Podcasts about billion dollar whale

Chapter 1 What's Billion Dollar Whale by Tom Wright"Billion Dollar Whale: The Man Who Fooled Wall Street, Hollywood, and the World" is a nonfiction book co-authored by Tom Wright and Bradley Hope, detailing the infamous 1MDB scandal. The book chronicles the rise and fall of Malaysian financier Jho Low, who allegedly masterminded a massive embezzlement scheme involving the Malaysian government, diverting billions of dollars from a state investment fund, 1MDB. Wright and Hope expose how Low manipulated influential figures across finance and entertainment, including Hollywood stars and major banks, to cement his lavish lifestyle fueled by the stolen funds. Through meticulous investigative reporting, the authors reveal the intricate web of deceit that captivated global attention, showcasing the impact of greed and corruption at the highest levels of power. The book is an engaging read that highlights the lavish spending sprees, extravagant parties, and the eventual unraveling of the scheme leading to international investigations.Chapter 2 Billion Dollar Whale by Tom Wright Summary"Billion Dollar Whale: The Man Who Fooled Wall Street, Hollywood, and the World" is a non-fiction book co-authored by Tom Wright and Bradley Hope that tells the fascinating and shocking true story of the 1MDB scandal, a massive financial fraud in Malaysia that involved billions of dollars. Overview:The book centers around Jho Low, a Malaysian financier who masterminded the largest theft in the history of finance, stealing an estimated $4.5 billion from the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), a state investment fund. Low's operation involved a complex series of financial maneuvers that fooled governments, banks, and high-profile celebrities. Key Themes:Fraud and Deception: The book delves into how Low used deception and manipulation to create an elaborate scheme that defrauded investors and institutions worldwide.Corruption and Power: Wright and Hope examine the interconnectedness of power and money, detailing how Low cultivated relationships with influential figures including politicians, celebrities, and business tycoons to further his schemes.Global Finance and Regulation: The story reveals the weaknesses in global financial systems that allowed such a massive fraud to go undetected for years, raising questions about the effectiveness of regulatory bodies and financial institutions.Political Ramifications: The book illustrates how the scandal affected Malaysian politics, contributing to the downfall of then-Prime Minister Najib Razak and sparking a global investigation into corruption. Structure:The narrative is structured chronologically, tracing the rise of Jho Low from a wealthy Malaysian family to an international financier who lived a life of luxury. It includes gripping anecdotes about extravagant parties, high-profile investments, and the eventual fallout as the scheme unraveled. Impact:"Billion Dollar Whale" not only tells the story of an audacious fraud but also serves as a cautionary tale about greed and the fragility of the financial system. It highlights the need for greater oversight and accountability in international finance, illustrating how easily trust can be exploited. Conclusion:The book concludes with the ongoing repercussions of the 1MDB scandal and the ongoing efforts to recover the stolen funds, emphasizing the complexity and global nature of financial crimes in the modern world.Chapter 3 Billion Dollar Whale AuthorTom Wright is an investigative journalist known for his work with prominent publications such as The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. He co-authored the book "Billion Dollar Whale: The Man Who Fooled Wall Street, Hollywood, and the World" with fellow journalist Bradley Hope. The book was published on August 13, 2018, and it details the elaborate fraud involving...

A Malaysian government fund – set up to boost the country's economy – becomes one of the biggest frauds in history!Billions of dollars were siphoned from the state purse and funnelled through shell companies, banks, and other financial institutions worldwide.While this scandal is no longer making headlines, it doesn't mean it's over...We are joined by investigative journalist and co-author of Billion Dollar Whale, Bradley Hope, to explore: What does the 1MB scandal tell us about how the world really works? Bradley was the keynote speaker at our recent live event at the Ministry of Sound in London, where the audience hung on his every word about big finance and corruption. Now, we're bringing that conversation to you!Producer: Matthew Dunne-MilesEditor: Dominic DelargyEngineer: Nicholas Thon, Robin Day____________________________________The Laundry podcast: Dive deep into the intricacies of financial crime, AML (anti-money laundering), compliance, sanctions, and the ever-evolving landscape of financial regulation.Hosted by Marit Rødevand, Fredrik Riiser, and Robin Lycka – this podcast features renowned experts from banking, fintech, compliance, and investigative journalism.Together, they shed light on the industry's trending topics, analyse mainstream news through a compliance-focused lens, and connect the fight against financial crime to its real-world consequences and ramifications.The Laundry is proudly produced by Strise, the AML Automation Cloud.Get in touch at: laundry@strise.aiSubscribe to our newsletter, Fresh Laundry, here.The views, opinions, and statements expressed by guests of this podcast are solely their own and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, or positions of the podcast hosts, The Laundry team, or Strise. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On Monday, Malaysia's High Court heard how a staggering $2.4 million made its way from the coffers of the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund, 1MDB, into the bank accounts of Kim Kardashian and Pharell Williams – all via fugitive businessman Jho Low. This week on Whale Hunting, Bradley Hope and Tom Wright get together to discuss the latest developments in the ever-evolving 1MDB saga. They explain how celebrities and music stars were pulled into Jho Low's orbit by big money, and discuss a long-overdue legal breakthrough in Switzerland, where two key players have been sentenced for their roles in the scandal. Mentioned in this week's episode: Billion Dollar Whale, the story of 1MDB by Tom Wright and Bradley Hope:  https://amzn.to/44bJf9I The sentencing of Tarek Obaid and Patrick Mahoney, PetroSaudi executives: https://www.ft.com/content/6c70d17b-4546-462d-9d86-99e1c50bf9cd  The Star's coverage of Kim Kardashian and Pharrell Williams' connections to 1MDB https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2024/09/09/1mdb-trial-staggering-usd24mil-went-into-kim-kardashian-and-pharell-williamss-bank-accounts Check My Steezo - From "22 Jump Street" Soundtrack (the Jho Low verse starts at 1.59 for those interested): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcnMvZC6pb0 For more from Whale Hunting, make sure to follow the podcast – and subscribe to our newsletter at whalehunting.projectbrazen.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

SHOW NOTES 0.25 - Who is Tom & where is Michael? 1.46 - Dive in with a Billion Dollar Whale 8.06 - The mainstream media problem 18.02 - The almost unbelievable stories Tom is working on 27.17 - The attention deficit problem with content 32.32 - Vishal concludes with something wise The perspectives shared in the Unreasonable Podcast belong to the individuals and are not representative of any firm. This is not investment advice. Follow us here for more content: https://www.linkedin.com/company/unreasonable-podcast

(0:00) Intro.(1:27) About the podcast sponsor: The American College of Governance Counsel.(2:14) Start of interview.(3:30) Mary's "origin story." (5:32) Her start as a whistleblower lawyer at Philips & Cohen. The advent of US Whistleblower reward programs (CFTC, SEC, IRS, Transportation, Treasury, and DOJ soon).(7:50) The Theranos case and her representation of Tyler Schulz.(14:02) More about the SEC Whistleblower Program. (24:52) The Facebook (Meta) case and her representation of Frances Haugen. On the rise of whistleblowers in Silicon Valley: The Tech Worker Handbook (created by Ifeoma Ozoma, a whistleblower at Pinterest). The Silence No More Act (CA SB 331). Reference to Mark MacGann, the Uber whistleblower.(31:00) On the health hazards to whistleblowers. Reference to New England Journal of Medicine article on impact in whistle-blowers in cases of major health care fraud. Unfortunate death of Boeing Whistleblower. The Personal Toll of Whistle-Blowing (New Yorker Magazine).(37:52) On FCPA cases, and role of whistleblowers in foreign corruption enforced by the SEC and DOJ. Reference to the Billion Dollar Whale book.(47:19) Future trends on whistleblower cases and corporate governance practices (elevation of Chief Compliance Officers).(50:50)  Advice to board members: embrace whistleblowers and encourage speaking up. Reference to this study: Evidence on the Use and Efficacy of Internal Whistleblowing Systems.(52:37) Books that have greatly influenced her life: children books by William Steig (inspired her parenting).(53:17) Her mentor: Lisa Foster.(54:53)  Quotes that she thinks of often or lives her life by: "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." (Martin Luther King, Jr)(55:53) An unusual habit or absurd thing that she loves.(56:18) The living person she most admires: whistleblowers generally, "I call them Truth Tellers and Up Standers".Mary Inman is a partner at Whistleblower Partners LLP, a new boutique law firm specializing exclusively in representing whistleblowers under the various U.S. whistleblower reward programs.  You can follow Evan on social media at:Twitter: @evanepsteinLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/epsteinevan/ Substack: https://evanepstein.substack.com/__You can join as a Patron of the Boardroom Governance Podcast at:Patreon: patreon.com/BoardroomGovernancePod__Music/Soundtrack (found via Free Music Archive): Seeing The Future by Dexter Britain is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License

"The Man Who Fooled Wall Street, Hollywood, and the World"

Rachel and Simon speak with Sarah Braybrooke, publishing director at Ithaka Press, an imprint of Bonnier Books UK. Sarah started her career in publicity, first at Profile, then at Scribe, an independent publishing house based in Australia. She stayed with Scribe for 12 years, becoming managing director of Scribe UK in 2017, and publisher in 2020. During her time there, Sarah worked on titles including "Gut", a bestselling science book about the digestive system, and "Billion Dollar Whale", an investigation into the 1MDB scandal. She moved to Ithaka in 2022. We spoke to Sarah about getting started in publishing, the differences between the Australian and British industries and setting up her list (which includes the new "Always Take Notes" book). Book tickets to our live recording in London on October 25th with Nicholas Shakespeare here.  “Always Take Notes: Advice From Some Of The World's Greatest Writers” - a book drawing on our podcast interviews - is published by Ithaka Press. You can order it via Amazon, Bookshop.org, Hatchards or Waterstones. You can find us online at ⁠alwaystakenotes.com⁠, on Twitter @takenotesalways and on Instagram @alwaystakenotes. Our crowdfunding page is ⁠patreon.com/alwaystakenotes⁠. Always Take Notes is presented by Simon Akam and Rachel Lloyd, and produced by Artemis Irvine. Our music is by Jessica Dannheisser and our logo was designed by James Edgar.

Felix Salmon and Elizabeth Spiers speak with Tom Wright, the author of Billion Dollar Whale to discuss Malaysian fraudster Jho Low. They talk about how he used political connections to live a lavish lifestyle and buy Leonardo DiCaprio an Oscar.  If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get an ad-free experience across the network and an additional segment of our show every week. You'll also be supporting the work we do here on Slate Money. Sign up now at slate.com/moneyplus to help support our work.  Podcast production by Patrick Fort. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Felix Salmon and Elizabeth Spiers speak with Tom Wright, the author of Billion Dollar Whale to discuss Malaysian fraudster Jho Low. They talk about how he used political connections to live a lavish lifestyle and buy Leonardo DiCaprio an Oscar.  If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get an ad-free experience across the network and an additional segment of our show every week. You'll also be supporting the work we do here on Slate Money. Sign up now at slate.com/moneyplus to help support our work.  Podcast production by Patrick Fort. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Felix Salmon and Elizabeth Spiers speak with Tom Wright, the author of Billion Dollar Whale to discuss Malaysian fraudster Jho Low. They talk about how he used political connections to live a lavish lifestyle and buy Leonardo DiCaprio an Oscar.  If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get an ad-free experience across the network and an additional segment of our show every week. You'll also be supporting the work we do here on Slate Money. Sign up now at slate.com/moneyplus to help support our work.  Podcast production by Patrick Fort. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Felix Salmon and Elizabeth Spiers speak with Tom Wright, the author of Billion Dollar Whale to discuss Malaysian fraudster Jho Low. They talk about how he used political connections to live a lavish lifestyle and buy Leonardo DiCaprio an Oscar.  If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get an ad-free experience across the network and an additional segment of our show every week. You'll also be supporting the work we do here on Slate Money. Sign up now at slate.com/moneyplus to help support our work.  Podcast production by Patrick Fort. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Felix Salmon and Elizabeth Spiers speak with Tom Wright, the author of Billion Dollar Whale to discuss Malaysian fraudster Jho Low. They talk about how he used political connections to live a lavish lifestyle and buy Leonardo DiCaprio an Oscar.  If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get an ad-free experience across the network and an additional segment of our show every week. You'll also be supporting the work we do here on Slate Money. Sign up now at slate.com/moneyplus to help support our work.  Podcast production by Patrick Fort. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Patrick Walls is the founder of Starter Story, an outlet that's published thousands of case studies on how entrepreneurs built successful businesses. At one point, he was selling upward of $50k a month in sponsorships.   But earlier this year, he not only stopped selling advertising, he also switched from recurring subscriptions to a one-time payment that gave customers permanent access to his content archives. The move helped him grow to $1.5 million in annual revenue.   In a recent interview, he talked about why he got tired of chasing sponsors and his motivations for switching from subscriptions to one-time payments.   I also spoke to Bradley Hope, a former Wall Street Journal reporter and co-author of the New York Times bestselling book Billion Dollar Whale. In 2021, he co-founded Project Brazen, a production studio that creates narrative nonfiction across podcasts, books, newsletters, TV, and film.    He answered questions about how he chooses narrative projects to fund and the process for adapting a single piece of IP into multiple formats.  

