

Read more: Trump Says Growth to Outpace Feared Debt, Inflation From Agenda

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Vietnamese real estate tycoon Truong My Lan was convicted in April of orchestrating a $12.3 billion fraud. She was sentenced to death by lethal injection, which she is appealing. And this week, the court is expected to hand down another verdict on additional charges. 

On today’s Big Take Asia podcast, host K. Oanh Ha speaks to Bloomberg’s John Boudreau about how Lan was able to embezzle so much money for so long, how she went from riches to death row and what her multibillion fraud case means for one of the fastest growing economies in Asia.

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In recent weeks, two monster storms have pummeled the US. Hurricanes Helene and Milton left more than 200 dead — and early estimates suggest the recovery could cost more than $100 billion. It’s a huge strain on affected homeowners and the insurance industry that’s meant to shoulder some of that burden. 

On today’s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg’s Leslie Kaufman joins host David Gura to talk about the increasing severity and frequency of extreme weather events, and how the new normal is changing the calculus for insurers. 

Read more: Federal Flood Maps Are No Match for Florida’s Double Hurricane

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Uber and Lyft promised to give drivers independence and the flexibility to work whenever they wanted. But this summer in New York City, these ride share companies started restricting when their drivers could go online. A new Bloomberg investigation found that driver lockouts were designed to save the companies millions in minimum wage payments — and ultimately cost drivers in the process.

On today’s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg tech reporter Natalie Lung joins host Sarah Holder to talk about the strategy behind the lockouts, and how she and her team crowd-sourced stories from hundreds of drivers to understand the impact. 

Read more: How Uber and Lyft Used a Loophole to Deny NYC Drivers Millions in Pay

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Will we know the result of the 2024 US Presidential election on election night? Or will the new normal look like 2020, when Americans had to wait days for the final call?

Bloomberg politics reporter Gregory Korte joins Big Take DC host Saleha Mohsin to break down what’s changed since former President Donald Trump began contesting the results of his 2020 loss, and what could happen if a drawn-out election call stokes uncertainty in the electoral process.

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Perrier, the popular French bottled water brand, has long been a symbol of luxury. But it’s now under scrutiny after regulators found trace amounts of fecal matter and pesticides where its water is sourced.

On today’s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg consumer goods reporter Dasha Afanasieva joins host David Gura to talk about how Perrier and its parent company, Nestlé, have responded — and ask bigger questions about sustainability in the global water business.

Read more: Perrier Well Contamination Sparks Scrutiny for Luxe Water Brand

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Adrian Cheng, the third-generation scion of property dynasty New World Development, seemed poised to take over his family’s $20 billion empire. But last month, in a surprising twist, he was replaced as CEO by someone outside of his family.  

On today’s Big Take Asia Podcast, host K. Oanh Ha talks to Bloomberg’s Shawna Kwan about the succession drama at New World, the possible ripple effects on other family dynasties in the region, and what it all could mean for the future of one of Hong Kong’s major property developers.

Read more: New World Scion’s Fall Upends Succession at $23 Billion Dynasty

Further listening: $200 Billion, Four Heirs and One Might Indian Empire

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On October 7, 2023, Hamas attacked Israel and Israel responded by declaring war. One year later, that war rages on, conflict has spread through the region, and activists around the world are calling for peace.

Today on the Big Take podcast, Bloomberg’s Israel bureau chief Ethan Bronner joins host David Gura to reflect on how the October 7 attacks have transformed the region and what comes next.

Further listening: The Escalating Conflict in the Middle East

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Shipping ports all along the East Coast and Gulf Coast shut down earlier this week, as the 47,000 members of the International Longshoremen’s Association went on strike. Their demands: A pay raise of nearly 80% over 6 years and strict limits on the use of automation in the nation’s ports. Shipping companies refused and worries mounted that the strike could drag on for weeks, creating gridlock at the ports, and recreating some of the pandemic-era supply chain snarls.

But dockworkers and shipping companies struck a temporary deal late Thursday. Today on the Big Take, Sarah Holder and reporter Laura Curtis talk through the details of the deal, why the White House got involved and who the winners and losers are.

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After a Russian missile hit the Ukrainian city of Chernihiv, Ukrainian investigators found the navigation system had components made by four Western companies, including two in the US. 

Today on the Big Take, Bloomberg reporter Stephanie Baker talks to host David Gura about how these components are making their way to the battlefield and what steps the US government is taking to try to prevent that from happening. 

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In the first and only vice presidential debate of the 2024 US election cycle, Tim Walz and JD Vance had two objectives: Keep the momentum going for Kamala Harris or Donald Trump, and do no harm. But one of the most surprising takeaways of the policy-forward debate was just how respectful the conversation was. 

Bloomberg senior editor Wendy Benjaminson joins host Sarah Holder to break down key moments – from the cordial to the confrontational – and what Vance and Walz’s performances mean for their tickets.

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Iran attacked Israel for the second time in five months Tuesday, with a volley of missiles coming hours after Israel launched a ground incursion into Lebanon. 

Today on the Big Take, Bloomberg’s Dan Williams, a reporter in Bloomberg’s Jerusalem bureau, and Joumanna Bercetche in Dubai join host David Gura to talk about the latest on the Middle East and what that means for the region – and the US.

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Harvard University’s endowment fund is larger than the endowment of any other university on the planet. That’s, in part, because of a pioneering investment strategy. But in recent years, the returns haven’t measured up to rival universities like Yale or Brown.

Bloomberg’s Janet Lorin joins host David Gura to talk about how Harvard University’s early edge seems to have waned in the midst of changing leadership and strategies.

Read more: Harvard’s Not-So-Smart Money: Two Decades of Poor Returns and Rich Pay

Further Listening:

• Facing Huge Challenges, One College Tries to Be Too Big to Fail
• If College Is an Investment, These Offer the Best ROI

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This week, China’s central bank announced a stimulus package designed to revive the economy, cutting an interest rate and reducing the amount of money banks need to hold in reserve.

But the country’s ongoing drive to upgrade its struggling economy has left millions of people facing job losses or pay cuts, fueling an existential crisis among some of its best and brightest workers.

On today's Big Take Asia Podcast, host K. Oanh Ha talks to Bloomberg's Lulu Chen about the impact Xi Jinping’s push is having on professionals, from banking to tech, and what this anxiety could mean for the outlook of the world’s second-largest economy.

Read more: 
Xi Unleashes a Crisis for Millions of China's Best-Paid Workers

China Unleashes Stimulus Package to Revive Economy, Markets

Further listening:

Why China’s Investment Bankers Are Breaking Up With Capitalism

What Does China’s Economic Slowdown Mean For the Communist Party?

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For the past year, Bloomberg News and Morning Consult have been polling voters in swing states. Former President Donald Trump has had a consistent lead when it comes to the question of who voters trust on the economy. But a new poll of likely voters shows Vice President Kamala Harris closing that gap in key states.

Today, senior editor Wendy Benjaminson joins the Big Take DC to dig into how this polling works and what we can learn from the results.

Read more:  Kamala Harris Holds Razor-Thin Lead Across Swing States in Tight 2024 Race

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Skyrocketing tuition costs, COVID and fewer high school graduates have been straining the survival of smaller American colleges, leading many to shut down. Now, some are joining a surprising new path: mergers and acquisitions.

Bloomberg reporter Francesca Maglione sits down with Big Take host David Gura to discuss why some colleges are eager to merge with others, and what this new dynamic might mean for the future of higher education. 

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Talk of de-dollarization has been gaining momentum among China, India, Brazil, Russia and South Africa in the wake of significant US led sanctions on Russia. Former US President and candidate Donald Trump has said the currency is under attack — and that any country that shuns it would face new tariffs on imports if he is elected.

On today's Big Take Asia Podcast, host K. Oanh Ha talks to Bloomberg’s Saleha Mohsin about the unique role the dollar plays in the world economy — and what, if anything, could replace it.

