Acquired

IKEA may be the most singular company we’ve ever studied on Acquired. They’re a globally scaled, $50B annual revenue company with no direct competitors — yet have only ~5% market share. They’re one of the largest retailers in the world — yet sell only their own products. They generate a few billion in free cash flow every year — yet have no shareholders. And oh yeah, they also sell hot dogs cheaper than Costco! (Sort of.) Tune in for an episode flat-packed with counterintuitive lessons about how this folksy mail order business from the Swedish countryside came into your living rooms (and bedrooms and dining rooms and kitchens and bathrooms and patios and garages and backyards) all over the globe! Sponsors: Many thanks to our fantastic Fall ‘24 Season partners: * J.P. Morgan Payments [https://bit.ly/acquiredJPMPF244pod] * Statsig [https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig24] * Crusoe [https://bit.ly/acquiredcrusoefall24] Links: * Please take our 2024 Acquired Survey [http://acquired.fm/survey] if you have a minute. It'd mean the world to us! * The Testament of a Furniture Dealer [https://www.inter.ikea.com/en/-/media/InterIKEA/IGI/Financial%20Reports/English_The_testament_of_a_dealer_2018.pdf] * Our past episodes on Costco [https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/costco], Walmart [https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/walmart], Amazon [https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/amazon-com], LVMH [https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/lvmh] and Hermès [https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/hermes] * Worldly Partners Multi-Decade IKEA Study [https://worldlypartners.com/businesshistory] * Episode sources [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1K_E4J8aDElUg49R4lwytlI5qjalami5rVieJuVktVtY/edit?usp=sharing] Carve Outs: * Detroiters [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4779762/] * The 11-inch iPad Pro [https://www.apple.com/ipad-pro/] * The QB School [https://www.youtube.com/c/theqbschool] * Ice Cube at the World Series [https://youtu.be/C-Cv9z86cOE?si=lknKUOgzst4HTW2X] More Acquired: * Get email updates [https://www.acquired.fm/email] with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes * Join the Slack [http://acquired.fm/slack] * Subscribe to ACQ2 [https://pod.link/acquiredlp] * Check out the latest swag in the ACQ Merch Store [https://www.acquired.fm/store]! ‍Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.

Meta is a company everyone knows (literally, everyone). But, somehow, it’s also a company that few people feel they actually understand. Their products are used by more humans than any other’s in history — almost half of the entire world’s population daily. But… what is Meta? Why do they do what they do? How do they do what they do? Ask ten people and you’ll likely get ten very different sets of answers. Today, we dive deeper than we’ve ever gone trying to find Acquired’s answers to those questions. And after months of research and 6+ hours of incredible stories about how they (and really “they” being Mark himself) bet it all and win time and time again in the face of overwhelming odds, we arrive at our answers. Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Threads, AI, Oculus, Orion, it’s all here. Tune in for one of the greatest corporate stories of all time: Meta, a Mark Zuckerberg Production. Sponsors: Many thanks to our fantastic Fall ‘24 Season partners: * J.P. Morgan Payments [https://bit.ly/acquiredJPMPF243pod] * Statsig [https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig24] * Crusoe [https://bit.ly/acquiredcrusoefall24] * Huntress [https://bit.ly/acqhuntress] Links: * Please take our 2024 Acquired Survey [https://acquired.fm/survey] if you have a minute. It'd mean the world to us! https://acquired.fm/survey [https://acquired.fm/survey] * Our past episodes on Instagram [https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/episode-2-instagram], WhatsApp [https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/whatsapp], Oculus [https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/episode-35-oculus], Snapchat [https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/episode-12-snapchat], the Snap IPO [https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/episode-32-the-snap-inc-ipo], TikTok [https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/tiktok], NVIDIA [https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/nvidia-the-gpu-company-1993-2006], Microsoft [https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/microsoft], and the Mark Zuckerberg Interview [https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/the-mark-zuckerberg-interview] * Worldly Partners: Meta multi-decade study [https://worldlypartners.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Meta-Platforms-1.pdf] * Episode sources [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WpAkeS83tKDhFbGAE_Ifov7FjXaVognwEvClaMXzJZ8/edit?usp=sharing] Carve Outs: * Ben Cohen’s piece on NotebookLM [https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/google-notebooklm-ai-podcast-deep-dive-audio-c30a06b3] * Mr. McMahon [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt33301469/] * The Dwarkesh Podcast [https://www.dwarkeshpatel.com] More Acquired: * Get email updates [https://www.acquired.fm/email] with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes * Join the Slack [http://acquired.fm/slack] * Subscribe to ACQ2 [https://pod.link/acquiredlp] * Check out the latest swag in the ACQ Merch Store [https://www.acquired.fm/store]! ‍Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.