The fugitive at the centre of Malaysia's sovereign fund scandal, is in China. In this Exchange podcast Billion Dollar Whale co-author Bradley Hope explains why Beijing may soon give him up and how his return could be difficult for all involved, from global banks to celebrities. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

SHOW NOTESGrab your show merchandise! And Miko Merch! https://the-jay-sheldon-show.printify.meNEW! Check out our special, limited time, AI Art Gallery. Limited Editions now!https://the-jay-sheldon-show-art.printify.me/ Keep your online activity hidden with the best VPN. NordVPN keeps no logs and encrypts your traffic, so your data stays safe and private.Use our special link and get this incredible deal! Get 3 months with  59% off NordVPN with this special link! https://bit.ly/JaySheldonNordVPN Get healthy with all natural fruits and veggies! Start today! Brickhouse Nutrition https://bit.ly/JaySheldonBrickhouse Learn or teach! Get creative! Check out Skillshare! 30% OFF by using our special link! https://bit.ly/JaySheldonSkillShareOr use this link to get ONE WEEK FREE! http://skillshare.eqcm.net/c/3599931/1656998/4650 Miko recommends Barkbox! Get a FREE extra month of Barkbox! http://www.barkbox.com/MIKOOR Get DOUBLE your first box FREE https://tinyurl.com/bdfvxvfk In today's show:https://whalehunting.projectbrazen.com/jho-low-arrest-in-play/ https://www.todayonline.com/world/us-rapper-says-msian-fugitive-jho-low-paid-s27-million-obama-photo-not-campaign-donation-2155731 https://www.sciencenews.org/article/rice-agriculture-feeds-world-climate-change-drought-flood-risk https://www.euronews.com/green/2021/04/28/what-s-worse-for-the-climate-crisis-your-child-or-your-pet https://redstate.com/nick-arama/2023/04/20/breaking-charges-against-alec-baldwin-to-be-dismissed-due-to-startling-new-info-n734207 https://redstate.com/bobhoge/2023/04/20/dan-bongino-out-at-fox-news-says-its-a-sad-day-n734185 https://www.dailywire.com/news/aoc-reintroduces-the-green-new-deal https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/healthcare/nevada-senate-bill-legalize-medically-assisted-suicide https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10162091307715701&set=a.61480235700  Please subscribe to the podcast at:  iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-jay-sheldon-show/id1568836253 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2HNQU8yshneTCb0K1Q6cS0  Buy my book!https://www.facebook.com/WillyandTheWarthog https://www.amazon.com/dp/1320055001/ref=cm_sw_r_fa_dp_VjSStb0E2RTDG26W  Social MediaTwitter:https://twitter.com/ItsJaySheldon Facebook @jay.sheldon Instagram @ItsJaySheldon Email us at show@jaysheldon.comDISCLAIMER: The opinions expressed on this show are the host's and do not reflect the opinions of guests or advertisers. This show does not promote drug use or violence in any manner, but we do promote free thinking and the absolute freedom of speech.

Bradley Hope (@bradleyhope) is the co-founder of journalism studio Project Brazen and the New York Times bestselling coauthor of Billion Dollar Whale and Blood and Oil. His latest book is The Rebel and the Kingdom: The True Story of the Secret Mission to Overthrow the North Korean Regime. What We Discuss with Bradley Hope: Was a 2019 incident at the North Korean Embassy in Madrid an intelligence-gathering raid by political dissidents, or a secret defection operation gone wrong? Why the largest resistance groups committed to helping people defect from North Korea are in the United States. How North Korea got away with the assassination of Kim Jong-un's half-brother Kim Jong-nam without facing any real consequences on the international stage, and what this not-so-subtle message conveys to anyone thinking of acting against the regime — from anywhere in the world. Will there ever come a day when China ceases tolerating North Korea's theatrics? The illicit means by which Kim Jong-un's regime richly bankrolls itself in a starving, bankrupt country. And much more... Full show notes and resources can be found here: jordanharbinger.com/820 This Episode Is Brought To You By Our Fine Sponsors: jordanharbinger.com/deals Sign up for Six-Minute Networking — our free networking and relationship development mini course — at jordanharbinger.com/course! Like this show? Please leave us a review here — even one sentence helps! Consider including your Twitter handle so we can thank you personally!

Watch This Interview Live: Click Here We all know the Russians spy on us and that we spy on the Chinese but what most people are shocked to find out is that major corporations are spending hundreds of millions of dollars a year to spy on each other.  RUSE is a juicy, captivating look into the dark underbelly of corporate espionage and cybercrime as companies attack each other at their very core. Pulling no punches, RUSE provides a never before seen look into the hidden life of a corporate spy. Robert Kerbeck's true crime memoir about his career as the world's #1 corporate spy, RUSE: Lying the American Dream from Hollywood to Wall Street, has received praise from Frank Abagnale (Catch Me If You Can), ex-CIA Agent Valerie Plame (Fair Game), and Bradley Hope (Billion Dollar Whale). RUSE is currently in development for a TV series with Silver Lining Entertainment (Showtime's Your Honor). He has been featured on many of the most popular podcasts and radio shows in the country. Buy the Book: Click here Do you or someone you love Not lasting as long as they should in the bedroom?

Robert Kerbeck's true crime memoir about his career as the world's #1 corporate spy, RUSE: Lying the American Dream from Hollywood to Wall Street, has received praise from Frank Abagnale (Catch Me If You Can), ex-CIA Agent Valerie Plame (Fair Game), and Bradley Hope (Billion Dollar Whale). RUSE is currently in development for a TV series with Silver Lining Entertainment (Showtime's Your Honor). Robert's previous book Malibu Burning: The Real Story Behind LA's Most Devastating Wildfire, won a 2021 SoCal Journalism Award, an IPPY Award, and the Best of LA Award. His writing has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angeles Magazine, Shondaland, and Lithub's Crime Reads. He has been featured on many of the most popular podcasts and radio shows in the country. https://www.robertkerbeck.com/Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/shelor-select/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

In 2019, the activist Adrian Hong led a daring raid on North Korea's Embassy in Madrid, stealing hard drives and documents and apparently assaulting embassy staff. Initial news reports suggested that Free Joseon, Hong's human rights activist group that advocates for overthrowing the Kim regime in Pyongyang, was behind the raid. But it soon became clear that it was far more complex than a simple smash-and-grab, possibly even involving the CIA and a fake kidnapping attempt. In his new book, “The Rebel and the Kingdom,” Bradley Hope attempts to unpack the events of that February day by focusing on the ringleader himself. And he joins the NK News podcast this week to discuss his findings — from Hong's upbringing and background in DPRK human rights to how he put together Free Joseon and the continuing fallout from the Madrid raid. Hope also touches on the plight of Christopher Ahn, the daring escape of Kim Jong Un's nephew from Macau and more. Bradley Hope is an award-winning author based in London. He is the New York Times bestselling co-author of “Billion Dollar Whale” (2018) and “Blood and Oil” (2020). About the podcast: The North Korea News Podcast is a weekly podcast hosted by Jacco Zwetsloot (@JaccoZed) exclusively for NK News, covering all things DPRK — from news to extended interviews with leading experts and analysts in the field, along with insight from our very own journalists.

Greed. Scandal. Fraud. Our investigative journalism miniseries continues with an epic true story of one of the biggest, most harrowing heists in history.This hair-raising episode welcomes Bradley Hope, one of the co-authors of Billion Dollar Whale: The Man Who Fooled Wall Street, Hollywood, and the World.This amazing book is available in all good stores, and if you still can't get enough financial crime literature, we've identified our top picks here.To learn more about the projects Bradley is developing, visit the Project Brazen website.

Bradley Hope and Tom Wright are former journalists at The Wall Street Journal, the co-founders of journalism studio Project Brazen, and the co-authors of the book Billion Dollar Whale. Their new podcast is Corinna and The King. Hope's new book is “The Rebel and the Kingdom.” “We're a little bit skeptical of just jumping into the big story of the day with something that doesn't feel differentiated. It needs to have character, storytelling — it can't just be a great topic, or an important topic, even.” Show notes: @bradleyhope @TomWrightAsia Hope's Wall Street Journal archive Wright's Wall Street Journal archive 06:00 Billion Dollar Whale (Hachette Books • 2019) 09:00 Project Brazen 10:00 Blood and Oil (Hope and Justin Sheck • Hachette Books • 2020) 19:00 Fat Leonard (Project Brazen • 2021) 25:00 Persona: The French Deception (Evan Ratliff • Verified • 2022) 47:00 "Road Trip! American Student Joins Rebels in Fight for Qaddafi Stronghold" (Hope • The National • Aug 2011) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This very special 61st episode of the podcast features the one and only comedy legend Rick Overton (Rick's IMDb) He joins via a phone call to discuss iO West, his early standup days, the Bernie Betrayal, the plandemic and many other things.    Rick's latest special "Rick Overton's Set List": Rick Overton's Set List       Here are the clips used in the opening montage:     Rick Overton - Early Stand Up Comedy @ An Evening at the Improv   Rick Overton - Early Stand Up Comedy on An Evening at the Improv   Rick Overton HBO One Night Stand Standup Comedy   That sums it up for me - Groundhog Day (1993), bar scene   Here's the book "Billion Dollar Whale" that I mentioned: Summary Of Billion Dollar Whale: The Man Who Fooled Wall Street, Hollywood, and the World by Tom Wright and Bradley Hope   Check out my Super Awkward Fun Live Stream on YouTube: Super Awkward Fun Live Stream with Elle Latham Episode 2     Thank you so much to Rick for giving over an hour of his time to this podcast. I really appreciate it!   Thanks so much for listening! Please spread the word and leave comments if you want. Don't be shy.   Enjoy the trip down the rabbit hole and make some snacks. It's gonna be a bumpy ride...    

Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor and her husband the former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak are now convicted felons. Rosmah was found guilty on all three counts of corruption in connection with the RM1.25 billion Sarawak rural schools' solar energy project. She faces a 10-year jail sentence and a RM970 million fine, the highest for a corruption case. Tom Wright, co-author of Billion Dollar Whale, breaks down how we got here.Image credit: EPA-EFE

Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor and her husband the former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak are now convicted felons. Rosmah was found guilty on all three counts of corruption in connection with the RM1.25 billion Sarawak rural schools' solar energy project. She faces a 10-year jail sentence and a RM970 million fine, the highest for a corruption case. Tom Wright, co-author of Billion Dollar Whale, breaks down how we got here.Image credit: EPA-EFE

All eyes are on the Federal Court today as it hears former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak's appeal to quash his conviction and jail sentence in the 42 million ringgit SRC International corruption case. Tom Wright, Co-author of the Billion Dollar Whale and co-founder of Project Brazen, a journalism production studio tell us what he thinks the outcome will be and will this mark the end of his political career.

Since marketing costs are getting higher and higher, now's the time to make sure to choose the right tools that give the greatest results. In this episode, Shauli Mizrahi of Rep.AI talks all about Rep and how it helps eCommerce websites with their sales.Listen and learn in this episode!KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODERep is the first AI-powered sales associate for eCommerce websites.The costs of ad spend for eComm brands are getting higher and higher and it's increasingly becoming less profitable, making it harder for merchants to survive.Rep tries to understand which customers are about to leave your website, approaches them, and starts a conversation that fits where these customers are in the sales funnel.Merchants are given a 14-day free trial and AB tests are done to see results.Rep also tries to understand what can help customers get the right product for them.Discount offering is one of the top-selling and best-performing flows that Rep has.When a customer asks for a discount, there is a good chance that they will buy at that moment.The more products a store has, the better Rep performs. Rep is a fully-managed service. You just need to provide information and the team does all the work for you.Be the best at what you do and make it happen.Recommended App: Jira https://www.atlassian.com/software/jira Yotpo https://www.yotpo.comRecommended Audiobook: Billion Dollar Whale by Bradley Hope and Tom Wrighthttps://www.amazon.com/Billion-Dollar-Whale-audiobook/dp/B07G9JJ6TB https://www.audible.com/pd/Billion-Dollar-Whale-Audiobook/1478948000 Today's Guest:Shauli Mizrahi is a co-founder and the CTO of Rep.AI.Rep.AI is an AI-powered sales associate for eCommerce websites.Connect and learn more about Rep here:Website: https://www.hellorep.ai This month's sponsor is Rep AI. Rep is the world's first-ever AI-powered sales associate for e-commerce websites. It's a sales-focused chatbot that uses AI to automatically identify and approach disengaged customers with a contextual and personalized conversation to upgrade customer experiences and increase sales. Just like in brick-and-mortar, it recommends products, answers product-related questions, and even upsells. So hit https://hellorep.ai/upgrowth and get a 2-week free trial + 50% off for your first 12 months.We love our podcast community and listeners so much that we have decided to offer a free eCommerce Growth Plan for your brand! To learn more and how we can help, click here:upgrowthcommerce.com/growIf you've been paying attention and your brand is ready to GROW, apply now to be the one new brand we take on this month!https://upgrowthcommerce.com/apply

Visit Video Husky: https://bit.ly/vh-simon-owens-pod   During their combined 20 years at The Wall Street Journal, Bradley Hope and Tom Wright covered some of the most momentous stories to hit the financial world, but none were as consequential to their personal careers as their reporting on Jho Low, a Wharton grad who was caught stealing billions of dollars from investment funds. Their dogged investigation led to the publication of the book Billion Dollar Whale, an instant bestseller that transformed them into A-list writers, on par with Michael Lewis and Malcolm Gladwell.   Rather than simply returning to their newspaper jobs, they partnered on a new media entity called Project Brazen. Unlike most digital media companies, Project Brazen has no ambitions to churn out large quantities of web content. Instead, it only focuses on ambitious, investigative storytelling that can be adapted into multiple mediums that include podcasts, books, film, and television.   How does Project Brazen go about vetting and staffing these projects, and what are the best ways to monetize serialized storytelling? Those are some of the questions I put to co-founder Bradley Hope in today's interview.   