Read more: The Dollar’s Dominance, Explained

Further listening: Odd Lots Podcast – How the US Dollar Became an International Weapon of War

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Fighting has escalated in the Middle East after thousands of pagers and walkie talkies held by Hezbollah operatives exploded across Lebanon last week. That attack is the most recent example of supply chain interference — a global problem that national security officials say is now “rampant.” 

Bloomberg cybersecurity reporter Katrina Manson and defense and intelligence reporter Peter Martin sit down with Big Take host Sarah Holder to break down what we know about how and when the Hezbollah pagers were turned into bombs — and what countries like the US and China are doing to protect their supply chains from foreign infiltration. 

Read more: Exploding Pagers Raise Global Supply-Chain Security Concern

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Computers have outplayed humans in chess and Go for decades. But poker was long considered unhackable. The game requires not just crunching numbers, but creativity and complex strategy. That only started to change about 10 years ago, when a new generation of unbeatable poker bots began to appear online. 

The makers of the technology remained in the shadows, so Bloomberg’s Kit Chellel set out to find them. On today’s Big Take podcast, he joins David Gura to share the story of how a group of Russian students invented the world’s best online poker bots and what that means for the multi-billion-dollar industry.

Read more: The Russian Bot Army That Conquered Online Poker

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Since Vice President Kamala Harris took over the Democratic presidential ticket, she’s faced criticism from voters who say they don’t know what she stands for. But we know two Bloomberg reporters who do: California bureau chief Karen Breslau, who’s been following Harris’ career for two decades, and Josh Wingrove, who covers her campaign. 

Today on the show, they join host Sarah Holder to discuss what we know about Harris’ economic message and what a Harris presidency could mean for everything from domestic taxes to global trade.

Read more: Understanding Kamala Harris

Further listening: Donald Trump Sits Down With Bloomberg Businessweek

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The Federal Reserve announced a highly anticipated rate cut of half a percentage point today — larger than many watchers anticipated. Which industries and companies will feel this interest rate cut the most, and what will it mean for everyday consumers?

Bloomberg’s Enda Curran joins host Sarah Holder to talk about what effects we can expect to see as the rate cut ripples through the US economy and the world — and hits our wallets.

Read more: Rent Is the Stubborn Part of the Inflation Story

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This week, the Federal Reserve is expected to cut interest rates for the first time in over four years. And there’s debate over how big the cut will be and how soon it will impact the economy.

Bloomberg’s Kate Davidson joins host David Gura to discuss this turning point for the economy, and what else Fed policymakers have in store for the future.  

Read more: Fed Ready to Unshackle US Economy With Soft Landing at Stake

Further listening: What a September Cut Could Mean for the Economy and the Election

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A controversial AI safety bill was just passed by California’s legislature. It’s been spurned by OpenAI and Nancy Pelosi, championed by Elon Musk – and could radically reshape the future of the technology’s development not just in the state, but globally.

On today’s podcast, host Sarah Holder speaks with California State Senator Scott Wiener, the author of SB 1047, about why he thinks California needs to take a lead in regulating AI. And Bloomberg tech reporter Shirin Ghaffary explains why even if the bill is vetoed by Governor Gavin Newsom, the questions it has raised about AI regulation could be long-lasting.

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The year started with the door of an airplane falling off mid-flight. Frustrations with air travel have mounted since then. It’s up to Pete Buttigieg, the Transportation Secretary, to address those problems — which include everything from Boeing’s woes to the shrinking value of airline loyalty points.

Buttigieg joined the Big Take DC podcast in an exclusive interview to talk about the future of air travel, and his political future after his tenure in the Biden administration ends.

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In a wide-ranging debate on Tuesday night, Vice President Kamala Harris repeatedly put former President Donald Trump on the defensive. Harris leaned into her past as a prosecutor, needling Trump on issues ranging from immigration to the economy and abortion. He attempted to criticize her record and define her as a radical unfit for the presidency.

Bloomberg senior editor Wendy Benjaminson and host David Gura unpack the viral moments from the night, analyze the candidates’ performance, and discuss what comes next.

Read more: How Kamala Harris Baited Trump Into a Debate on Her Terms

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Apple is at a turning point. It ascended from a scrappy tech underdog to the most valuable company in the world through selling devices like iPhones, Macs and Apple watches. But now, a significant portion of its revenue comes from digital services.

On today’s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg’s Austin Carr tells host Janet Paskin what this shift means for Apple’s appetite for risk, its battles with regulators in the US and Europe, and what that means for all of us.

Read more: How Apple Rules the World

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On today’s podcast, host David Gura speaks to US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen about everything from the health of the economy to negotiating with China. He also accompanies her on a trip to an IRS processing facility in Texas to talk about tax cheats and what to do about them.  

Read more: Yellen Says Jobs Report Confirms Labor Market ‘Quite Healthy’

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Eleven million people have been let go in the US so far this year. And the job market they’re entering isn’t easy: the latest jobs report showed the economy added just 142,000 jobs in August. But ever since the pandemic, the way we experience — and process — getting laid off has fundamentally changed. It’s no longer just a source of shame. It’s become social media content.

Today on the show, host Sarah Holder speaks with a tech worker who’s at the forefront of the hottest new job market trend: posting publicly about your layoff. And Bloomberg reporter Jo Constantz explains what the shift in how we approach layoffs means for employees and employers everywhere.

Read more: Losing Your Job Used to Be Shameful. Now It’s a Whole Identity

Further listening: 

• The Sahm Rule, Explained (By Claudia Sahm)
• Workers Are Getting Ghosted. Here’s Why

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With two months until election day, Kamala Harris’ campaign is outpacing Donald Trump's on fundraising. But this late into the race, how much does money matter?

Big Take DC host Saleha Mohsin sits down with Bloomberg money and politics editor Laura Davison to break down both campaigns’ finances, how they might spend their money, and how much impact cash could actually have in the race.

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Billionaire brothers Clark and Dan Hunt, co-owners of the Kansas City Chiefs, aren’t resting on their laurels after back-to-back Super Bowl victories. They’re hoping for another title, and they’re growing their family’s sports portfolio. 

The Hunts want to boost the NFL’s popularity overseas, and as co-owners of FC Dallas, they’re also trying to capitalize on the 2026 FIFA World Cup. 

Bloomberg reporter Randall Williams shares highlights from a recent conversation he had with the Hunt brothers about their latest deals and their hopes for the future.

Further Listening: Big Take: The Last Great American (Football) Dynasty - Bloomberg

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The US asylum process is meant to offer a fair shot at safe haven. But new reporting from Bloomberg uncovers how the difference between those who are granted asylum and those who are denied often boils down to chance.

On today’s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg investigative reporter Monte Reel joins host David Gura to trace the arc of one man’s journey and discuss new data analysis that reveals the flaws at the core of the US asylum system.

Read more: Justice Is Beside the Point in America’s Immigration Courts

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X users might have noticed a new kind of artificial intelligence-generated image proliferating: strange visions of Elon Musk next to Disney characters carrying guns, or Donald Trump in all kinds of, well, weird situations. This was what followed a new release of Musk’s Grok AI tool, which can now make images—unsurprisingly with fewer guardrails than other image-creating machines out there.

On this episode we’ll talk about Grok’s new skillset and also get into the semiotics of the Cybertruck. Initially conceived of as a mass-market truck, it’s slid into another category: marker of a certain kind of right-wing flex, the kind Musk himself has engaged in on his struggling social network. Joining David to discuss is Davey Alba, a Bloomberg technology reporter, along with Max Chafkin and Dana Hull. 

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The taxis of the future are already here. And they’re airborne. After years of research and development and billions in investment, autonomous flying taxis are finally poised to take off. Companies working on these pilotless vehicles have been quietly working on prototypes — and recently, Bloomberg reporter Colum Murphy took a test flight in one of the first models operating in China.