Here it is: the complete video of the most unbelievable night of Acquired’s nine-year life… our sold out live show at the Chase Center in San Francisco. We joked during the months (months!) of preparation leading up to this event that it was like planning a wedding for 6,000 Acquired fans, and the guest list included Jamie Dimon, Daniel Ek, Emily Chang, Jensen Huang and Mark Zuckerberg… no pressure! But thanks to our amazing partnership with J.P. Morgan Payments, together we were able to make something incredible. Tune in and enjoy the celebration! Sponsors: Many thanks to our fantastic Fall ‘24 Season partners: * J.P. Morgan Payments [https://bit.ly/acquiredJPMPF242pod] * Statsig [https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig24] * Crusoe [https://bit.ly/acquiredcrusoefall24] Links: * Mike Taylor [https://open.spotify.com/artist/30ejUciK31BCg0IVCbt1dW], the truly incomparable performer of Who Got the Truth? * Mike Amiri [https://amiri.com] (who designed Mark’s shirt) More Acquired: * Get email updates [https://www.acquired.fm/email] with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes * Join the Slack [http://acquired.fm/slack] * Subscribe to ACQ2 [https://pod.link/acquiredlp] * Check out the latest swag in the ACQ Merch Store [https://www.acquired.fm/store]! Photo Credit: Mark Zuckerberg by Jeff Sainlar / Meta ‍Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.

Mark is the iconic founder CEO of our time. At Chase Center on September 10, 2024, he did an unprecedented thing: a live conversation in front of 6,000 people on Meta’s company strategy, sharing stories from early Facebook history, and his thoughts on the future of AI, VR, and AR. Mark was remarkably candid in our discussion, and gave us a window into his real and intense daily demeanor leading Meta. (And his other life endeavors!) We can't wait to release the complete video of the whole night, including our surprise conversations with Daniel Ek, Emily Chang, and cameo appearances from Jensen Huang and Mike Taylor (the incredible singer of “Who Got the Truth?”). That’s coming in a couple weeks, but for now: enjoy this conversation with Mark Zuckerberg. Sponsors: Many thanks to our fantastic Fall ‘24 Season partners: * J.P. Morgan Payments [https://bit.ly/acquiredJPMPF241pod] * Statsig [https://bit.ly/acquiredstatsig24] * Crusoe [https://bit.ly/acquiredcrusoefall24] Links: * Mike Amiri [https://amiri.com] (who designed Mark’s shirt!) More Acquired: * Get email updates [https://www.acquired.fm/email] with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes * Join the Slack [http://acquired.fm/slack] * Subscribe to ACQ2 [https://pod.link/acquiredlp] * Check out the latest swag in the ACQ Merch Store [https://www.acquired.fm/store]! Photo Credit: Mark Zuckerberg by Jeff Sainlar / Meta ‍Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.

Summer greetings from Acquired! Two items for this “mini-episode”: 1. Tickets are now available [http://acquired.fm/sf] for our live show at Chase Center in San Francisco, with special guests including Mark Zuckerberg (!). The show is Tuesday, September 10th, with doors opening at 5 PM for an hour of mingling with other listeners before the show starts at 6 PM. Huge thank you to the J.P. Morgan Payments team for being our incredible partner in making this happen. Tickets are almost gone so make sure you grab one ASAP — you don’t want to miss this night! https://acquired.fm/sf [https://acquired.fm/sf] 2. We also figured this is a good excuse to update you all on the state of Acquired — after an incredible first half of the year (including WSJ’s profile of the show [https://www.wsj.com/business/media/acquired-podcast-tech-business-history-strategy-90e73603]) we are taking the rest of the summer off to recharge, parent our young children, and prepare for the big night in September. We hope you’re having a great summer, and we’ll see you live in the fall! Carve Outs: * Thule Urban Glide 3 [https://www.thule.com/en-us/strollers/jogging-strollers/thule-urban-glide-3-_-10101972] * Disney’s Aulani Resort [https://www.disneyaulani.com] * Meller sunglasses [https://mellerbrand.com] * Quarterback [https://www.netflix.com/title/81482895] and Receiver [https://www.netflix.com/title/81733809] on Netflix More Acquired: * Subscribe to ACQ2 [https://pod.link/acquiredlp] * Join the Slack [http://acquired.fm/slack]: https://acquired.fm/slack [https://acquired.fm/slack] ‍Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.