In the 2010s, US Navy officers took cash, prostitutes and more from a Malaysian defense contractor known as Fat Leonard. To tell a story that bears more than a hint of resemblance to the Jho Low 1MDB scandal, award-winning journalist Tom Wright (@tomwrightasia) joins me to discuss Fat Leonard's relationship with the military and how it all came crashing down.Tom is the host of the podcast series FAT LEONARD, and previously wrote a New York Times bestseller on Jho Low titled Billion Dollar Whale.We discussHow Fat Leonard managed to earn millions through US Navy contractsThe fate of the Navy officers who got mixed up with himThe secret orgy recordings now in China's possessionWhich Chinese historical events deserve the Death of Stalin treatmentSupport ChinaTalk on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ChinaTalkCheck out the Substack: https://chinatalk.substack.com/Outtro music: V - Swizz Beats by Lil Jon feat. Jho Low (unreleased)Bonus: The song Tom mentions about Jho Low and Leonardo DiCaprio is Check My Steezo by Blind Scuba Divers, from the 22 Jump Street official soundtrackhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcnMvZC6pb0 Get bonus content on Patreon See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In the 2010s, US Navy officers took cash, prostitutes and more from a Malaysian defense contractor known as Fat Leonard. To tell a story that bears more than a hint of resemblance to the Jho Low 1MDB scandal, award-winning journalist Tom Wright (@tomwrightasia) joins me to discuss Fat Leonard's relationship with the military and how it all came crashing down.Tom is the host of the podcast series FAT LEONARD, and previously wrote a New York Times bestseller on Jho Low titled Billion Dollar Whale.We discussHow Fat Leonard managed to earn millions through US Navy contractsThe fate of the Navy officers who got mixed up with himThe secret orgy recordings now in China's possessionWhich Chinese historical events deserve the Death of Stalin treatmentSupport ChinaTalk on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ChinaTalkCheck out the Substack: https://chinatalk.substack.com/Outtro music: V - Swizz Beats by Lil Jon feat. Jho Low (unreleased)Bonus: The song Tom mentions about Jho Low and Leonardo DiCaprio is Check My Steezo by Blind Scuba Divers, from the 22 Jump Street official soundtrackhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcnMvZC6pb0 Get bonus content on Patreon See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Tom Wright (@tomwrightasia) is an award-winning journalist, co-author of the New York Times bestseller Billion Dollar Whale: The Man Who Fooled Wall Street, Hollywood, and the World, co-founder of journalism studio and production company Project Brazen, and host of the Fat Leonard podcast. What We Discuss with Tom Wright: A deep dive into the shadowy world of corruption, money laundering, and embezzling by the shadiest shysters among the elite. How does an investigative journalist uncover misdeeds by the rich and powerful without winding up on someone's hit list? How did Jho Low, a charisma-free, second-generation fraudster, siphon billions of dollars from a Malaysian sovereign wealth fund -- with the aid of Goldman Sachs -- right under the nose of global financial industry watchdogs? How many ways are there to launder this kind of money without being detected by the authorities? Where is Jho Low today? And much more... Full show notes and resources can be found here: jordanharbinger.com/602 Sign up for Six-Minute Networking -- our free networking and relationship development mini course -- at jordanharbinger.com/course! Miss the show we did with Shark Tank heavyweight Mark Cuban? Catch up with episode 362: Mark Cuban | Tales from the Shark Side here! Like this show? Please leave us a review here -- even one sentence helps! Consider including your Twitter handle so we can thank you personally!

Herkese tekrardan merhaba, Bu bölümde Billion Dollar Whale isimli kitap ve Ömer'in İsviçre, Fransa, İtalya gezisinin önemli bir parçası olan CERN turu üzerine konuştuk. Hepinize keyifli dinlemeler dileriz.

House Of Cards creator Beau Willimon and his Westward producing partner Jordan Tappis have teamed up with SK Global, the co-financiers of Warner Bros.' Crazy Rich Asians franchise, to develop and produce a series based on Billion Dollar Whale. Ibrahim Sani speaks with Project Brazen's Tom Wright on his initial thoughts regarding this, as well as his latest production - the Fat Leonard Podcast.

C.J. Navas te trae, como cada día en Streaming, las principales noticias, comentarios y curiosidades del mundo de las series de televisión.Patrocinado por Hayu. Apúntate a la prueba gratuita sin compromiso en http://hayu.com- Follow Up: - Star Trek: Discovery podrá verse en España a través de Pluto.TV: https://intl.startrek.com/news/star-trek-discovery-season-four-lands-on-paramount-pluto-tv-internationally - Noticias: - Amazon y la Rueda del tiempo: ‘The Wheel Of Time' Makes Strong Debut As Amazon Prime Video Doubles Down On Genre With ‘Mass Effect' Adaptation & Prepares To Usher In ‘LOTR' – Deadline. 2 de Septiembre LOTR, cuya segunda temporada se rodará en UK. - ‘Billion Dollar Whale' Series Adaptation In Works From SK Global & Westward https://deadline.com/2021/11/billion-dollar-whale-series-adaptation-sk-global-westward-1234879245/ - ‘Super Pumped': Showtime Sets Premiere For Anthology Series From ‘Billions' Co-Creators: https://deadline.com/2021/11/super-pumped-showtime-premiere-date-trailer-series-joseph-gordon-levitt-1234879912/ - HBO Oral History Book Reveals ‘Game Of Thrones' Drama On & Off Screen – Deadline - ‘Hellbound' & ‘Arcane' Top Weekly Netflix Top Ten TV List https://deadline.com/2021/11/hellbound-arcane-top-netflix-top-ten-tv-lists-1234879851/ - El Top10 de Netflix: http://top10.Netflix.com - Trailers: - Estrenos: - The Beatles: Get Back, el documental de Peter Jackson - DMX: Don't Try to Understand, nuevo Music Box de HBO Max, sobre Earl “DMX” Simmons - El Corazón del Imperio - Corto De Menos de COSMO- Buena noticia: - ‘Agatha All Along', nominada a los Grammy: https://uproxx.com/music/wandavision-agatha-all-along-tv-show-grammy-nomination/

If you are even remotely connected to the US Navy you have directly or indirectly been impacted by the "Fat Leonard" scandal. A husbanding agent who used every tool in a very old book - greed, sex, power, influence, and envy - managed to have have naval officers and high ranking law enforcement officers become party to his drive for wealth and influence.One of the best places to find the details of the scandal and to hear from Leonard Glenn Frances himself, is in "The Fat Leonard Podcast."Our guest today will be the podcast's creator, Tom Wright, the coauthor of Billion Dollar Whale and the cofounder of Project Brazen, a journalism-focused production studio. Tom worked for the Wall Street Journal for over twenty years. He's a Pulitzer finalist and has won numerous journalism awards, including the Gerald Loeb award for international reporting. In 2020, Stanford University honored Tom with its Shorenstein award in recognition of his services to journalism in Asia.

๋ในปี 2015 เริ่มมีการายงานเกี่ยวกับกองทุนความั่งคั่งของประเทศมาเลเซีย (1MDB) ซึ่งเริ่มมีข่าวลือว่า เงินจากภาษีประชาชน ที่จะใช้เพื่อการลงทุนในต่างประเทศของกองทุนดังกล่าวนั้น เริ่มมีกลิ่นตุ ๆ ถึงการทุจริตครั้งใหญ่ และกำลังที่จะสั่นคลอนสถานภาพของรัฐบาลมาเลเซีย ที่นำโดย นายยกรัฐมนตรี นาจิบ ราซัค Jho Low (โจ โลว์) คือ ใคร และทำไมเขาถึงได้ไปเกี่ยวข้องกับโครงการดังกล่าว และถูกกล่าวหาว่าเป็นผู้บงการที่หลอกลวงเงินหลายพันล้านดอลลาร์ จากกองทุน 1MDB หนังสือเล่มนี้เป็นการเปิดเผยตัวตนที่แท้จริงของ Low ที่สร้างเรื่องหลอกลวงครั้งใหญ่ที่สุดครั้งนึงของโลก เลือกฟังกันได้เลยนะครับ อย่าลืมกด Follow ติดตาม PodCast ช่อง Geek Forever's Podcast ของผมกันด้วยนะครับ ========================= ร่วมสนับสนุน ด.ดล Blog และ Geek Forever Podcast เพื่อให้เรามีกำลังในการผลิต Content ดี ๆ ให้กับท่าน https://www.tharadhol.com/become-a-supporter/ ——————————————– ติดตาม ด.ดล Blog ผ่าน Line OA เพียงคลิก : https://lin.ee/aMEkyNA ——————————————– ไม่พลาดข่าวสารผ่านทาง Email จาก ด.ดล Blog : https://www.getrevue.co/profile/tharadhol ——————————————– Geek Forever Club พื้นที่ของการแลกเปลี่ยนข้อมูลข่าวสาร ความรู้ ด้านธุรกิจ เทคโนโลยีและวิทยาศาสตร์ ใหม่ ๆ ที่น่าสนใจ https://www.facebook.com/groups/geek.forever.club/ ========================= ช่องทางติดตาม ด.ดล Blog เพิ่มเติมได้ที่ Fanpage : www.facebook.com/tharadhol.blog Blockdit : www.blockdit.com/tharadhol.blog Twitter : www.twitter.com/tharadhol Instragram : instragram.com/tharadhol TikTok : tiktok.com/@geek.forever Youtube : www.youtube.com/c/mrtharadhol Linkedin : www.linkedin.com/in/tharadhol Website : www.tharadhol.com

For years, a man named Leonard Francis bribed U.S. Navy officers with cash, booze, luxury items and prostitutes in return for fraudulent multi-million-dollar deals. Eventually the Navy began an operation to entrap the man known as “Fat Leonard.” Detained for years, Francis spoke to our guest today for a podcast series on the scandal and the ways the misogyny, graft and corruption evident in it resonate even today. Brazen Original podcast Fat Leonard is available across platforms including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and others. Tom Wright is a journalist and the co-author of the book Billion Dollar Whale about Malaysian playboy Jho Low. He's also the host of Fat Leonard. He joined the show to talk about the Fat Leonard scandal and what he's learned in producing the podcast.

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Bradley Hope is the co-author of Billion Dollar Whale and Blood and Oil. He spent seven years at the Wall Street Journal's offices in New York and London. Before that, he covered the Arab Spring from Cairo, Tripoli, and Beirut. He is a Pulitzer finalist and a winner of the Gerald Loeb Award for International Reporting. Join our CEO, Ian Henderson who finds out from Bradley, the man, who uncovered one of the biggest financial scandals of all time: Where did the idea for writing Billion Dollar Whale come from? When it comes to how they went about money laundering, what did you learn that surprised you the most? What role did banks play in enabling those behind 1mbd? The 1mbd scandal led to the biggest AML-related fines in history, do you think this is enough to deter financial crime? What advice would you have for AML and KYC professionals working at banks to prevent financial crime? What's next for you and your career?

Now a number-one international best seller, Billion Dollar Whale is "an epic tale of white-collar crime on a global scale" (Publishers Weekly), revealing how a young social climber from Malaysia pulled off one of the biggest heists in history. In 2009, a chubby, mild-mannered graduate of the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business named Jho Low set in motion a fraud of unprecedented gall and magnitude - one that would come to symbolize the next great threat to the global financial system. Over a decade, Low, with the aid of Goldman Sachs and others, siphoned billions of dollars from an investment fund - right under the nose of global financial industry watchdogs. Low used the money to finance elections, purchase luxury real estate, throw champagne-drenched parties, and even to finance Hollywood films like The Wolf of Wall Street. By early 2019, with his yacht and private jet reportedly seized by authorities and facing criminal charges in Malaysia and in the United States, Low had become an international fugitive, even as the US Department of Justice continued its investigation. Billion Dollar Whale has joined the ranks of Liar's Poker, Den of Thieves, and Bad Blood as a classic harrowing parable of hubris and greed in the financial world. Buy the book here: https://amzn.to/3y2eu7Y+++++Subscribe to the Podcast!▶︎ PODCAST: https://bit.ly/3qpki6YFollow us on Social Media:▶︎ WEBSITE | https://thebooklegion.com▶︎ YOUTUBE  |  http://bit.ly/2MZJ3Io▶︎ INSTAGRAM  |  https://instagram.com/thebooklegion▶︎ FACEBOOK  |  https://facebook.com/thebooklegion 

As many of our listeners will know, 1MDB is synonymous with the largest financial fraud of the century, whose tentacles extend across the dark economy from Hollywood stars, complicit bankers and lawyers to Wealthy Arab princes and corrupt political dynasties. This is the story of how one man's greed fed an ever growing web of deceit, that snowballs into corporate malfeasance and state sponsored corruption on a truly horrific scale.Following on from our earlier podcast in February, Dickon Johnstone, CEO of Themis sat down for another catch up with “Billion Dollar Whale” co-author and Wall Street Journal reporter Bradley Hope, to pick up the pieces and talk about the latest developments in the scandal that just keeps on giving. This podcast is brought to you by Themis with thanks to our partners Encompass.

Blood and Oil: Mohammed bin Salman’s Ruthless Quest for Global Power by Bradley Hope, Justin Scheck **Longlisted for the Financial Times & McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award** From award-winning Wall Street Journal reporters Justin Scheck and Bradley Hope (coauthor of Billion Dollar Whale), this revelatory look at the world’s most powerful ruling family reveals how a rift within […] The post Book Author Podcast – Blood and Oil: Mohammed bin Salman’s Ruthless Quest for Global Power by Bradley Hope, Justin Scheck appeared first on Book Author Podcast.