But once the technology is proven, new challenges begin: the industry will have to navigate regulatory hurdles, which can vary country to country, and find a customer base that will trust this new form of air-travel. On today’s episode, Murphy takes the Big Take on his flying taxi ride, and his colleague Angus Whitley explains why it’s a make or break moment for the industry. 

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In June, two NASA astronauts flew to the International Space Station on a Boeing spacecraft for a week-long test mission. But problems with the machinery mean they’ll be stuck there for 8 months… and when they come back in February, they won’t be flying Boeing. Instead, they’re hitching a ride with the company’s biggest rival in commercial space travel: Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

Today on the show: space reporter Loren Grush and Boeing reporter Julie Johnsson on the challenges facing Boeing’s space program, the rise of SpaceX, and the future of NASA’s ambitions beyond our planet.

Further listening: Boeing Faces Washington and Wall Street Reckonings

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The World Health Organization declared the last mpox global emergency over in May 2023. And just over a year later, here we are again.

Since the start of 2024, a deadlier, more transmissible strain of the virus has killed about 575 people in the Democratic Republic of Congo and infected 30 times more. New cases have recently appeared in Europe and Asia. In August, the WHO declared a new mpox global health emergency. 

Bloomberg’s Ashleigh Furlong joins host Sarah Holder to explain why the latest outbreak could have been avoided — and what it will cost to beat it.

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Call centers in the Philippines, the world’s second-biggest outsourcing center after India, are embracing artificial intelligence - and it’s radically changing what it looks and sounds like to work there. 

On today's Big Take Asia Podcast, host Rebecca Choong Wilkins demos the Sanas AI app and talks to Bloomberg's Saritha Rai about the industry's rapid transition and what it might mean for workers around the world.

Read more: The World's Call Center Capital Is Gripped by AI Fever — and Fear

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The time has finally come for a rate cut. That was the takeaway of Fed Chair Jerome Powell's remarks in Jackson Hole on Friday when he let the world know to expect a cut at the next ​​Fed meeting in September.

Bloomberg’s Mike McKee joins host Sarah Holder from Jackson Hole to discuss what that cut could look like — and what it would mean for the economy, the US election and the American consumer.Read more: Powell’s Pivot Leaves Traders Debating Size, Path of Rate Cuts

Listen more: The Federal Reserve's Tricky Economic and Political Terrain

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For decades, the Democratic Party has counted on support from Black voters. But former President Donald Trump has tried to leverage voter dissatisfaction with Democrats to bite into the party’s edge with that key demographic. And for a while, it seemed to be working – until the first Black woman to lead a major presidential ticket shook up the race.

On today’s Big Take DC podcast, host Saleha Mohsin hears from voters and speaks to Bloomberg reporters Akayla Gardner and Hadriana Lowenkron about how Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign has flipped the script for Trump, and for Democrats attempting to reverse President Joe Biden’s losses with Black Americans who were key to his win in 2020.

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A Chinese businessman persuaded officials to establish a special economic zone in a remote part of Laos. The gamblers arrived first. Then came the drug runners, human traffickers and scammers.

On today’s Big Take Asia podcast, host K. Oanh Ha speaks with Bloomberg Businessweek editor Matt Campbell about his investigation into the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone and how it became a criminal’s paradise.

Read more: Dodge City

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For the first time in more than a decade, Burning Man has not sold out. 

The gathering prides itself on its counter-cultural roots, and draws tens of thousands of people to the Nevada desert every year for a week of art, music and adventure. But it’s also gradually moved further into the mainstream, becoming a rite of passage for a certain set of Silicon Valley elites. Whether it’s because of last year’s rain, economic strains, or something deeper, one thing is clear: this year, demand for Burning Man tickets is down. 

On today’s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg technology reporter Ellen Huet joins host Sarah Holder to grapple with a burning question: has Burning Man peaked?

Read more: Has Burning Man Peaked?

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Ports often make the news when they break: like the bridge collapse that shut down Baltimore's port earlier this year. But every day, ports in cities around the world keep supply chains humming and feed local economies; every year, they help move 80% of the things we buy.

As conflicts between world powers intensify, ports are also the latest battlefields where geopolitical power is won and lost. On today’s episode, Bloomberg’s Brendan Murray tells host Sarah Holder how ports, from Belgium to Peru, are becoming strategic sites for countries to defend their interests. And why trillions of dollars are on the line in order to make these ambitions happen on time.

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After ten months of fighting in the Gaza Strip, Israel and Hamas could be close to a cease-fire deal. As of Monday afternoon, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that Israel had agreed to a cease-fire proposal. Hamas had yet to officially respond.

If an eventual deal is achieved… the question becomes: How could the Gaza Strip rebuild?

On today’s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg reporters Fares Alghoul, Fadwa Hodali, and Dan Williams take stock of the international cooperation — and money — it would take to reconstruct Gaza and how the future leadership of the Strip could complicate this already monumental task.

Read more: Gaza Reduced to 42 Million Tonnes of Rubble. What Will It Take to Rebuild?

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There is nearly $13 trillion invested in exchange-traded funds, or ETFs. ETFs that mirror the S&P 500. ETFs for gold. ETFs for bitcoin. There’s even a Vegan ETF. How did this market get so big and varied? And just what goes into one?

On today’s podcast, our Bloomberg Explains series continues with Bloomberg Intelligence senior ETF analyst and co-host of the Trillions podcast Eric Balchunas. He tells host David Gura about the unlikely duo who created the first-ever ETF in a last-ditch bid to save a struggling exchange. And Bloomberg ETF IQ and Money Stuff co-host Katie Greifeld breaks down the current booming market, and outlines which ETFs are safe investments – and which are better left alone. 

Further listening: Trillions Podcast - Bloomberg,  Money Stuff - Bloomberg

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Seven key states will play an outsized role in determining the outcome of the 2024 US election. A new analysis from Bloomberg found that as a group those states’ economies pose a challenge for Kamala Harris and an opening for Donald Trump.

On today’s Big Take DC podcast, host Saleha Mohsin goes inside this “battleground economy” with Bloomberg senior writer Shawn Donnan and hears directly from voters on how this economic reality is influencing the communities that will choose between Trump and Harris.

Read more: The Swing-State Economic Realities Shaping the US Election

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That White Lotus-inspired trip to Sicily. The Instagram-perfect Joshua Tree glamping holiday. A party weekend in Miami. Ever since the first lockdown restrictions were lifted in 2021, Americans have been spending big on travel. But a recent slew of weak earnings from companies like Delta and Expedia suggest that the post-pandemic travel boom is finally over.

In today’s episode, Bloomberg tech reporter Natalie Lung tells host Sarah Holder that from airlines to Airbnb, companies are reporting weaker-than-expected demand for summer travel. So does that mean now is the perfect time to book a last-minute vacation? Depends on where you’re game to go.

Read more: Flights, Hotels and Parks Are All Flashing Travel Warning Signs

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After weeks of protests and a brutal crackdown that led to several hundred deaths, Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was forced to step down and flee the country, putting an abrupt end to her more than 15 years in power. Stepping into the leadership vacuum is Nobel Prize-winning economist Muhammad Yunus, who we spoke to last month -- when he was facing charges that his supporters said were trumped up by Hasina. 

Today on The Big Take Asia, host K. Oanh Ha speaks to Bloomberg’s Kai Schultz about what drove the student-led uprising and Hasina’s downfall, Yunus’s surprising turn to politics, and what’s at stake for one of Asia’s most promising economies.

Read more: 

Yunus Cleared in Graft Case After Becoming Bangladesh Leader

Further listening: 

Why This Nobel Prize Winner Faces Life Imprisonment in Bangladesh

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The sovereign wealth funds of the Persian Gulf used to be relatively easy places for US firms like Blackstone and Goldman Sachs to raise money. But recently, the power dynamics between Wall Street and Middle Eastern wealth fund managers have been shifting.

