Business Wars

It's September 2015 and Snapchat has just hit on a game-changer for the young company: filters that augment users' faces. Thanks to some celebrity love, the new feature becomes wildly popular. But Mark Zuckerberg is watching closely, and acquires a competing startup. Then, Zuckerberg switches up his strategy. His new philosophy: Don't be too proud to copy. Unfortunately for Spiegel and Murphy, this is going to have devastating consequences...

It’s November 2013, and Mark Zuckerberg is about to make Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy an offer he thinks they can't refuse. But when Spiegel and Murphy do the unimaginable, it prompts Facebook to compete — by copying. Snapchat is gathering steam, but data leaks are hurting the company's credibility and Spiegel's  reputation. To survive, they're going to have to do the hardest thing for a startup — grow up...

It's the new millennium and Mark Zuckerberg is bored in high school. He's a prodigious student so smart he's already taking graduate level coding classes at Mercy College. Soon, he's going to build a product that will change the Internet forever. Now he just has to graduate high school. Evan Spiegel, meanwhile, grows up rich and spoiled. He parties his way through high school and lands in a fraternity at Stanford. But things are about to get serious for Spiegel as Zuckerberg reaches out...

It’s April 2011, and Evan Spiegel is about to present his class project. Right now, it's called Picaboo. Soon, it's going to become Snapchat. But for Spiegel, this is more important than grades--at stake are potential investors and the future of communication as we know it.  Mark Zuckerberg, meanwhile, is sitting on the world's biggest social networking site, boasting 500 million users. But he knows his success depends on staying relevant. To do so, he's going to have to compete with Snapchat...

World Wrestling Entertainment is the dominant name in professional wrestling but new promotions are now challenging the WWE’s dominance. We conclude our series on WWF vs WCW with David Shoemaker, author of The Squared Circle: Life, Death, and Professional Wrestling. Shoemaker joins us to talk about whether or not these new companies can succeed against Vince McMahon's behemoth and what it means to be the best professional wrestler in the world. Support us by supporting our sponsors!

It’s 1998 and the slugfest between Vince McMahon’s WWF and Ted Turner’s WCW is reaching a critical juncture. McMahon’s on a mission to pull wrestling fans back to his TV shows with a strategy focused on maximum controversy. And to help him in his mission, he’s getting back-up from a high-flying TV executive and a bunch of Wall Street bankers. WCW chief Eric Bischoff is determined to stop WWF’s comeback at all costs...

It’s 1996 and with Monday Nitro topping the TV ratings, WCW is out to end WWF’s time as the biggest player in the wrestling business. It’s plotting to establish two brands: one that WCW boss Eric Bischoff hopes can suck away WWF’s family audience, another that will seek to capture the young males who crave more violent and outrageous entertainment than the WWF offers. But Vince McMahon has a plan of his own. He’s going to push the WWF in a new direction by embracing controversy...

It’s 1995 and the Monday Night Wars are underway. WCW’s new show Monday Nitro is grappling with the WWF’s Monday Night Raw to win TV viewers’ attention. WCW isn’t pulling its punches either. Under the command of Eric Bischoff, WCW is dropping spoiler bombs, luring away WWF’s top wrestlers and trashing the WWF brand. And as WCW gains momentum, Bischoff is plotting a killer blow – a shock role reversal that will force WWF boss Vince McMahon to rethink how his wrestling promotion works...

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It’s 1994 and WCW is stepping up its game. To get the jump on WWF, Ted Turner is writing big checks to steal away the WWF’s biggest stars and sponsors. And as WCW’s star power increases, so does its popularity with wrestling fans. But the WWF is in no position to fight back. It’s struggling to keep the lights on, there’s discontent among its roster of wrestlers, and Vince McMahon is preoccupied with staying out of prison. And now Turner wants to deliver a killer blow...