Blood and Oil: Mohammed bin Salman's Ruthless Quest for Global Power by Bradley Hope, Justin Scheck **Longlisted for the Financial Times & McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award** From award-winning Wall Street Journal reporters Justin Scheck and Bradley Hope (coauthor of Billion Dollar Whale), this revelatory look at the world's most powerful ruling family reveals how a rift within […] The post Chris Voss Podcast – Blood and Oil: Mohammed bin Salman's Ruthless Quest for Global Power by Bradley Hope, Justin Scheck appeared first on Chris Voss Official Website.

Let's explore ten of the best business-related books to give as gifts for birthdays, new years, Christmas, or any other special event you might be celebrating. For this list, I've focused on compelling books that are FUN to read and are often entertaining. They relate to business, but can be enjoyed by almost anyone so they make great gift ideas.CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL ARTICLE, BOOK LINKS, AND MORE:

Blood and Oil: Mohammed bin Salman's Ruthless Quest for Global Power by Bradley Hope, Justin Scheck **Longlisted for the Financial Times & McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award** From award-winning Wall Street Journal reporters Justin Scheck and Bradley Hope (coauthor of Billion Dollar Whale), this revelatory look at the world's most powerful ruling family reveals how a rift within Saudi Arabian royalty produced Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, a charismatic leader with a ruthless streak. Thirty-five-year-old Mohammed bin Salman's sudden rise stunned the world. Political and business leaders such as former UK prime minister Tony Blair and WME chairman Ari Emanuel flew out to meet with the crown prince and came away convinced that his desire to reform the kingdom was sincere. He spoke passionately about bringing women into the workforce and toning down Saudi Arabia's restrictive Islamic law. He lifted the ban on women driving and explored investments in Silicon Valley. But MBS began to betray an erratic interior beneath the polish laid on by scores of consultants and public relations experts like McKinsey & Company. The allegations of his extreme brutality and excess began to slip out, including that he ordered the assassination of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi. While stamping out dissent by holding three hundred people, including prominent members of the Saudi royal family, in the Ritz-Carlton hotel and elsewhere for months, he continued to exhibit his extreme wealth, including buying a $70 million chateau in Europe and one of the world's most expensive yachts. It seemed that he did not understand nor care about how the outside world would react to his displays of autocratic muscle-what mattered was the flex. Blood and Oil is a gripping work of investigative journalism about one of the world's most decisive and dangerous new leaders. Hope and Scheck show how MBS's precipitous rise coincided with the fraying of the simple bargain that had been at the head of U.S.-Saudi relations for more than eighty years: oil in exchange for military protection. Caught in his net are well-known US bankers, Hollywood figures, and politicians, all eager to help the charming and crafty crown prince. The Middle East is already a volatile region. Add to the mix an ambitious prince with extraordinary powers, hunger for lucre, a tight relationship with the White House through President Trump's son in law Jared Kushner, and an apparent willingness to break anything -- and anyone -- that gets in the way of his vision, and the stakes of his rise are bracing. If his bid fails, Saudi Arabia has the potential to become an unstable failed state and a magnet for Islamic extremists. And if his bid to transform his country succeeds, even in part, it will have reverberations around the world.

Tom Wright is a co-author of the best selling book Billion Dollar Whale: The Man Who Fooled Wall Street, Hollywood, and the World. He is a Hong Kong-based journalist who previously spent years with The Wall Street Journal. In 2011, he was also one of the first journalists to arrive at the scene of the raid in which Navy SEALs killed Osama bin Laden. In this conversation, we discuss the best selling book, the process required to confirm so many details and facts, who tried to stop him and how, what the craziest stories he uncovered were, where he thinks Jho Low is, and how he anticipates large frauds to continue to happen around the world. =============================== The Helium Hotspot is a new product that enables the people, not the telcos, to own and operate a wireless network in their city for Internet of Things devices. You can literally earn crypto for helping to build the network and providing connectivity to Internet of Things devices sending small bits of data. Join the movement and get your Helium Hotspot today with $50 off using the code POMP at helium.com.  =============================== The World Series of Trading (WSOT) is the first of its kind to bring the exhilaration of crypto trading competition to the global stage. WSOT believes in the importance of empowering traders who embody the passion and power for crypto trading. This bi-annual event aims to champion the spirit of competition, fair play, and cultivate camaraderie among crypto derivatives traders from around the world with the ultimate goal of creating positive change in the crypto space. This year’s prize pool is a whopping 200 BTC. Sign up here: http://www.bybit.com/wsot_warmup? =============================== Pomp writes a daily letter to over 50,000 investors about business, technology, and finance. He breaks down complex topics into easy to understand language, while sharing opinions on various aspects of each industry. You can subscribe at https://www.pompletter.com

It's been called one of the biggest financial frauds in history - $4.5bn was allegedly stolen from Malaysia's state investment fund, 1MDB. Goldman Sachs has now reached a $3.9bn settlement with Malaysia over its role in the scandal and we hear from Bradley Hope of the Wall Street Journal, co-author of "Billion Dollar Whale". Coronavirus has forced Disney to shelve three of this year's biggest film releases, so what will that do to its bottom line? We get the details from Georg Szalai, international business editor at The Hollywood Reporter. Wool prices have nearly halved in just the past two years and coronavirus has added to the industry's woes; Gareth Jones, marketing manager for British Wool, tells us more. The US privatised healthcare system is under pressure like never before because of the pandemic, so is it time to switch to a system of universal health care? The BBC’s Ed Butler has been finding out.