On today’s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg’s Heather Perlberg breaks down for host David Gura why Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds are asking for more in return for access to their trillions — and what that means not only for investors but also the future of the region. 

Read more: Middle East Trillions Force New Concessions From Wall Street

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Have you had the flu recently? Or RSV? Or just... some bug that you can’t quite shake? If so, you’re not alone. Bloomberg’s data team recently decided to investigate whether or not the perception that we’re all getting sick all the time is actually backed up by numbers. And what they found was truly surprising: in countries around the world, people are getting much sicker, much more often in the wake of the pandemic.

We’re re-upping this episode, which originally aired on June 14, because – surprise – everyone’s still getting sick. Listen as host Sarah Holder and Bloomberg data reporter Jinshan Hong try to solve the global health mystery – including the potential culprits behind the surge in sickness and what we can do to avoid getting ill so often.

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On today’s Big Take podcast, economist Claudia Sahm explains the Sahm rule: how she came up with the idea, whether or not we’re in a recession, and why she wishes it was called something else.

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What happens when new weight-loss drugs like Ozempic transform a community? Bloomberg healthcare reporter Madison Muller went to Bowling Green, Kentucky to find out. That area has one of the highest concentrations of weight-loss drug prescriptions in the US.

On today’s Big Take podcast, we explore what that means for people who live there, how these drugs are reshaping the local economy, and what it could look like in other places when Ozempic comes to town.

Read more: What Happens When Ozempic Takes Over Your Town

Listen more: Are Cheaper Ozempic Knockoffs Safe?

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Gautam Adani, the controversial Indian billionaire, gathered his two sons and two nephews for a family lunch one day and asked them a bombshell question: Did they want to carve up the Adani Group’s sprawling businesses between themselves or stick together? He gave them three months to decide.

Today on The Big Take, host K. Oanh Ha talks to Bloomberg editor Anto Antony about the Adanis’ ambitious succession plan, in the wake of regulatory probes and a daring short-seller attack. We also hear from the Adanis themselves on their vision of an Adani Group without Gautam at the helm, how they’ll make decisions to manage an empire – which spans everything from airports to solar farms – and what's at stake for India’s $3.5 trillion economy.

Read more: Adani Unveils $213 Billion Succession Plan as Scrutiny Persists

Further listening: The Rise of Modi: Why India’s Leader Is So Popular – and Polarizing

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On Wall Street, the S&P 500 had its worst day in nearly two years and the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed over 1,000 points. Shares on Japan’s Nikkei Index fell by over 12% — their worst showing since Black Monday in 1987. Cryptocurrencies dropped, bond yields rose and the VIX, known as the fear index, saw its biggest one-day spike in more than 30 years. Is the Fed to blame? AI over-exuberance? Warren Buffett?

On today’s episode, Bloomberg columnist John Authers walks host David Gura through the global market meltdown: what triggered it, how long it could last, and when to panic.

Read more:  $6.4 Trillion Stock Wipeout Has Traders Fearing ‘Great Unwind’ Is Just Starting

Further listening: Why the Market’s Big Tailwinds Are Coming to an End

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In April of 2023, a man carrying a small, black box walked into one of the nation’s most secure buildings, right next to the White House. In the box were ingredients that could be used to create a bioweapon. What the man revealed about how he got his hands on these ingredients was even scarier: an AI chatbot had given him the recipe.

On today’s Big Take, host David Gura speaks to Bloomberg healthcare reporter Riley Griffin about why that stunt alarmed White House officials and woke them up to the potential dangers of AI-made bioweapons. 

Read more: AI-Made Bioweapons Are Washington’s Latest Security Obsession

Further listening: 

• We Can’t Opt Out of AI (But We Can Try)
• AI Wreaks Havoc on Global Power Systems

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If you’ve applied to a job and never heard back, you may have fallen prey to a ghost job — an online listing for a role that never actually existed.

Ghost jobs aren’t just leaving job seekers frustrated. They’re also muddying the waters of the labor market when it comes to assessing the strength of the economy.

On today’s Big Take podcast, Sarah Holder digs into the ghost job phenomenon with Molly Smith, an editor on Bloomberg’s US economy team.

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Each year in April, the US conducts a lottery that shapes the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. And each year, only around 85,000 are granted an H-1B visa for highly-skilled workers. With skyrocketing application numbers, the odds of winning have only gotten slimmer. But new data obtained by Bloomberg News has revealed how certain companies have manipulated the system, gaining an advantage over people who play it fair. In other words, the game was rigged.

On today’s Big Take podcast, host Sarah Holder speaks to investigative journalists Eric Fan and Zachary Mider who explain how outsourcing companies and staffing firms exploited loopholes in the H-1B system to get extra shots at the lottery. 

Read more: How Thousands of Middlemen Are Gaming the H-1B Program

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Costs are rising in Japan and small businesses risk being squeezed into oblivion if they don’t figure out how to raise their prices. After decades of deflation, many small Japanese companies are out of practice on exactly how to do it.

Today on The Big Take Asia, host Rebecca Choong Wilkins talks to Bloomberg senior editor Reed Stevenson about a class he visited where people are relearning the long-lost skill of negotiation, and what a failure to raise prices at these small businesses – which make up 90% of the economy – could mean for Japan’s future.

Read more: BOJ to Cut Bond Buying as Fate of Rate Policy Stirs Jitters

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This past weekend, Donald Trump became the first American president to address a crypto conference, telling an audience in Nashville that “if Bitcoin is going to the moon, I want America to be the nation that leads the way.” It’s a stark contrast from five years ago, when Trump said Bitcoin’s value was based on “thin air.” Is his conversion from crypto skeptic to crypto cheerleader real – or just a canny attempt to get donations?

On today’s podcast, host David Gura speaks to Bloomberg investigative reporter Zeke Faux about the surprising opinions he heard on-the-ground at the world’s biggest Bitcoin conference – and what that could mean for the future of the 2024 presidential election.

Read more: Trump Became Crypto Believer After Falling in Love With NFTs of Himself

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For most of this year, US markets were hitting fresh highs and investors were giddy about the potential of AI to make the world’s biggest tech companies even more profitable. Then, the picture changed. Welcome to the Great Rotation.

On today’s Big Take podcast, host Sarah Holder speaks to Bloomberg cross-asset reporter Isabelle Lee about what’s behind the investor move from the Magnificent Seven tech firms into smaller companies — and what role, if any, recent US political turmoil is playing in investors’ expectations about the rest of the year. 

Read more: Markets Tear Up Popular Trades That Reached ‘Stupid Levels’ and Stocks Caught in Tug of War Between Tech and Rest: Markets Wrap

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s trip to DC was set to be high-stakes, as he arranged to meet with President Biden and former President Trump. But Vice President Kamala Harris’s candidacy complicated an already delicate balancing act.

On today’s Big Take DC podcast, host David Gura speaks with Israel bureau chief Ethan Bronner and national security reporter Nick Wadhams about what’s at stake for each of these leaders, the latest prospects for a cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas, and how November’s election could reshape the US-Israel relationship.

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Americans are more and more likely to get health care not from doctors, but from nurse practitioners. It’s one of the fastest-growing professions in the US — and the number of nurse practitioners in the country is expected to climb 45% by 2032. But training for the booming profession has never been standardized, and some students worry they’re not being set up for success.

On today’s Big Take podcast, host Sarah Holder talks to investigative reporters Caleb Melby and Polly Mosendz about what the rapid rise of nurse practitioners has meant for their education — and their patients.

Read more: The Miseducation of America’s Nurse Practitioners

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Cheaper, knockoff versions of Ozempic, Wegovy and Zepbound are flooding the market, often promoted by telehealth companies in online ads and by influencers on TikTok and Instagram. These versions of the drugs are made by so-called compounding pharmacies, an obscure corner of America’s pharmaceutical market which makes drugs that aren’t approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

On today’s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg reporters Ike Swetlitz and Madison Muller tell host Sarah Holder about their investigation into a $1 billion shadow industry that could be putting Americans’ health in danger.

Read more: Unsafe Ozempic Knockoffs Are Flooding the Market

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With tens of millions of users under the age of 13, Roblox has become the biggest online gaming playground for kids. The company says its combination of AI chat filters and human moderators makes the platform safe for users of all ages. But a Bloomberg Businessweek investigation suggests that Roblox may have striking vulnerabilities. 

On today’s Big Take podcast, host David Gura speaks with reporters Olivia Carville and Cecilia D’Anastasio about the way predators have used the platform to groom children — and what Roblox is doing to keep young users safe.

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Joe Biden’s decision not to run for reelection leaves the Democratic nominee that replaces him with an unprecedented challenge: running a successful presidential campaign in under four months. That will take a lot of money. 

On today’s Big Take podcast: How much could that campaign cost? Gregory Korte and Laura Davison, who cover money and politics for Bloomberg, dig into that question, Kamala Harris’s fundraising edge and how Democratic donors are reacting to the news.

Read more: Joe Biden Bows to Democrats Who Wanted Him Out, Upending US Politics

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Is K-pop even K-pop without the K? A Bloomberg analysis of song lyrics shows that for the first time, almost half of K-pop songs released this year have English lyrics. 

On today’s podcast, host Sarah Holder speaks with Bloomberg reporter Sohee Kim about the genre’s identity shift and why industry efforts to grow its global audience might mean fewer Korean band members.

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Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s pick of Senator JD Vance as his running mate has many in Silicon Valley rejoicing — they see the former venture capitalist as one of their own. With Elon Musk’s commitment of $45 million a month to a super-PAC supporting the Trump campaign, it's the latest sign of Silicon Valley elites embracing the MAGA movement.

But the tech world hasn’t always embraced Trump. On today’s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg Businessweek columnist Max Chafkin joins host David Gura to talk about how we got here and what their support could mean for another Trump term.

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Nobel Peace Prize-winning economist Muhammad Yunus pioneered micro loans as a tool to fight poverty. Now prosecutors in Bangladesh have linked him and his colleagues to a dizzying number of crimes, including embezzlement and laundering millions of dollars. 

Today on The Big Take, host K. Oanh Ha speaks to Bloomberg’s Kai Schultz about the complicated saga and what implications Yunus’s case has for Bangladesh, one of the fastest growing economies. We also hear from Yunus himself, who talks about the rift between him and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, and the personal impact of the legal drama.

Read more:
Bangladesh Sentences Nobel Peace Prize Winner to 6 Months in Prison

Big Money Backs Tiny Loans That Lead to Debt, Despair and Even Suicide

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Former President Donald Trump accepted the Republican nomination at the party’s convention this week, just two days after an attempted assassination at a campaign rally over the weekend. Prior to that attack, and shortly before his first debate with President Joe Biden, Trump laid out his vision for a second term in a wide-ranging, 90-minute interview with journalists from Bloomberg Businessweek. 

Reporter Nancy Cook and editor Brad Stone take host David Gura inside that conversation, where they dig into “Trumponomics,” how Trump plans to appeal to voters and business leaders who have turned their backs on him.

Read more: 

• Trump on Taxes, Tariffs, Jerome Powell and More
• The Donald Trump Interview Transcript

Corrects length of Powell’s term as chair of the Federal Reserve.

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On Saturday evening, former President Donald Trump was injured in an assassination attempt during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. Even in a country with a history of assassinations and attempts, it is unprecedented. 

Bloomberg national politics reporter Gregory Korte and senior editor Wendy Benjaminson join hosts Saleha Mohsin and Sarah Holder to discuss how the assassination attempt changes everything in the 2024 election - and how political violence has previously shaped America.

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Ever since the first Olympics were held over a century ago, the Games have been known for dazzling sporting feats…and dazzlingly expensive opening ceremonies. Recently, the ballooning cost of hosting the Games has led residents in Boston, Rome, and Oslo to reject efforts to bring the Olympics to their cities. As a result, the International Olympic Committee is hoping to rein in costs – starting with Paris.

On today’s podcast, host Sarah Holder speaks with Bloomberg reporter Hugo Miller about the lessons Paris 2024 is trying to take from the first and only profitable Olympics held in Los Angeles in 1984 – and why no less than the future of the Games is at stake.

Read more: Faster, Higher — Cheaper? Paris's Budget Effort to Reboot the Olympics

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The fallout from President Joe Biden’s debate performance is continuing to ripple through Washington, as prominent Democrats, donors, and world leaders are questioning his ability to win… and to lead.

As US allies converge on Washington for the NATO summit and Congressional Democrats scramble for unity, all eyes are on Biden. Big Take DC host Saleha Mohsin talks with Bloomberg White House and politics reporter Jordan Fabian about what’s at stake for Biden in yet another make-or-break week.

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A growing number of Ukrainian entrepreneurs, engineers and tech workers are joining the war effort against Russia, making and delivering a key tool: drones. They’re low-cost, high-impact and can do everything from transporting supplies to dropping bombs across enemy lines.

On today’s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg Technology editor Jake Rudnitsky talks with host Sarah Holder about the burgeoning cottage industry that’s transforming the battlefield in the Russia-Ukraine war – and what the shift to drone warfare could mean for conflicts around the world.

Read more: Ukraine Is Fighting Russia With Toy Drones and Duct-Taped Bombs

Further listening: 

• Zelenskiy Talks Trump, Biden and US Election
• Ukraine’s Frontline Fight Is Changing How the US Prepares for War

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China’s Luckin Coffee is the nation’s top coffee retailer, overtaking even Starbucks. That would be notable itself, but less than 4 years ago the company filed for bankruptcy, making its comeback even more unlikely. The turnaround is in part thanks to the chain’s automated stores, cut-price deals and innovative drinks that appeal to local tastes.

Today on The Big Take Asia, host K. Oanh Ha speaks with Bloomberg’s Rachel Chang on how Luckin managed to turn around its failing business to overtake Starbucks, and asks whether it can hold on to its success as coffee takes off in China, and more rivals emerge.

Read more: China’s Luckin Coffee Is Back From the Brink and Beating Starbucks

Further listening: What Does China’s Economic Slowdown Mean For the Communist Party? 

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French voters shocked the world on Sunday by rejecting Marine Le Pen’s efforts to see her far-right National Rally party take control of France’s legislature. And across the channel in Britain, a new government is set to enter parliament on Tuesday after voters last week gave the country’s left-leaning Labour Party a majority.

On today’s Big Take podcast, host David Gura discusses the reaction to the surprise result in France with Bloomberg Opinion columnist Lionel Laurent, and Bloomberg’s Head of Economics and Government Stephanie Flanders breaks down why the landslide victory for Keir Starmer and Britain’s Labour Party isn’t necessarily as clear-cut as it might seem.

For more, listen to Bloomberg’s “Voternomics” podcast.

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With the US presidential election on the horizon and no end in sight to the Russia-Ukraine war, Bloomberg’s Annmarie Hordern sits down with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy for an exclusive interview. They discuss where the conflict stands now, what it would take to secure a peace deal and a possible end to the war – and Zelenskiy’s thoughts after watching the US presidential debate.

On today’s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg’s lead on national security coverage Nick Wadhams sits down with host Sarah Holder to analyze the most important moments from the Zelenskiy interview and game out what the outcome of the US election could mean for the future of Ukraine.

Watch the full interview: Zelenskiy on Putin, Russia Cease-Fire Prospects, Trump and US Election

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In the fallout from Biden’s performance in the first presidential debate, a leading name has emerged as the president’s natural replacement: Vice President Kamala Harris.