There are more than eight million dynamic pages that run on Lenovo.com, where the majority of shoppers go to buy their products. It is a massive Ecommerce platform that has to work for more than one billion website visitors per year. Ajit Sivadasan is the Vice President and General Manager of Lenovo, and even though managing those pages is part of his job, what he’s more interested in is making sure that those pages are offering relevant content and an efficient experience to a new generation driving Ecommerce growth. On this episode of Up Next in Commerce, Ajit explains why figuring out what content is relevant to Gen Z will be the driving factor in how successful your Ecommerce platform will be. 3 Takeaways: There is a massive demographic shift happening in the consumer market, so rather than focusing on producing more and more content, companies need to focus on producing content that is relevant to this new audience of digitally-native consumers Customer irritants are data points that matter and constantly change. Constantly addressing those irritants – from delivery time to language on the credit card processing screen – has an impact on consumer satisfaction and your NPS Behavioral economics states that humans are predictable and predictably irrational. Therefore, you have to take this behavior into account in everything from website design to offering comparisons of products as a counterbalance for the fact that humans will deviate to the path of least resistance more often than not For an in-depth look at this episode, check out the full transcript below. Quotes have been edited for clarity and length. --- Up Next in Commerce is brought to you by Salesforce Commerce Cloud. Respond quickly to changing customer needs with flexible Ecommerce connected to marketing, sales, and service. Deliver intelligent commerce experiences your customers can trust, across every channel. Together, we’re ready for what’s next in commerce. Learn more at salesforce.com/commerce --- Stephanie: Hey everyone. This is Stephanie Postles, your host of Up Next In Commerce. Ajit, how's it going? Ajit: Good. Thank you for getting me on the show, Stephanie. Stephanie: Yeah, I'm excited to have you on. So I'd love to hear a little bit about your background at Lenovo. You've been there 15 years, right? Ajit: Close to, yeah. This is my 15th year. Stephanie: So I'm sure a lot has changed since you joined the company back then. Ajit: Yeah. I joined Lenovo in 2006, and came to Lenovo to build a consumer brand online. And obviously, when I joined, we didn't have much of a infrastructure or even sales. We were in a very limited set of countries. We were actually in four countries and we probably had a very small amount of revenue. Since then, obviously, we have scaled the business about 10X on revenues, and profits have grown about 10X. And we have scaled from four countries to 35 countries. And in the process, we have seen several acquisitions. We acquired the Motorola brand. We acquired the System X brand. So we have had to integrate all of those businesses. So Lenovo has gone from a company that's sold PCs, to being a company that basically is trying to drive intelligent transformation for its enterprise customers, and for its consumers around the world. Obviously, we have a footprint in more than 165 countries. So it's exciting. Ajit: When I joined the company, we were number six in the world. Obviously, we've been number one for a number of years now, and have a significant market share in the PC space, and we continue to make progress in the data center space, which we acquired from IBM. And the Motorola phones, you might have seen some of the latest phones that we introduced. We were the first ones with the foldable phone, that was a take on the Razr phone, the iconic Razr phone. So, yeah, it's been very exciting. We have obviously enjoyed our ride. I'm very excited because we get to interact with a number of customers on Lenovo.com and really bring the technology to life, and the brand to life, using the platform we have. So yeah, it's been a good ride. Stephanie: That's awesome. And what does your day-to-day look like at Lenovo? Ajit: I manage the platform for Lenovo, which is basically Lenovo.com. And since it serves all of our stakeholders, we have the Lenovo.com footprint in more than 90 countries. So I have to manage both the sales side, which is primarily a combination of B2C and SMB. And then I have to manage the enterprise side of the customer. So mostly B2B customers that buy from us using a procurement type of strategy, where we actually service them one-on-one. So I have the sales part, which is basically running the whole end-to-end business, all the way from marketing, CRM, UX/UI design, sales and marketing, phone sales, to really even trying to help with the supply chain piece, working closely with our supply chain organization. Ajit: But then the other side is really trying to figure out how to position Lenovo.com to become a brand voice, and figure out how we bring to life all of the innovation, and the products, and the enterprise strategy we have, for the stakeholders that come to Lenovo.com around the world. We get over a billion people coming to the website any given year. So it is a pretty substantial property. And so we have a ton of work that we need to do to manage all of those aspects that take care of basically all of the customer needs we have. Stephanie: Wow. What are some of the key learnings when it comes to moving globally? So it started out, I think in 1985, and it was just a reseller in China, right? And then, now it's a global company. What has that transition been like, and what have you learned in the process as you open up new countries and start selling there? Ajit: When I joined, obviously, my journey beyond Lenovo, was at Gateway. I was at Gateway for five years. So I've been in the PC space for about 20 years. And what you have to really understand is, all the transitions that have happened in the business model. When I started, internet was relatively new, and people used it as a very siloed organization that was doing just the phone and the web. So it was very limited. But today, as you know, 70% of the traffic that comes to the website is mobile traffic. The patterns have shifted quite a bit. So the business model transformation that has happened over the last 15 years has been interesting. Ajit: And what you see is, initially when we started, a lot of our colleagues around the world were maybe a little apprehensive. They were worried about things like conflict. They were worried about issues like pricing and things like that. And what you notice as things have evolved is, what you find is that, that is a very complimentary system. A number of our customers that are very sophisticated, technology-focused, innovation-focused, want to buy online. They want to be able to customize their products, they want a full breadth of products. And then there is a bunch of customers who would like to go to retail stores, look at our products, touch, understand it a little bit better before they actually make a purchase. So what we have found out is, thought we had a lot of skepticism, maybe even like six, seven years ago, that has changed into, people now trying to figure out how to leverage the business models, including connecting retail and the offline presence we have. How do we get our enterprise customers the best experience possible? How do we make sure the supply chain is responsive? How do we get them more capabilities that love them to buy products on credit, allow them to buy using a subscription type of service, give customized services that add them for SMB customers. Ajit: So, if you really think about it, the evolution has been quite interesting. And look, day-to-day, there's tons of things that you need to do because it's a fast-pace, technology-driven, very innovation-focused space. And people like Amazon and others, they're really driving the paradigm as far as online commerce is concerned. So it's not sufficient for us to just look at our traditional competitors. We also have to understand that the customers are getting sophisticated, and their expectations are much, much higher than what they used to be. So in many ways, the decision to go into a country now, is much more driven by the customers, than it is even proven by our direct stakeholders. And when I say stakeholders, internal folks, because customers really demand that you actually have an online presence. And they really want to transact with you online. So the transition has been interesting, but I think it's accelerating and the business models getting very complex. And our ability to actually react to them fast is going to be critical, as we move to the future. Stephanie: Yeah. I completely agree. So I heard that you have eight million dynamic and other pages, on lenovo.com. Maybe it's more at this point, compared to when I heard that stat'. How do you keep up with all the pages that you have, behind the scenes, being custom, depending on who's coming, depending on what country they're coming from? How do you make sure that it doesn't turn into a black box? like an algorithm when it starts getting too much stuff in it, you're like, "I don't even know what's happening behind the scenes anymore." How do you keep up with the pace? Ajit: A lot of this is automated. If you really think of our bulk of the products... I'll give you an example. So we sell thousands and thousands of third party products, accessories. Whether it is hard drives, whether it is even headphones and monitors and lots of things that are serviced and provided by other companies. And those are all managed automatically. So it's in a database. It's a data-driven process. So you don't have to worry about it. But if you multiply those into the number of countries, suddenly the numbers look staggeringly big. Now, having said that, it still is a pretty big number of pages. And clearly, there is a process for us to manage level one, level two, level three type of page, home page, right? If we look at the efficacy that is periodic checks on usage of the pages, there's teams basically managing content across the site, across the countries. Obviously, there is a strategy for how many layers of product pages we want to have. We look at data to understand who is using it, how often are they using it, and things that are not being used. Obviously they get [inaudible] as time goes by. Ajit: But more and more, it is clear to us that we need a very cohesive data strategy for formality content. So the formats customers prefer for content is changing. A lot more focused on videos, a lot more focused on how to do things, through a short-form video. Even content that you provide in terms of words are very succinct, and to the point. So you let customers pull the data, pull the content, as opposed to publishing everything and letting the customer go through stuff. Clearly it takes a lot of time and effort. And the key is to make sure that your systems, from the product management, all the way to what the customer actually sees on the glass, all managed in a way that makes sense. And that clearly is a challenge, because you've got a lot of legacy systems. And what somebody puts in as they're designing a product, may be marketed different from the marketing content that somebody needs to see in order to make a decision on a sale. Ajit: So you really have to figure out the process, streamline it. You need to make sure, periodically, you look for paradigm shifts. You need to understand demographics. 70% of the population that's going to be in the workforce is going to be millennials. And I can tell you that they are not really interested in reading a lot of stuff. They prefer much short-form formats, and they like videos and things like that. So if you're not connecting with them, and your engagement is not right, I think you're going to have a problem in the long run. So, I think the page count is less of a problem, than relevance. And I think that what we really are trying to do is to figure out how to be relevant, and drive content that truly drives engagement with our audiences. Stephanie: That completely makes sense. Are there certain trends that you see coming that Lenovo is preparing for, when it comes to, like you said, videos, preparing for millennials? What things are on your radar right now that you're preparing for the future? Ajit: So I'd say a couple of things on that. We are definitely seeing a pretty significant shift in demographics. Though we see a bimodal distribution. And by that, we see a lot more older people, and we see a lot more younger people. And the number of people in between actually is very low. So you would see very young people. 60%-70% of the population will be in the 20-30 age group, going forward. Which means that, these are native millennials. These are generation Z, Gen Zs, who basically are native digitally. And therefore, their expectations and how they consume data, and how they consume information is very, very different. So we have to really worry. I think everybody needs to worry, if you're online, as to how they are going to be part of your community, how you're going to get engaged with them, how are you going to keep their interest in the products that you have? Ajit: Part of the challenge is that they are so sophisticated, and are pretty much, in my mind, no nonsense, in terms of technology, that it's highly unlikely that they are going to support anything that is cumbersome, or verbose, or anything that basically takes away from efficiency, in terms of how they deal with online content. And so, I think the big challenge is for companies to truly make that shift of saying, "Look, this was the audience in the past. They had a very different predisposition to how they looked at data, and how they analyzed things. And then there's this new generation that truly is looking at content differently." Ajit: Now, the key points will be when they start truly having money in their pockets, and they're going to be in positions where they're going to be making decisions for companies, in terms of purchasing, technology decisions. And many of them already are making those decisions. And then if you are not able to engage with them appropriately, I think that you have a challenge. So truly trying to figure out how to build that relationship with the gen Z, millennial audience, I think is key. We are definitely looking at a couple of segments where we believe that that's an area that we need to really get good at, which is, gamers who are basically a big part of the online ecosystem. They are very sophisticated. They know exactly what they want. They are very community-driven. They're very content-driven. Ajit: And so, the proxy for us, at least in my mind is, "Look, you now have to figure it out how to engage these people online." Because you will learn from that set of experiences, that if you are, as a brand, not able to work that in your favor, it becomes increasingly challenging, I think, for the brand to have relevance in the future. And so, we are really focused on gamers. We believe that we have to cater to them end-to-end. From content, from products, online experiences, capabilities, giving them access to a broader set of products and portfolio, game titles, being able to give them subscription services and other things. Ajit: And the second audience that's really, really important are students. So a big part of students are going to be online, and quite frankly, this Covid crisis brings out the issue much more readily, where you see high schoolers, pretty much all schoolers, including colleges, basically offering courses online. And everybody's online study. I can tell you that it looked like a big deal when it happened, but we have been thinking about this thing for several years now. And this crisis obviously has accelerated that thinking even more. But the reality is that this is going to be the new norm. And, what is interesting is that a lot of people that aren't online students, because of the fact that for 1,000 years we have always told students that they need to go to a school, and be an apprentice, and study and learn because they can find a job. Ajit: And now, companies have come out and said, "Look, you don't really need a college degree to get a job. All you need is knowledge. And if you're good at something, then we'll figure out a way to test you, and you'll be fine. You don't need a formal degree." And we think that that trend will accelerate in the coming years. And I think that universities and colleges and institutions will figure out how to deal with it. And then at the same time, people like us, brands, we'll have to figure out how to engage this audience. Because, they're looking for information, they're looking for technology, they're looking for solutions. And the question is, "Can we provide them solutions and technologies that make learning online easier for students?" So that is the audience. Obviously, we make PCs, and we make phones, and we made monitors and all these things that really are part of the technology solution that enables people to learn online. And therefore, we believe that we should figure out how to engage with this audience who are basically online, and in a direct way, so that we understand their needs much more concretely. So those are two segments that are key. Stephanie, you had a question? Stephanie: Yeah, that makes sense. When it comes to thinking about this new generation, and they're, like you said, no nonsense. They want things quick. The website better be super quick. They better be able to buy fast. They have, I'd say, a higher risk tolerance when it comes to ordering online, as long as there's a good return policy. They're probably okay with just buying right away and hoping for the best. How are you thinking about your retail strategy? Because like you said, a lot of people in the past have been used to going into stores, and trying things out. Do you see that being something in the future? Especially with Covid, it seems like a good forcing function, where it's pushing more people online, and to just try it instead of having to experience it in person. Are you all shifting your thoughts around that area? Ajit: Well, I think Covid clearly will be an outlier. It will accelerate the digital transformation. But I still think that retail will have a pretty important place and role to play in the long run, but it will get redefined. And for our part, we are doing a couple of things. We are trying to figure out how to help our resellers, how to help our retail partners, and quite frankly trying to connect offline and online in a meaningful way. So where we own stores like in China and India and other places, we are trying to figure out how to connect the online experience with the offline experience, so that people can buy products online. They can go to the shop and order it online there. So really trying to figure out how to manage the customer experience a little bit more readily. Ajit: Now, having said that, I think the interesting transformation that's happening is really trying to connect the social, the retail, and online together. And if we can, at some point, get the mobile piece to work, then it becomes a very, very interesting value proposition for the customer because you truly have the customer for the whole cycle. So if they are outside, we know where they are, and therefore we can give them recommendations if they're interested in looking at our product. If they're online, obviously they can do things online. But if they do stuff on their phone, we can actually translate some of those things meaningfully to their desktop, and therefore we make it very, very easy, experientially for them to experience a good a brand experience. So we don't have to act surprised when the same person is in two different places, or as two different ways they connect to the brand. We just need to figure out how we connect those pieces. Ajit: And I think that these are the types of business model shifts that we will see accelerated as we go through this crisis and beyond. I think that people are finally trying to figure it out, "How are we going to connect this?" Look, Amazon has already done some of this with what they have done with Whole Foods and the Prime. So they've figured out how to connect the store to Prime users, and the online stuff. So the blueprint is there, and I think that most companies are doing some stuff. But I think that you're right. It's going to get accelerated as this crisis progresses. Stephanie: Yeah. I think connecting those platforms is key to making sure you understand the customers and can deliver value to them wherever they're at. Are there any technologies that you guys are experimenting with, to try and connect that online, to offline, to social, and mobile? Ajit: Yeah. It depends from place to place, and it depends on the companies footprint, right? In China, obviously, I think we are the most progressed in terms of the technology piece. We have a substantial online, merged with offline footprint, which connects WeChat, and online cloud, and our application layers, which allows our customers to actually be connected fully with the brand. And it actually connects all the retailers also to the brand in a very, very meaningful way. So that is, I think, the aspirational model for everybody. We have a very different model in Japan, as an example, where we are connected in kiosks, in the retail store, that's connected to the online world. In Taiwan as an example, we have an offline store that we are connected to. In India, it's the same thing. It's an offline-online model. Ajit: So yeah, the business model is different from different country to country. But it also depends on who is innovating more, and what's the landscape look like in the country? So it's not one size fits all. And I would be remiss if I didn't mention that privacy, as an example, is a key consideration in some countries, and some countries they're more relaxed. So it just depends, also, on some of the privacy laws that enable customers to share information more freely versus some others where you can't. Ajit: But my sense is that depending on the country, and depending on the business, you will see hybrid models emerge. They already are emerging. And some will have much more traction than others. But I would see a lot of partnerships being formed between online companies and offline retailers, to really manage the customer experience to be much smoother, and much more productive, going forward. Stephanie: Got it. And I saw that Lenovo is leaning more into focusing on the consumer and their needs, and becoming a more consumer-first company. Is there certain data points that you all are using to meet your consumer better than you were before? Or were in that end-to-end consumer journey do you see the most room for growth or improvement? Ajit: Yeah. Lenovo's history and its heritage has always been a product company. We have some of the best brands in the world, whether it's Thinkpad, Yoga, Moto, System x, these are all brands that are at the top of their game when it comes to their specific categories. Stephanie: I used a ThinkPad at Google. I love my ThinkPad. Ajit: There you go. And nine out of 10 people that I speak to in the business will tell me the same thing. I used to use a ThinkPad before I worked for Lenovo long, long time ago, as well as a consultant for Deloitte. And there's plenty of people who actually use ThinkPad because it's an iconic brand. So we always have been a company of engineers, historically. But as we move into the internet era, and as digital becomes more mainstay, it is absolutely critical for us to really understand what our end users look like, what they are doing with our products, how do we collect feedback that's more direct? And truly, really understand and have a pulse on what the customer sentiment is for our brands. Ajit: It becomes extremely difficult for us to get feedback more directly, as from an indirect channel, because of the fact that we don't really talk to the customer directly. We have to remain and collect information in an indirect fashion. And depending on the privacy laws and other things, it becomes very, very complicated for us to collect information. Having said that, three or four years ago, as a company, we decided that it was such an existential reason for us to really start thinking customers first, and truly trying to figure out how to connect with them, and drive digital transformation, that we decided to start measuring all of our customer segments, whether it's direct or indirect, in either use proxies or direct measures. But mostly, the entire company has been on a Net Promoter Score basis, and trying to understand how customers value our products and our services, and what they actually think about the brand. Ajit: So our employees and our executives get paid based on a customer satisfaction metric. At one point, it was actually imperative, in terms of how they got paid. So we take this very, very seriously. And the transformation is clearly much more evolved than what it was three years ago. And now, pretty much every group in the company has a customer-focused metric. Whether it's product development and supply chain, eCommerce, or our global accounts customers. So everybody is measured on a customer-centric metric, which allows us to then drive the focus that's stated. And it's one of the top priorities for our COO, our CEO, my boss who basically runs all of the PC plus the IDC group. It's a key focus for him. So clearly, it's something that we take very, very seriously, and we are all trying to evolve with this one metric that we can look at and say, "Are we making absolute progress as a company, or not?" Stephanie: Got it. So a lot of times, metrics can actually have unintended consequences where maybe someone's trying to meet that metric and they're not doing the best thing to meet that. Did you see that when you guys were thinking about creating that customer metric? Did you see anything go wrong where you're like, "Oh, that's actually not a good one to rely on?" Any learnings throughout that process? Ajit: Yeah, look, e-commerce, we have been measuring customer satisfaction for the last, I don't know, 13 years or so. So as soon as I joined the company, two years into it, I figured out that, "Look, we need some form of getting feedback from our customers." So we have a very robust and mature process for eCommerce that we've been collecting roughly 20,000 customer feedback from a survey that we do online. So we have had a model for a long time, that uses the feedback. The biggest challenge, always, I think, is trying to figure out correlation of what factors will drive it. I think that's been the big controversy. So is it delivery metrics? Is it quality metrics? Is it product design? Is it the call center experience? So, I think there is a ton of data, and we have requested data to find out the top factors. And those factors keep changing. So- Stephanie: What are the top factors right now, that you see? Ajit: So what we see is product quality is undeniably the number one thing that the customers actually value. Hybrid customers truly value delivery. So delivery times and making sure that you're keeping your commitment in terms of products. They definitely value help in the call center as a metric. So there's probably a list of about 20, that we track. And the big ones really are product quality, delivery, out-of-the-box experience, those kinds of things. Service, as an example, right? We do surveys of customers on their service. That's a pretty important part of their feedback. But the purchase survey that we do is more around the purchasing experience. And customers are not shy, and they give you exactly you know what is important to them. And the one thing that we find is that some of the metrics that are difficult to move. Like product quality, as an example, Lenovo's product quality is very high. So it's always in the 90% range. And for us to move a percentage point on product quality is very, very difficult. Ajit: But there are several others where, like delivery and other metrics that float a lot more in this, there's ability for us to go change that, if you are focused on trying to drive certain changes. So the key for us is to say, "Which are the metrics that we can influence, that the team can actually take actions? Whether it's on the website, whether it's on trying to do training, or whether it's really trying to figure out how we message things to the customer differently, do proactive phone calls." One of the things that we do. But the key is to really identify those things that truly can be moved meaningfully, and we can put energy behind it, and then keep going. Ajit: Last year, we moved our CSAT score, or our NPS score by almost 35%. So that's a pretty substantially good jump, in terms of effectiveness. And that's because we identified a few things that we thought compelling. We had a business management system around it, we made IT changes. So all those things configured into us focusing and moving things in a certain direction. So I think that's the key. When it comes to customer-centricity, the challenge is that the customers are not standing still. Their expectations are going up every single day. So you have to do a lot more, to make meaningful progress. So you can't just stop. You have to continually change and continually improve the processes. Ajit: And that's always tricky because you have to really be at it, and you've got to use data to really understand what's changed, what's moving, what's the new irritant? You have to do social listening, you have to really start scanning your data that you get from your customers to figure out what's the new irritant, and how are you going to manage them. So it is certainly not an easy process. It's a very challenging process. But it is also something, I think, that is very, very important, if you, as a brand, need to keep your customers happy. Stephanie: Yeah, I completely agree. If you were to point to, the larger theme of being able to improve your customer satisfaction score, what was the largest thing that you changed, or adjusted, that made it so you could improve that score, by, I think you said 35%? Ajit: Yeah. So the one big thing that we changed was, we always had a very high amount of customization on the website. So ThinkPads, as you know, can be customized. And obviously, a customized product takes a longer time than if you had something in stare. So we have traditionally had a lot of our ThinkPads customized. And we made a conscious choice to really figure out how to keep stock of some of our high-flying products, or the fast-selling products. And so, that is a pretty significant shift, because when you have to ship something centrally from one warehouse, versus, you have to ship products from a warehouse or a manufacturing facility to a distribution center, and manage inventory, it obviously is not as efficient as trying to run something directly from the factory. Ajit: But we made the choice to move some other products to local distribution, to speed up delivery of our products. And that definitely helped. And we had some issues with supply. We're having some industry-wide constraints on some of the supply. And therefore, this whole process of managing inventory locally really helped us manage customer expectations a little bit better than what we're used to. So that is one example of what we did, that really helped. Ajit: Now, we also made a number of changes on the website, from messaging, whether it's a credit card processing screen, or whether it's a product page, or whether it's a configurator design. Any number of things that we feel are irritating customers, we have it list of maybe 500 items that we work through at any given time. And everybody is going through those things and fixing it. And then that incrementally adds a little bit of help. But the big ticket items are always around supply, product quality, call center management, pricing, promotion challenges. Some customers see discounts that are different, and I.e. managing those correctly... So it really is those big buckets that we want to make sure that we are focused on, we're fixing. And ultimately, the customer feels like we are being responsive to their needs. Stephanie: That's really fun, haring how you're able to drill in on a few of those things, and shift customer perception and happiness so much. Are there certain metrics that you use when it comes to, like you said, looking at what's irritating the customers, or where the website is maybe failing in certain areas? Is there a set of metrics that you look at, maybe bi-weekly or weekly with your team, to see how things are doing? And if so, what are those metrics? Ajit: Yeah. So when you talk about metrics, we have a website, a technical side of looking at metrics for the website, which is the IT organization that basically looks at all the technology stuff. It is, "What does the response time look like? What is your mobile performance? What's the page performance? 