White House and politics reporters Akayla Gardner and Gregory Korte join Big Take host Sarah Holder to unpack why the calls for a Harris candidacy are surfacing now, her access to Biden’s war chest and who else could be a contender. 

Read more: Kamala Harris Is Having a Surprise Resurgence as Biden’s Campaign Unravels

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The car sales industry in North America ground to a halt in mid-June after sophisticated cybercriminals took down CDK Global, the software provider with a near-monopoly on the industry. It caused chaos in the middle of one of the biggest seasons for car-buying. Dealers couldn’t access their inventory. Buyers couldn’t get cars off the lot. And customers feared for their personal data.

On today’s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg senior technology editor Dana Wollman and host Sarah Holder discuss what getting back to normal for dealerships might look like, how the group of hackers behind the shutdown operate, and why industries that rely on centralized software systems — from education to healthcare — are vulnerable.  

Read more: BlackSuit Cybercrime Gang Blamed in CDK Hack That Roiled Car Dealers

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One after another, bankers at China International Capital Corporation — China’s premier investment bank – are pledging loyalty to the Communist Party, underscoring a new reality for Wall Street-style capitalists in the era of Xi Jinping.

Today on the Big Take Asia, host David Gura speaks with Bloomberg’s Cathy Chan about the tug-of-war between communism and capitalism at the “Morgan Stanley of China,” and how politics are redefining Chinese finance.

Read More: China’s Investment Bankers Join the Communist Party as Morale (and Paychecks) Shrink

Further listening: What Does China’s Economic Slowdown Mean For the Communist Party?

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There is a growing push from retail traders, international investors, and a few big hedge funds to do something once unthinkable: keep stock markets open for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. But when do traders sleep if Wall Street never shuts?

On today’s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg finance reporter Katherine Doherty joins host Sarah Holder to break down what’s behind the growing demand for after-hours trading on platforms like Robinhood, whether regulators will ever approve such a move, and what happens to the opening bell if the New York Stock Exchange never closes.

Read more: 24-Hour Stock Trading Is Booming – and Wall Street Is Rattled

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From big questions about Biden’s performance that have sent Democrats into panic over whether he should be on the ticket to Trump’s misleading statements on January 6th, the first 2024 US presidential debate may have been billed as a rematch, but it was full of surprises.

Inside the spin room in Atlanta, Big Take host David Gura talks to Bloomberg senior politics editor Wendy Benjaminson and politics reporter Stephanie Lai to dig into those moments, discuss what the candidates said about inflation, taxes and immigration, and what it all means for the rest of the campaign cycle.

Read more: Panicked Emails, Gallows Humor: The Aftermath of Biden's Debate Disaster 

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You’ve probably felt the pain of inflation. And you’ve also probably heard about shrinkflation — when companies respond to inflation by keeping their prices steady and making their products smaller. But have you heard of ‘upflation’?

It’s a new tactic consumer goods brands are using to get people shopping again. From whole-body deodorant to more genres of razor, companies are tweaking everyday essentials and jacking up the price. On today’s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg consumer goods reporter Leslie Patton tells host Sarah Holder where to spot upflation in the wild – and how to avoid paying extra for everyday products. 

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Four years after Beijing imposed a national security law on the city, Hong Kong continues to serve as an important financial hub connecting mainland China with the rest of the world. But beneath the surface, the consequences of the crackdown are far-reaching.

Today on the Big Take Asia, ahead of the 27th anniversary of Hong Kong’s handover to China, host K. Oanh Ha speaks with Bloomberg’s China editor Alan Wong about how Beijing is reshaping Hong Kong, its impact on the city’s residents and what that means for Hong Kong’s future.

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LVMH has a sprawling portfolio of brands synonymous with luxury: Christian Dior, Louis Vuitton, Fendi, Bulgari, Celine, Tiffany & Co., Hennessy and Veuve Clicquot. Its CEO, Bernard Arnault, almost never speaks to journalists and doesn’t have the name recognition of the likes of Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk, but regularly vies with them for the title of richest person in the world and has an almost impossible-to-measure influence over the business world.

Bloomberg Businessweek’s Brad Stone and reporter Angelina Rascouët recently landed a rare interview with Arnault, where they learned how he built his empire from the ground up. And they consider a burning question: At 75 years old with five grown children in the business, what are his plans for succession?

Read more: The House of Arnault

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AI data centers are huge energy black holes, consuming as much energy as 30,000 homes – and their rapid growth is straining global grids. The numbers are astonishing: Sweden could see power demand from data centers roughly double over the course of this decade. In the UK, AI is expected to suck up 500% more energy over the next decade. And in the US, data centers are projected to use 8% of total power by 2030, up from 3% in 2022.

On today’s podcast, host David Gura and Bloomberg reporter Josh Saul discuss just what these insatiable AI data center power needs mean for local communities, energy prices, and efforts to switch to renewables to combat climate change.

Read more: AI is Already Wrecking Havoc on Global Power Systems 

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What do Robert Kraft, Kevin Durant and Joe Tsai – owner of the Brooklyn Nets – all have in common? They’ve decided to go big on a new professional sport: lacrosse. Historically popular in East Coast colleges and prep schools – with a strong Canadian presence – these days, the Premier Lacrosse League is hoping to broaden its appeal to anyone looking for something other than baseball to watch during the summer.

On today’s episode, Philadelphia Waterdogs players Jake Carraway and Ryan Conrad on what it's like to juggle working on Wall Street during the week and playing lacrosse on the weekends and PLL founder Paul Rabil on his ambitious plans to emulate the success of the UFC. And host David Gura and Bloomberg reporter Bailey Lipschultz discuss what PLL’s story can tell us about other efforts to turn sports like cornhole and pickleball into big-money professional leagues. 

Read more: Wall Street Bankers Skip Hamptons Summer for Pro Lacrosse League

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The long tail of the Great Recession and the aftermath of the pandemic have resulted in a major housing affordability crisis in the US — and it’s hitting everyone from homeowners to renters.

Today, Big Take DC host Saleha Mohsin digs into how we got here and whose problem it is to fix. She’s joined by Shaun Donovan, the secretary of Housing and Urban Development during the fallout of the 2008 financial crisis, and by Daryl Fairweather, a chief economist at Redfin.

Read more: Mortgages Stuck Around 7% Force Rapid Rethink of American Dream

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As the $4.3 trillion hedge fund industry has boomed and competition for talent has intensified, firms are turning to a new strategy to get ahead: in-house boot camps. The goal is to mold promising new hires into future superstar traders.

Today on the show, Bloomberg’s Nishant Kumar joins host Sarah Holder to discuss what goes on inside these training programs — and what their rise means for the future of the industry.

Read more: Hedge Fund Talent Schools Are Looking for the Perfect Trader

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France’s President Emmanuel Macron shocked the world and sent tremors through global stock markets last week with his decision to call a snap election. The move was prompted by a stronger-than-expected showing by Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally party in European Union elections. Now, EU politicians are worried about the potential of another Brexit-style crisis that could plunge the continent’s second-largest economy into gridlock.

On today’s podcast, host David Gura speaks to Bloomberg Opinion columnist Lionel Laurent about what’s behind the strength of the far-right not just in France, but across the EU – and what this rightward shift means for relations between Europe and the US in a pivotal election year.

Further Listening: To find out what the rise of the far-right means for the left in Europe, check out the latest episode of the Bloomberg series Voternomics, “How the Left Lost Its Way in Europe” on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

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Indonesia’s nickel business is booming. The metal is a key component in electric car batteries, but its success has a dark side: the country’s nickel mines and processing plants have a history of fatal accidents, with workers being run over by forklifts and burnt to death in smelter fires. 

Today on The Big Take Asia, host Janet Paskin speaks with Bloomberg Businessweek editor Matt Campbell about his investigation into the mines. He found that nickel sourced from these plants are present in the supply chain that feeds virtually every major seller of EVs, and is an indispensable part of the car industry’s green revolution.