404 errors, page not found, the timeout errors on your checkout page, blah, blah, blah, blah. So there's probably like 100 things that somebody looks at every single day and then we manage those by exception. So we know what the numbers are. There's somebody constantly looking at those. Ajit: Then that is the website feedback mechanism, which is, when a customer comes online, something like our opinion lab, or a survey mechanism that basically allows customers to give you a feedback. So we randomly select customers that are on the website. We actually give them the opportunity to respond to the experience. We collect experience on their research process, their buying process, the website complexity, blah, blah, blah. So we get a ton of feedback from our customers on that particular thing. And then like I mentioned to you, we have this thing called the online ordering experience, and the purchase experience. So we get 20,000 or so responses every two weeks from all these countries, which we analyze. Ajit: Then, we obviously have social listening, where we actually listen to what the customers say. And then that is a common section where customers give us comments, and we use some form of AI stuff, to actually binge through all that stuff, to really get the sentiment analysis, and big ticket items that are coming back. And we take all of these things into a composite score that then allows us to go look at and say, "Where are we falling short? What are the benchmarks? What's the threshold? What's the competitive benchmark that we should be looking at for each of these categories? Best in class." And then we benchmark ourselves and figure out what actions we need to take, based on why this mentions the regression analysis to say, "Okay, these things actually have a meaningful impact through the customer experience. And therefore, we got to go figure out how to remove people who are giving us ones twos and threes. How do we increase our nines and tens? And then everybody in between, how do we move them up," to basically minimize the customer irritations that we have in the system. Ajit: So it's a very systematic process. There is a team that basically looks at it. There's a supply chain element that's very real. There is a services element. There is a phone sales element. There is a chat sales element. So it's a very complex set of metrics that basically transcends all of the functional groups that have a small stake in that experience, as the customer goes from the website research, to buying the product, getting it serviced, talking to a customer rep'. So we take the end-to-end customer with journey and figure out all the points, if they touch something, and figure out how to measure them, so that we have an accurate understanding of where the irritant is, and what we need to do to make it better. Stephanie: Got it. So I know when it comes to getting feedback, I go on websites all the time and it's asking me to do a survey, give feedback, and at least for me, I don't normally do it. I just X-off, and I try and find what I want. How are you incentivizing these potential buyers or buyers to give you the feedback, and take these surveys, and get them to do what you want? Ajit: It's tricky. You have to do it in a way that doesn't bias the sample. And that's what I'm most worried about, is that I don't want to incite people to do the wrong thing. So what we do is, we have a... What I've noticed is that the core customers, they are actually always very vocal, especially if they are a brand loyalist. So we get a steady stream of feedback on brands loyals, which is great because I think they are finicky, and they are brand zealots, and they really take pride in making sure that they're providing feedback on things that they like and things that don't like. And quite frankly, it shapes perception and product strategy in many ways because it's a big group of customers. Ajit: The tricky part is the random customer, or the customer that truly hasn't built a relationship with us but just bought something. Those folks, we have to figure out how to drive the subscription into the process a little bit more meaningfully. We periodically a 5% off coupon. We periodically send out emails to people who have bought product. We always send out emails to people buy products for us, saying, "Give us feedback. Tell us what is it that we have done well, and what are the things that we haven't done well." On the phone, obviously, we have more success because we get a chance to talk to people. But it's a combination of things. In the past, I remember like five, six years ago we would run contest that basically gave prizes for people to actually participate. And then we reduce that a little bit, because it may tend to bias the sample a little bit. Ajit: Look, online reviews is the other one. We have a very robust online review process that we have on the website. So we get a ton of online reviews of our particular products also. So we use that, sometimes, to also incent people to give us more feedback. So there isn't a one size fits all answer for others. It just depends. Again, in some countries we get local feedback, and some others... And so, countries where we don't get as much feedback, we try to figure out what's the right way? Can we leverage our community? Can we leverage our brand? And other things. Can we gamify it? So there's lots of strategies depending on which country and which part of the world you're in, to incentivize the customer to actually engage more readily. In some countries it's a challenge. Just because it is challenging in countries like Europe, where trying to get around some of the privacy laws can be tricky. So it's a balance. But we have tried discounts, newsletters, contests, reviews, and rating, promoting them. Ajit: Having said all that, I do believe that building a community and trying to nurture that community is probably the easiest way for us to get more and more feedback, which is what we are trying to do, is to try and figure out how to engage these customers more meaningfully over a longer period of time, beyond the purchasing. But we're connecting them with the brand. And then, I think that that solves some of the feedback issues, because I think we can get a much higher response rate when that happens. Stephanie: Yeah. I've heard a lot of brands leaning towards that community aspect, at least from the people that we've had on the show. What are some of the initiatives that you guys are doing, to create that community? Ajit: Well, I won't give away all the secrets, but- Stephanie: Just give us a couple. Come on. Ajit: So the big communities that we are focused on, obviously one is SMB. SMB, we fundamentally believe are underserved. And I think that there's going to be a lot more SMBs in the workplace, going forward. Because I think a lot of them are millennials and Gen-Zs are very entrepreneurial. With the advent of technology progressing the way it's progressing, and digital technologies becoming more ubiquitous, but with the online space, I do believe that we will see a lot of internet businesses springing up. It's no longer really difficult for somebody to actually open a business or start a business if they have a good idea. So you will see a significant number of people actually coming online in the SMB space. And we are obviously very aware that we need to provide them an experience, a community, and a set of resources that make them productive and useful. Useful in the sense that, we give them something that is useful for them to be more productive. Ajit: So part of our challenge is to try figure out what is really important for them. So we definitely think community is important. But the work, I think, is very, very important. And the question is, "How do we drive relevance? What is really important for the SMB customer as they are online, beyond the products that they buy from us? How do we get them more out of technology? How do we get the more out of their work, their productivity, and how do we make sure that they are ultimately successful as they are part of our ecosystem?" Ajit: So I'll give you an example. Maybe they can hear from other SMB customers who are probably struggling with similar challenges. Maybe the ability to belong to a community that has other people doing similar things, or at least dealing with broad themes that they're dealing with, money, resources, training, those things become important. So the question is, "Can we provide some of those things to our SMB customers that make their lives a little bit easier, and therefore their affinity for our brand a little bit higher?" So that's one thing that we are definitely doing for SMBs. A lot of work to be done. We are just at the very, very early stages. But we do believe that a well thought out, longterm strategy will definitely help our ecosystem and our customers. Likewise, we will be thinking about students and gamers, and trying to figure out what we can do meaningfully to nurture the relationship we have with them. Stephanie: Got it. Have you shifted your strategy around online learning, students, gamers, since Covid started? Did you guys have to go into a quick pivot mode to start doing something different or planning for a different future than what you were maybe planning for six months ago? Ajit: Well, we started this strategy two years ago. Haven't changed much. So therefore, we do have a leg up because we have been thinking this for a little while. Covid just made it a little bit more easier to sell, and get traction. But the strategy we are on has basically been in place for a while, because we have been building IT capabilities and some of those things that we need to service our customers. This is not something you can just spin up in a day. These take much, much more longer-term. And there's plenty of partnerships and relationships that are [inaudible 00:42:24]. So it's not, certainly, something that you can just copy, or you can just do. It is capital-intensive. You need to put money into it. You need to do a lot of development. Do you need to really start thinking about the strategy much more clearly? So it's certainly not something that's the thought about yesterday. But I think that there's a lot more that we need to do to be relevant and to drive this to a scale. Stephanie: Cool. So I've heard that you like behavioral economics. I was wondering- Ajit: Yes. Stephanie: Yeah. I watched a few videos. I'm like, "Oh, me too." What principles have been useful, or how have they shaped the digital experiences that you build at Lenovo? Ajit: Yeah. Look, pretty much everything that you do on a website, or you do on business lends itself to some of the principles from behavioral economics. And some of them that are really interesting... I became a fan of behavioral economics with Dan Ariely, who basically is local here at Duke. And we had Dan come to campus and speak to our people a couple of times. This was like maybe seven, eight years ago. So I've been a big follower of it. And clearly, what I understand from it is that people are predictable, and they can be predictably irrational in how they make decisions. So sometimes, common sense is probably overrated, believe it or not, when it comes to some of the design principles and some of the things that we do from a merchandising and marketing standpoint. Ajit: So big couple of things for me is, look, people want to compare things, right? And they freeze when they're not able to compare things that are similar. If you give them these similar things and ask them to compare it, they always rationalize it to something that is a common denominator. So as an example, you don't have to bet an apple to an orange. Obviously, they are very different fruits. And to ask them to really say which one you like more becomes a preference issue, more than a rational exercise. And so, if you're truly asked them to assign value to it, more likely, they are going to say an apple cost $1 and an orange costs 50 cents. So maybe the apple is 2X better than the orange. That would be the natural way of thinking. Ajit: Now, when you tell them to compare a PC of one kind to a PC of a completely different kind, they are likely to be completely lost because they just are not able to understand the fundamental differences between them. Or, it would take them an inordinate amount of time for them to actually compare the products, disparate products. And so what they do is they start thinking about price. And price is not necessarily the best way to make a decision on something that basically is going to be your technology partner for a few years, and going to make you productive in the kinds of things that you need to do. Ajit: So I've realized that look, you have to really enable a comparison of products in a much more meaningful way. So make sure that the customers don't have to really go out of their way to think about how to compare products. And obviously, it's challenging when we have so many products coming out at this breakneck speed, that some of the technology cannot keep up. But to me, comparing things is an important paradigm, in my opinion. Stephanie: It brings back the memories when I used to open up a bunch of tabs to compare products before the company started shifting to that comparison model. But I do still think there's a long way to go when it comes to, especially comparing tech. Because when I'm looking at a computer and it's saying, "Here's all the specs of this computer." A lot of those things, I don't even know, why would I want to upgrade? Whereas if it said, "Well this means that you'll be able to store this many pictures versus this." Or, "You'll have a much faster internet speed," or, "Remember how your computer's working really slowly when you try and open up Photoshop? It won't do that anymore." It would be nice to start seeing a more consumer perspective of, "What does this do for me?" Instead of just being like, "It's this many terabytes," and all the technical specs to it. Are you all thinking about that kind of shift, or how are you incorporating them? Ajit: Definitely, comparison of products is a big thing. Search, how you do search comparison is a big thing. So we are absolutely focused on it. And to make things worse, the mobile form factor doesn't facilitate very readily, comparison of complex things. So we have to figure out more elegant and meaningful ways in which we can have people compare products on a small form factor like a phone. So yeah, clearly very, very important, on top of our list. Always challenging, always evolving. So yeah, we have to go figure out how to do that. Ajit: One other thing that I would tell you when it comes to behavioral economics and behavioral science is, bias, the role of bias. And I think that this is a big one because I think people will generally, when they're making decisions, executives like me included, we make decisions based on anecdotal evidence, based on what we have done. And we take that size, and of one, and we try to generalize, hypothesize our theory based on a bad experience or a good experience. And we extrapolate that to the population and end up driving everybody crazy and not looking at numbers the right way, and ignoring numbers, and making decisions that are suboptimal. Ajit: So, the work by Kahneman and some of the work that the Israelis have done, especially because it seems like that's where all of the cool stuff is coming from on behavioral economics, from the Hebrew University, the work is really, really telling us not to be biased, and to suspend judgment, and to really focus on what the data tells us, and to pay attention to not fall into the trap of the bias. So, it takes a while, and it takes a lot of effort, but I think it's a good reminder for us to really focus on managing and minimizing our biases, so that we can make optimal decisions that affect our customers in a very positive way. Stephanie: Completely agree. Do you all do trainings at Lenovo? Whether it's for the executives, or the employees, when it comes to how to create surveys and look at the data in a non-biased way, and collect data from certain people, where it's not biased. Do you do anything around that to teach those principles? Ajit: I also teach, sometimes. So I have been pushing this very heavy and hard with my teams. And obviously, a lot of the executives read these books, so it's not lost on them. But look, because we have such a huge direct customer-facing interface, the focus on the online space has to be much inordinately higher, because I think the impact is much, much higher on the direct interface. So we are definitely driving this. A lot of our people are classically trained. They all go to classic UX/UI trading. But more and more, I also have started relying on quantitative data at scale, for making decisions, rather than opinion. So I am not, and my team hates me for this. But I'm not a big fan of qualitative information. I would much rather not ask people anything and just look at the data and interpret the data and start making decisions. Ajit: Because people say one thing, and they do another. And it's not a new notion. I think a lot of people know this. And at scale, when you're talking about tens of millions of records, I think the data doesn't lie. In fact, if the data says that, then that's what we should do because it services a majority of our customers positively. So that's the other principle that I use is, "Don't ask, just look at the data and try and make decisions based on the data. Try to understand the data, and then design your tests and your experiments based on what you see, rather than asking a bunch of people in a panel, and they'll tell you some stuff." And I'm sure it goes in some places, but I am always skeptical when that happens because I'm worried about bias. Stephanie: Do you think, from your experience, a lot of companies are still focusing on that qualitative data and it's actually leading them down the wrong path, or they're creating either new products or new website experiences that are probably going to fail because they're using that qualitative data? Ajit: I am sure people are. But I think people also... They all read these same things. But I think there is probably enough anecdotal evidence that suggests that there's lot of people who still use those principles. So I don't know the exact number, and any guess that I would venture would be wrong, so I would not venture it. But my sense is that yeah, it requires activism, like for some of the people and the executives, to actually read the books, get interested, get excited, and then drive everybody to get to follow it and understand it. It's a field that's still evolving. So it takes effort. Right? And then the infrastructure that's needed to do at-scale testing, and A/B testing, they're not cheap. It's expensive. Ajit: So, I think the question is, how many people are driving digital transformation? How many people are digitally savvy? How many companies are? And my sense is that that's a very small number. I think everybody's talking about digital transformation now, because of all the issues that are around them. But I can tell you that the number of companies that are digitally savvy after you take out some of the tech companies and the internet companies, is very small companies. There are a few who companies have a pretty big gap. So my sense is that they're not, probably, using it as much. Stephanie: Yeah. I completely agree. So, zoom out a bit for the last couple of minutes. In the world of e-commerce, are there any big disruptions you see coming or what do you see in the future, that you guys are planning for? Ajit: Well, I think this whole transformation, this whole crisis actually points to the fact that the digital transition will be much faster. I think that people have realized a couple of things. One, travel, may be overrated. People have realized that education, going to school, sitting in classrooms, may be overrated. People are going to realize that working from home is not such a big deal. And so, I think the workforce productivity, the online education, travel as a paradigm, and how companies operate, all of that will, I think, become ripe for disruption. So you will see, increasingly, technology solutions practices that's going to upend a lot of the work practices, and the educational practices. So that's happening. That's going to happen, and it's going to accelerate. Ajit: Clearly, I think that this will also boost some of the technology things like AR, VR, IOT, both from home and from work. I think it'll accelerate some of those things because it'll be a natural extension of some of the things that people are doing. I think the move to cloud is going to get accelerated, because I think everybody wants access to everything. As 5G comes, I think a lot of these things that are laborious today might experience a complete revival, and complete transformation when it comes to speed, and feel, and what's possible. So I think that the time is right for us to get much more digitally-connected. Ajit: The last one is mobile, in terms of what's going on with mobile and how mobile is going to get a face, or as 5G comes on. So it'll be interesting to see how retail, how millennials and gen-Zs, how SMBs, all of these groups of people that make up a pretty significant part of the population... I think students, gamers and SMB is probably at about 40% of the world's population. So you'll see that there's going to be a significant shift, quite rapidly, in the next three to five years. And there's going to be a considerable amount of disruption that'll happen as a result of this. Ajit: You will see winners and losers. This will be probably a long list of people we're going to go out of business if they're not able to adapt quickly to some of the changes that are happening. The companies that get it naturally will have much bigger gains, which will make them much more competitive, and difficult to beat. So you will see a lot of winners and losers emerging out of this whole crisis, and as the digital evolution continues in a significant way. Stephanie: Yeah. I love that answer. So before we move on to the lightning round, which is where we ask a question and you have one minute or less to answer, are there any other high-level thoughts or words of wisdom that you want to drop in the podcast? Ajit: No. Well, I just tell the people who are in this space, the eCommerce space, that their time has come, finally. So they should just buckle up and help their companies and see where the ride goes. Stephanie: I love that. All right. So the lightning round, like I said, brought to you by Salesforce Commerce Cloud, is where I will ask a question and you have one minute or less to answer it. Are you ready Ajit? Ajit: Okay. Stephanie: All right. What's up next in your travel destinations, after we're allowed to travel? Ajit: I would like to go to Cuba because I'm running very low on my cigars. Stephanie: Wow, that sounds cool. All right. What's up next on your Netflix queue? Ajit: I just finished Ozark. And I'm trying to figure it out how to watch The Last Dance. But it's not on Netflix, unfortunately. Stephanie: Maybe Hulu? Ajit: I've been watching Heist. So maybe I'll keep watching that. Stephanie: Cool. What's up next for... Is it lunchtime there? I guess a little bit past lunch. What's that next for dinner? Ajit: Dinner, I had cooked on the weekend, some lamb curry and some roti. So I'm going to just reheat that and eat it. Stephanie: Yum. What's up next on your podcast list or your reading list? Ajit: Ah, reading. I'm reading The Billion Dollar Whale. Stephanie: What's that one about? Ajit: It's about this dude, Wall Streeter, who basically flees a billion dollars right under the nose of Wall Street and big finance people and everybody else in the world. So it's like DiCaprio movie. Stephanie: Oh, which one is that? The Wolf of Wall Street? Ajit: The Wolf of Wall Street. So it's loosely a character like that. So I'm just a quarter into it. It's unbelievably engaging and interesting. Stephanie: I have to look into that. Ajit: Yeah, you should. It's pretty cool. Stephanie: You have a few, you said? A few more books that you're working on? Ajit: I still haven't finished Homo Sapiens, and some of the books that he had written. So I'm still trying to figure it out when I can finish those, with things slow. Stephanie: All right. What's your favorite tool or technology that you're either learning right now or you're thinking about implementing in the future? Or it could be a skill? Ajit: I don't know about skill. I don't know very many skills. Technology. We are constantly thinking about technology. And the big technology that we are thinking about is how to drive the subscriptions business. So it really is trying to figure out how to give customers the convenience of buying something as they pay-for-use concept. Because I think it's becoming very, very clear that the reason why people like Netflix and Adobe and some of our other customers and clients are successful, is because people are able to pay. And in [inaudible 00:58:45], I think that business model is very appropriate. People don't want to spend a lot of money upfront. So trying to figure out how to make their lives a little easier. Stephanie: Awesome. Yeah, I definitely- Ajit: Hello. Stephanie: Subscription business. All right, the last big one. So it sounds like you guys are doing a great job of staying ahead of expectation, and your competition. So in your opinion, what's up next for e-commerce professionals? Ajit: Well, I think it will become a key priority for most organizations. I think the digital transformation plus e-commerce, if they are in a business that does e-commerce, will become a major priority. The key will be to try and figure out how to build out that strategy in a meaningful way. If they are global, I think they have to figure out how to make it more global. If they are not global, they have to figure out how to get more local. Either way, you really have to figure out what that business model will look like. And it's not going to be easy because you have to deal with legacy systems, and you have to deal with legacy operating processes, and you have to deal with the legacy sales force and the legacy set of go-to-market strategies. So trying to figure out how to meaningfully make sense of it. There's a bunch of companies that are doing well. But there's going to be a bunch of companies that will have to figure this thing out. So they will be busy, and they will be in demand. Stephanie: Awesome. Love it. Any final plugs before we hop off the podcast? Ajit: No. I just want to say that if you have good people that work for you, you should try and figure out how to hold on to them, because it's going to get a mad rush to get to good people. Stephanie: Oh yeah. I completely agree with that one. All right. Ajit, it's been a blast. Thanks so much for coming on the show. Ajit: Thank you so much, Stephanie. I enjoyed our conversation.  