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Have you had the flu recently? Or RSV? Or just … some bug that you can’t quite shake? If so – you’re not alone. Bloomberg’s data team recently decided to investigate whether or not the perception that we’re all getting sick all the time is actually backed up by numbers. And what they found was truly surprising: in countries around the world, people are getting much sicker, much more often in the wake of the pandemic.

On today’s episode, host Sarah Holder and Bloomberg data reporter Jinshan Hong try to solve this global health mystery – including the potential culprits behind the surge in sickness and what we can do to avoid getting ill so often.

Read more: Yes, Everyone Really Is Sick a Lot More Often After Covid

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US politicians just can’t seem to stay out of court. New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez is standing trial for charges that sound like a TV crime drama: alleged bribery, hidden gold bars and a secret FBI recording at a Washington steakhouse. But these allegations don’t just impact Menendez’s career–they could hurt Democrats as they fight an uphill battle to hold onto the Senate.

Big Take DC host Saleha Mohsin talks with Bloomberg legal reporter Patricia Hurtado and Congress editor Megan Scully about the trial’s intrigue and how it could harm the Democratic party’s image.

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For over a decade, America’s central bank has had an inflation target of 2%. On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve announced that it would keep its main interest rate unchanged in order to try and get inflation to that magic number. But what if the Fed is thinking about inflation all wrong?

On today’s episode, host David Gura talks to Bloomberg’s Managing Editor for US economic policy Kate Davidson about the reasons the Fed introduced an inflation target in the first place, and Bloomberg Opinion columnist Mohamed El-Erian about the risks if the Fed is wrong about this – and who could be hurt the most.

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Reports of alleged imposters are cropping up more and more in the family office frenzy in Singapore and Hong Kong. The ultra wealthy use family offices to manage their finances and affairs.

Today on The Big Take Asia, host K. Oanh Ha speaks with Bloomberg investing reporter David Ramli about the secretive nature of the family office industry and why scammers are so hard to spot. Plus, she hears from Medway Investment board director Eric SayWei Neo about how people like him are becoming amateur detectives to try to weed out suspected imposters.

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One factory making pain and fever medications for children used contaminated water. Another made drugs for kids that were too potent. A third made nasal sprays for babies on the same machines it used to produce pesticides. A new Bloomberg investigation reveals that big pharmacy chains have used cheaper, independent factories with a history of manufacturing violations to make store-brand drugs that compete with the likes of Motrin and Tums. 

Today on the podcast, host David Gura speaks with national health care reporter Anna Edney about her new research into the factories making tainted drugs. She reveals that one pharmacy chain has had nearly double the recalls of its closest competitor – and the loophole that shielded all of these pharmacy chains from liability.

Read more: Dozens of CVS Generic Drug Recalls Expose Link to Tainted Factories

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As Ukraine’s war against Russia drags on, the country has found itself engaged in the kind of trench warfare that once seemed unthinkable in the modern age. This kind of warfare requires very old battlefield technology — and its tearing through the US’s stockpile.

Today on the show, host David Gura speaks with Bloomberg reporters Billy House and Roxana Tiron about the World War II-era factories in America ramping up production to meet Ukraine’s ammunition needs. And he hears from Ukrainian Sergeant Andrii Shadrin about how this shortage is playing out on the frontlines.

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While President Biden meets with Europe's leaders this week, he is continuing to push for Israel and Hamas to support a cease-fire proposal. But violence is continuing to escalate on the ground in Gaza, raising questions about what it would take to end the conflict.

Today on the Big Take DC, host Saleha Mohsin speaks with Bloomberg White House correspondent Justin Sink and Israel bureau chief Ethan Bronner about the hurdles facing the proposal and what Biden and Netanyahu might do next.

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The CEO of OpenAI, Sam Altman, has become one of the most prominent leaders in the development of artificial intelligence. But some people – including current and former OpenAI employees – have questioned how trustworthy Altman is, and whether he is doing enough to inform the public about the technology.

On today’s show, Host David Gura is joined by Ellen Huet, host of Bloomberg Technology’s podcast Foundering: The OpenAI Story. Huet spent months talking to people who know Altman, including some of the world’s biggest investors, his mentors and even his sister.

Bloomberg.com subscribers can listen to the entire series of Foundering right now. Connect your subscription to Apple Podcasts for early access.

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Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party lost its majority in India’s parliament. The stunning blow is forcing Modi to rely on allies to form a government for the first time since he stormed to power a decade ago.

On today’s episode of The Big Take Asia, host K. Oanh Ha digs into India’s 2024 general election results with Bloomberg reporter Sudhi Ranjan Sen on the ground in New Delhi. And Milan Vaishnav, senior fellow and director of the South Asia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, delves into what the results mean for both India and the world. 

Read more: India Election Results

To hear more from Milan Vaishnav listen to his podcast, Grand Tamasha.

To hear more about our coverage of Narendra Modi, listen to our series, The Rise of Modi.

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People go to Miami for a lot of reasons including winter sun, Cuban food, retirement. But Bloomberg’s Denitsa Tsekova recently traveled to South Florida for something a little different: Hedge Fund Week. There, she discovered something truly shocking: some of the biggest, boldest short-sellers are abandoning their strategy.

On today’s Big Take podcast, host David Gura speaks to Denitsa about why the rise of meme stocks, a bull market, and increasing regulatory scrutiny are leading some leading investors like Jim Chanos to abandon the strategy that made them famous. And she explains why the demise of these often-reviled investors isn’t necessarily a good thing.

Read more: Short Sellers in Danger of Extinction After Crushing Stock Gains

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A race is on to map millions of farms around the globe – all in the hopes of saving the world’s forests. A new EU deforestation regulation requires companies to prove their goods don’t contain products grown on deforested land. But that’s no easy task. And billions of dollars in global trade are at stake.

On today’s Big Take podcast: Bloomberg Global Food Tsar Agnieszka de Sousa breaks down just what’s in these new rules – and why the price of everything from cocoa to coffee and lipstick to tires could rise.

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A New York jury found Donald Trump guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying business records, making him the first former US president to be convicted of a felony.

Bloomberg legal reporter David Voreacos, who has been following the case from inside the courthouse, and Washington Bureau senior editor Wendy Benjaminson join host David Gura to discuss the trial, its historic outcome and how this could shape the rest of the 2024 election cycle.

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The US government was built on a system of checks and balances. But there’s always been a tug of war over just how much power the president has — on paper and in practice.

Law professor and author Dan Farber joins Big Take DC host Saleha Mohsin on the powers and limits of the US president, how they’ve evolved since the country’s founding, and what’s at stake if a Commander-in-Chief ignores the office’s unwritten rules and precedents.

Read more: A Hidden Variable in the Presidential Race: Fears of ‘Trump Forever’

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Generative AI is back in the news – and not for a good reason. First, OpenAI made headlines after the voice it introduced as part of its latest GPT update sounded eerily like Scarlett Johansson. Then, Google’s newly-introduced “AI Overview” feature started returning some questionable results – like that eating rocks might be good for you, or that cheese can help prevent cavities. 

On today’s Big Take, host David Gura speaks to Bloomberg AI reporter Rachel Metz and Bloomberg Opinion columnist Dave Lee to get to the bottom of just what’s been happening in the world of generative AI – and what these latest headlines mean for the way we’re all getting our information now and in the future.

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All of Japan's 54 nuclear reactors were shut down after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. As the country's energy needs soar, debate is heating up over whether to bring the world’s largest nuclear plant back online.

On today’s episode of The Big Take Asia, host K. Oanh Ha speaks to Bloomberg reporter Shoko Oda about her visit to the Kashiwazaki Kariwa plant and the challenges to rebooting it.

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Google’s “moonshot” factory, dubbed “X,” encouraged researchers, engineers and developers to dream big for years – no project was too ambitious or too expensive. But recently there’s been a shift. With the tech boom in the rearview mirror, tightening budgets and the rising popularity of ChatGPT, Google has turned its focus away from chasing longshot inventions to expanding its search engine business and AI operations.

In today’s episode, Bloomberg’s Julia Love tells host Sarah Holder what this means for Google and tech innovation at large.

Read more: Google’s Moonshot Factory Falls Back Down to Earth

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South Africa is at a turning point. Thirty years after Nelson Mandela rose to power on a platform of equality, peace, and prosperity, the party he headed is facing serious challengers.

In the country’s May 29th election, the African National Congress Party, or ANC, looks poised to lose its outright majority. In today’s episode, host Sarah Holder is joined by Johannesburg-based economic and government affairs reporter Ntando Thukwana to discuss why voters are souring on the ANC – something once unthinkable for the party that lifted the country out of apartheid. 

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Trump’s 2017 tax cuts were 30 years in the making. Some expire next year, and a nasty battle is brewing over whether to renew them.

On today’s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg politics editor Laura Davison and Bipartisan Policy Center senior vice president Bill Hoagland join DC host Saleha Mohsin to break down the 2017 tax cuts, what they’ve meant for taxpayers and the US economy, and how a Biden or Trump win could affect their future.

Read more: Ultra-Rich Should Pay to Save Social Security, Swing-State Voter Poll Shows

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Netflix is the biggest paid subscription streaming service in the world. But two years ago, its dominance was in question after it reported its first subscriber decline in over a decade. So the company did something radical: it cracked down on password sharing. The man behind the move? Well, he’s now one of the most powerful people in Hollywood.

Meet Greg Peters, the co-CEO of Netflix. Bloomberg’s Lucas Shaw recently sat down with Peters for his first major print profile. He tells host  David Gura about Peters’ bold plan to transform Netflix and the way all of us watch everything from TV shows to sports.

Read more: Netflix Had a Password-Sharing Problem. Greg Peters Fixed It

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After four decades of unparalleled gains in income and wealth, China’s 1.4 billion have been hit by a series of blows: a real estate collapse, a trade war with the US, and a crackdown on entrepreneurs have stalled the country’s prosperity engine.

On today’s episode of The Big Take Asia, host K. Oanh Ha dives into how China’s slowing economy is affecting people on the ground, and how Beijing is responding to that shift. Ha talks to Bloomberg correspondent Rebecca Choong Wilkins in Hong Kong and Bloomberg’s Chief Economist Tom Orlik.

Read more: ‘Are You Better Off?’ Asking Reagan’s Question in Xi’s China

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The deaths of Iran’s president and foreign minister in a helicopter crash were followed by a declaration of an official mourning period ahead of a new election.

It also has led to new speculation about who is poised to succeed Iran’s supreme leader, which could have regional and global ramifications.

On today’s episode, hosts David Gura and Sarah Holder discuss the fallout of the president’s death with Bloomberg’s Middle East, Europe and Africa news director Rosalind Mathieson and national security editor Nick Wadhams.

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The meme stock era, led by Keith Gill, aka “Roaring Kitty,” seemed to have come and gone — until this week, when he reemerged on social media. It was enough to send shares in GameStop and AMC on a wild ride again, conjuring memories of 2021’s meme stock mania.

So what’s really going on? On today’s episode, Bloomberg’s Money Stuff columnist Matt Levine schools us in Meme Financial Markets — and breaks down for host David Gura what these wild moves mean for anyone interested in putting money in the stock market.

Read more: GameStop Is Back!?

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Team Trump is up against historic criminal trials and a failed reelection bid in 2020. Despite this, his 2024 campaign is organized, frugal – and getting results.

On today’s Big Take podcast, DC host Saleha Mohsin takes stock of the 2024 Trump campaign through the lens of his past two runs, speaking with former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci and Bloomberg politics reporter Nancy Cook.

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After Berkeley, California, became the first city in the US to ban natural gas in new buildings in 2019, it gained an unlikely opponent: the California Restaurant Association. The industry group sued the city, and kicked off a four-year-plus legal battle that ended with the city backing down. But when Bloomberg’s Ben Elgin started following the money, he found evidence that raised questions about where the association got its support. 

In today’s episode, host Sarah Holder speaks with Elgin about the fight against California gas bans and how gas companies are planning to leverage that victory nationally.

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In 2002, Narendra Modi was facing the biggest political crisis of his career. But in the aftermath of riots that left more than 1,000 people dead – most of them Muslims – he saw an opportunity to turn his fortunes around. He would go on to become one of the most powerful leaders India has seen in decades.

Host K. Oanh Ha, Bloomberg’s Sudhi Ranjan Sen and author Nilanjan Mukhophadyay trace how Modi and his government have been able to transform India into one of the fastest-growing economies in the world.

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Narendra Modi is arguably the world’s most popular politician. With nearly 1 billion Indians eligible to vote in a six-week election that concludes on June 4, Modi and his party are expected to win a majority for the third time in a row and extend their decade in power.

But there are also concerns over human rights and religious and press freedoms that many political leaders, CEOs and bankers in the West appear willing to overlook. On our first episode of The Big Take Asia, host K. Oanh Ha and Bloomberg’s Sudhi Ranjan Sen chart how Modi built up so much power over the last several decades – and why he is both a beloved and divisive figure.

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When he was first elected to lead France in 2017, President Emmanuel Macron promised nothing less than a revolution. Since then, he’s pushed through controversial pension reforms, slashed taxes, and made it easier for French companies to fire employees. Now, he’s setting his sights beyond France. 

On the sidelines of the Choose France summit in Versailles, Macron speaks to Bloomberg editor-in-chief John Micklethwait about his bold plan to transform Europe. And he issues a stark warning about what could happen if Europe’s economic growth fails to keep up – not just for the continent, but for global security.

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There are more than 100 million pieces of space trash — defunct satellites, rocket parts, dead batteries — all floating around in Earth’s orbit.

That can pose a problem in space, of course, but it’s an even bigger one when these objects re-enter the atmosphere and crash down to Earth.

On today’s episode, host David Gura speaks with Bloomberg’s space reporter Bruce Einhorn about the startups racing to clean up space, and with a Florida homeowner who found out the hard way that this problem isn’t as far away as it seems.

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The National Weather Service is predicting that vast swaths of the US will see above-average temperatures this summer. That’s weighing on the wallets of small businesses across the country, who already operate on thin profit margins.

On today’s Big Take podcast, DC host Saleha Mohsin does the math on this economic hit, hears from business owners trying to weather it, and unpacks what the government could do about it with Bloomberg economics reporter Catarina Saraiva.

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Tim Cook picked up the mantle from Steve Jobs as CEO of Apple over a decade ago and grew it into a multi-trillion dollar company. Now, as Cook nears traditional retirement age, speculation abounds about who will succeed him. 

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman joins host David Gura to discuss the challenges of replacing Cook, his potential successors and how that decision will impact one of the best-known brands in the world. 

Read more: Tim Cook Can't Run Apple Forever. Who's Next?

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“Buy Now, Pay Later” options have exploded in popularity and availability, and in the midst of stubborn inflation, Americans are even using them to buy essentials like groceries.

But not all of the BNPL providers report data like credit card companies — and no one knows exactly how much debt consumers owe.

On today’s episode, host Sarah Holder talks to reporters Paulina Cachero and Paige Smith, who tried to find out more about the size and scope of the debt.

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Bill Hwang amassed a fortune of $36 billion on Wall Street through his family office, Archegos Capital Management. But over the course of one week in 2021, the firm imploded. Federal prosecutors have since charged Hwang with 11 criminal counts, including securities fraud, wire fraud and racketeering.

Today, Bloomberg’s Sridhar Natarajan and Kathy Burton join host David Gura to discuss Hwang’s rise and fall and why his trial promises to be one of the biggest, and most interesting, in the history of Wall Street.

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