Bona Fide Legal Podcast is a weekly podcast to help attorneys and business owners with time management and lifestyle tips. This podcast discusses Florence's schedule during the last two weeks and how things are opening back up in the courts and at the law office. The podcast also contains tips and recommendations for dealing with every day feeling the same. The podcast also has recommendations for the movie The Mandela Effect and the books, Killing Fields, Billion Dollar Whale and One of Us is Lying. #covid19, #covid19businesstips, #whatdayisit, #mandelaeffect, #themandelaeffect, #aaronhernandez, #oneofusislying

Introduced by Themis CEO, Dickon Johnstone and Compered by Wall Street Journal Editor EMEA, Thorold Barker, our listeners will get insight into the the 1MDB scandal that rocked the financial world. In part the story was exposed by Bradley Hope, Wall Street Journal Journalist.

Greg & Emma discuss the COVID-19 pandemic and share their frustrations about what people are and are not doing. Emma tries to convince Greg to watch "Love is Blind" and Greg provides a book report on "Billion Dollar Whale" at the end of the episode.

If you didn't hate this then definitely throw me a follow on Twitter, and check out my much better pod Deep Rex where I dive into a guest's hidden gem picks in specific areas/mediums, e.g., non-fiction, novels, albums, paintings, movies, or poetry.

  If you like global intrigue, financial crime, wealth porn, and absurdity, “Billion Dollar Whale,” by Tom Wright and Bradley Hope, is for you. It’s the story of Jho Low, an enterprising businessman from Malaysia who used his social connections to the country’s former Prime Minister Najib Razak to transform himself into an international financier. According to Wright and Hope’s account, Low persuaded Razak to create an investment fund, 1MDB, financed with government money, which Low managed behind the scenes. Goldman Sachs and other banks helped raise ten billion dollars for the fund. Then approximately five billion dollars of the money disappeared, prompting an international scandal. Sheelah Kolhatkar; September 28, 2018; The New Yorker "I met these guys, and said to my girlfriend Anne, ‘these guys are #@&%ing criminals… this is a #@&%ing scam, anybody who does this has stolen money.‘ You wouldn't spend money you worked for like that." Jordan Belfort; January, 2017; com "I am very pleased to confirm that a landmark comprehensive, global settlement has been reached with the United States government." Jho Low; October, 2019   This week on InSecurity, Matt Stephenson welcomes Pulitzer Prize nominated journalist Bradley Hope for a conversation detailing the mindboggling saga of Jho Low and his jaw dropping tale of theft and debauchery. How do you break into Hollywood, New York society and Global Financial Markets? Having $5 BILLION in purloined money in your pocket certainly helps. Stick around…   About Bradley Hope   Bradley Hope (@bradleyhope) has worked for the Wall Street Journal for the last four years, covering finance and malfeasance from New York City and London.   Before that, he spent six years as a correspondent in the Middle East, where he covered the Arab Spring uprisings from Cairo, Tripoli, Tunis, and Beirut. He was detained by authorities in Bahrain, reported from the front lines of the Libyan civil war, and has been teargassed in raucous Egyptian protests.   Bradley is a Pulitzer finalist and a Loeb winner, and also author of Last Days of the Pharaoh, a chronicle of the final days and hours of the presidency of Hosni Mubarak.     “Billion Dollar Whale,” an Absurd Tale of Financial Fraud     The definitive inside account of the 1MDB scandal, a true life thriller about a modern Gatsby who managed to swindle over $5 billion with the aid of Goldman Sachs and others.   Billion Dollar Whalre is an epic tale that exposes the secret nexus of elite wealth, banking, Hollywood, and politics from two award-winning Wall Street Journal reporters.   In 2009, with the dust yet to settle on the financial crisis, a baby-faced, seemingly mild-mannered Wharton grad began setting in motion a fraud of unprecedented gall and magnitude--one that would come to symbolize the next great threat to the global financial system. His name is Jho Low, a man whose behavior was so preposterous he might seem made up.    An epic true-tale of hubris and greed, Billion Dollar Whale reveals how this young social climber pulled off one of the biggest heists in history--right under the nose of the global financial industry. Federal agents who helped unravel Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme say the 1MDB affair will become the textbook case of financial fraud in the modern age--and its fallout is already being credited for taking down the prime minister of Malaysia.    For readers of Liar's Poker, Den of Thieves, and Bad Blood, Billion Dollar Whale will become a classic, harrowing parable about finance run amok.    About Matt Stephenson   Insecurity Podcast host Matt Stephenson (@packmatt73) leads the Security Technology team at Cylance, which puts him in front of crowds, cameras, and microphones all over the world. He is the regular host of InSecurity podcast and video series at events all over the world.   Twenty years of work with the world’s largest security, storage, and recovery companies has introduced Stephenson to some of the most fascinating people in the industry. He wants to get those stories told so that others can learn from what has come   Every week on InSecurity, Matt interviews leading authorities in the security industry to gain an expert perspective on topics including risk management, security control friction, compliance issues, and building a culture of security. Each episode provides relevant insights for security practitioners and business leaders working to improve their organization’s security posture and bottom line.   Can’t get enough of Insecurity? You can find us at ThreatVector InSecurity Podcasts, Apple Podcasts and GooglePlay as well as Spotify, Stitcher, SoundCloud, I Heart Radio and wherever you get your podcasts!   Make sure you Subscribe, Rate and Review!

It's been called one of the world's biggest financial heists. When the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund 1MDB was set up in 2009, its purpose was supposedly to develop the country's infrastructure and economy. Instead, the US Department of Justice alleges that $4.5 billion dollars was stolen from it.This week on Asia Matters, Andrew Peaple is joined by Tom Wright, co-author of 'Billion Dollar Whale', the story of the scandal and specifically the fugitive financier at its heart, Jho Low. Mr Low has released a statement saying that the book "is written with allegations disguised as fact and gossip passed off as legitimate reporting. The narrative is framed to allow the authors to write about celebrities, and models and parties, without ever proving any of the allegations." Mr Low's whereabouts are unknown, and he continues to evade the authorities - most recently reports claimed he had been sighted in India. The fallout from 1MDB continues elsewhere too - this week the former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak is expected to go on trial again for his alleged role in it. Like Mr Low, he denies all wrongdoing. Asia Matters is a new podcast that aims to look beyond the headlines on Asia. Please get in touch at AsiaMattersPod@gmail.com for comments, suggestions and critiques. You can also follow us on Twitter: @AsiaMattersPod.Support the show (https://twitter.com/AsiaMattersPod)

The Coconuts Podcast delivers impactful, weird, and wonderful reporting by our journalists on the ground in eight cities: Singapore, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Manila, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Yangon, and Bali. Listen to headline news and insightful interviews on matters large and small, designed for people located in – or curious about – Southeast Asia and Hong Kong.Download or stream it now from a variety of platforms including on Coconuts.co, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and Whooshka. We've also partnered with Google to bring The Coconuts Podcast to all of its Google Assistant-powered devices, from smartphones to home automation systems.

Market Strategist Bill Blain looks at critical themes in the global markets.  This week, Boeing is one of the stocks that worries the market most. The discredited B-737 Max remains grounded, and the aircraft maker is seeing sales fall. Investors are losing faith in its management.  The issues are multiple, but its not just facing crisis today. Its going to be long-term weak because its failed to invest in developing new products, like a new replacement modern aircraft for the 50 year old B-737 Design. Instead it spent its revenues on stock buybacks instead - to push up the price of its equity which got executives bigger bonuses. As a result, its seriously damaged its future prospects. And its the not the only firm that's made the same mistake. If you want a great book to read, try the Billion Dollar Whale, the story of how a Malaysian Development fund 1MDB was raided by kleptocrats and playboys. What is worrying is the involvement of Goldman Sachs. It earned massive fees raising money for the fund. They might not be guilty themselves of the Fraud, but their systems never spotted what was going on - and thats a massive fail! Even as Goldman looks likely to get away with substantial fines, 2 British bankers have been extradited to the US to face trial for "Libor Fixing" which will likely see them jailed - its a non-crime.  Finally, lets talk about Brexit. Its a failure of British Politics. At then end of the day the UK leaving the European Community will become a footnote in the history books. It won't be the end of the World. Yet it dominates everything in the UK. We are now trapped in a strange limbo with no majority leadership and no signs of an election any time soon. Can we please just get on with it! 

Today we're recapping the live show at Peppermint. YUUUUUGE success . American's needing to make $500k to be in the 1%, where most of the millennial millionaires live, doctors urging flu shots, Uber to have a Showtime series?, Authentic Brands bid on Barneys, Juul suspending fruity flavors, Nike accused of cheating, Netflix Q3 earnings and everyones favorite - winners/losers & content. Full recap of Group Chat Live at the Peppermint Club. [0:58] The price tag to being rich in America is getting higher and higher.  [11:45] Where do the ‘Millennial Millionaires’ live? [14:57] What’s the deal with the flu shot? [19:14] Story about Uber + Creators of Billions = Dream come true. [23:21] Authentic brands teams up with Saks to make $271M bid for Barneys. [27:17] Quit before your fired: Juul suspends sales of fruity flavors ahead of looming ban. [30:28] The end of an era: Nike to officially stop selling to independent retailers. [35:21] Nike accused of cheating. [42:25] The Netflix Q3 earnings are in... [46:47] Weekley Winners & Losers. [50:11] Hottest Content for the Weekend. [1:01:07] Related Links/Products Mentioned Group Chat News (@groupchatpod) • Instagram Group Chat Newsletter Top 1% Millennial Millionaires Flu shots Uber/Showtime Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber Book Bid for Barneys Juul Nike Nike/Cheating Scandal Netflix Q3 earnings Living with Yourself | Netflix Official Site (Dee Rec) Tom Wright on ‘Billion Dollar Whale’ (Anand Rec) The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company - Book (Drama Rec) Send the guys questions! GroupChatquestions@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's podcast review comes from this blog post review of Billion Dollar Whale. 

Visit MaximumLawyer.com for complete show notes of each podcast episode, tips, hacks and more resources!    Today on the show we have Michael Foster and Brian Wallace, co-founders of Foster & Wallace. Their firm is based in Kansas City and is brand new-less than a year old. We’ll discuss taking the leap from BigLaw to running a practice, the biggest challenges they’ve faced in making the transition, running a firm with two different practice areas, establishing yourself with a website, all while staying focused and organized throughout the process. Hacking’s Hack: Ryan McKeen said at the beginning of the year that he’s done reading business books. I’m reading a book right now called Billion Dollar Whale. Think modern day Malaysian Gatsby except it all really happened. Tyson’s Tip: Two books by Russell Brunston- .com secrets and expert secrets. I use these as desk references.   Michael’s Tip: Have coffee to network rather than lunch. Saves money and is better on the waistline. Ask for 5-star reviews from everyone you work with.   Brian’s Tip: When you’ve got business partners its important to be open and transparent. Leave it all out there.   Check them out at FosterWallace.com   Make sure to register for MaxLawCon19, June 6 and 7 in St.Louis.   For more content from us please subscribe to our Youtube Channel   Thanks so much for listening to the show! If you want to know more about this and keep on maximizing your firm, please join our Facebook Group or like us on Facebook and comment!   You can also go to MaximumLawyer.com or, if you’d prefer, email us at: info@maximumlawyer.com   Interested in being on the show? Shoot us an email at support@maximumlawyer.com or message us on Facebook!   Welcome to the Maximum Lawyer Podcast. Partner up, and maximize your firm.

In the first episode of his new podcast series, Kieran Beer sits down with author and Wall Street Journal reporter Bradley Hope to examine the story behind the story of the 1MDB scandal. Bradley and fellow WSJ reporter Thomas Wright co-authored "Billion Dollar Whale", the story of Malaysian national Jho Low, and how he managed to steal billions from Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB). And while the role of the Compliance Officer may have grown in prominence over the last decade, the subtext of "Billion Dollar Whale" is that their warnings are still being routinely ignored when big money is at stake. Amongst the accounts of vast excess - private jets, yachts and celebrity parties we ask: how did the perpetrators of the 1MDB scandal keep up the charade of legitimacy for so long? Read more of Kieran Beer's thoughts on the book at https://www.moneylaundering.com/news/from-the-editor-compliance-officers-still-routinely-ignored/ Find Bradley on Twitter www.twitter.com/bradleyhope

Jho Low makes a bid for T.H.E. Audio Book Club hall of fame

Coté has a late night, mental breakdown about scorecards. Can Brandon save him? Also, kafka, Travis CI, and snow. Relevant to your interests Atlassian surpassed $1B in calendar-year revenue in 2018 (https://www.zdnet.com/article/atlassian-surpassed-1b-in-calendar-year-revenue-in-2018/) Google remains the top open-source contributor to CNCF projects (https://techcrunch.com/2019/01/17/google-remains-the-top-open-source-contributor-to-cncf-projects/) Oracle exec: Open-source vendors locking down licences proves 'they were never really open (https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/01/17/oracle_exec_opensource_vendors_locking_down_licenses_proves_they_were_never_really_open/)’ Morgan Stanley Downgrades Oracle Stock on Dim Growth Prospects (https://www.barrons.com/articles/oracle-stock-morgan-stanley-downgrades-51547572633) Vodafone signs $550m deal with IBM to offload cloud biz (https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/01/18/vodafone_signs_550m_deal_with_ibm_to_offload_cloud_biz/) Insiders say that Google's new cloud boss is likely to make some very large acquisitions (https://www.businessinsider.com/new-google-cloud-ceo-thomas-kurian-acquisitions-2019-1) 'The goal is to automate us': welcome to the age of surveillance capitalism (https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/jan/20/shoshana-zuboff-age-of-surveillance-capitalism-google-facebook) Just forget what Gartner said about AI in June 'cos CIOs are all over it now apparently (http://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2019/01/21/gartner_ai_cio_research/) Open-Source Unicorn: Confluent Reaches $2.5 Billion Valuation Three Years After Hiring Its First Sales Rep (https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexkonrad/2019/01/23/open-source-unicorn-confluent-reaches-25-billion-valuation-three-years-after-hiring-its-first-sales-rep/) Travis CI joins the Idera family (https://blog.travis-ci.com/2019-01-23-travis-ci-joins-idera-inc) IBM Boasts Another Big Win, Touts Hybrid Cloud Prowess (https://www.sdxcentral.com/articles/news/ibm-boasts-another-big-win-touts-hybrid-cloud-prowess/2019/01/?utm_source=feedblitz&utm_medium=FeedBlitzRss&utm_campaign=sdxcentral) Microsoft wins cloud business from Albertsons as fear of Amazon grows among retailers (https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/23/microsoft-signs-cloud-deal-with-albertsons.html) Non Sense Oreo Competitor Makes Federal Case Out of ‘Cutthroat’ Cookie Rivalry (https://www.wsj.com/articles/food-fight-in-the-cookie-aislehydrox-vs-oreo-turns-cutthroat-11547740235) ROAD TRIP! Buc-ee's opens 1st location outside of Texas (https://abc13.com/business/road-trip-buc-ees-opens-1st-location-outside-of-texas/5099836/) Sponsors Solarwinds To learn more or try the company’s DevOps products for free, visit https://solarwinds.com/devops. Arrested DevOps Subscribe to the Arrested DevOps podcast by visiting https://www.arresteddevops.com/ Conferences, et. al. ALERT! DevOpsDays Discount - DevOpsDays MSP (https://www.devopsdays.org/events/2019-minneapolis/welcome/), August 6th to 7th, $50 off with the code SDT2019 (https://www.eventbrite.com/e/devopsdays-minneapolis-2019-tickets-51444848928?discount=SDT2019). 2019, a city near you: The 2019 SpringTours are posted (http://springonetour.io/). Coté will be speaking at many of these, hopefully all the ones in EMEA. They’re free and all about programming and DevOps things. Free lunch and stickers! Jan 28th to 29th, 2019 - SpringOne Tour Charlotte (https://springonetour.io/2019/charlotte), $50 off with the code S1Tour2019_100. Feb 12th to 13th, 2019 - SpringOne Tour St. Louis (https://springonetour.io/2019/st-louis). $50 off the code S1Tour2019_100. Mar 7th to 8th, 2019 - Incontro DevOps in Bologna (https://2019.incontrodevops.it/), Coté speaking. Mar 13th, 2019 - Coté speaking at (platform as a product) (https://www.meetup.com/Continuous-Delivery-Amsterdam/events/258120367/) - Continuous Delivery, Amsterdam. Mar 18th to 19th, 2019 - SpringOne Tour London (https://springonetour.io/2019/london). Get £50 off ticket price of £150 with the code S1Tour2019_100. Mar 21st to 2nd, 2019 (https://springonetour.io/2019/amsterdam) - SpringOne Tour Amsterdam. Get €50 off ticket price of €150 with the code S1Tour2019_100. Get a Free SDT T-Shirt Write an iTunes review of SDT and get a free SDT T-Shirt. Write an iTunes Review on the SDT iTunes Page. (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/software-defined-talk/id893738521?mt=2) Send an email to stickers@softwaredefinedtalk.com (mailto:stickers@softwaredefinedtalk.com) and include the following: T-Shirt Size (Only Large or X-Large remain), Preferred Color (Gray, Black) and Postal address. First come, first serve. while supplies last! Can only ship T-Shirts within the United State SDT news & hype Join us in Slack (http://www.softwaredefinedtalk.com/slack). Follow us on Twitter (https://twitter.com/softwaredeftalk), Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/softwaredefinedtalk/) or LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/software-defined-talk/) Send your postal address to stickers@softwaredefinedtalk.com (mailto:stickers@softwaredefinedtalk.com) and we will send you a sticker. Listen to the Software Defined Interviews Podcast (https://www.softwaredefinedinterviews.com/). Check out the back catalog (http://cote.coffee/howtotech/). Brandon built the Quick Concall iPhone App (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/quick-concall/id1399948033?mt=8) and he wants you to buy it for $0.99. Recommendations Brandon: (https://www.audible.com/pd/Billion-Dollar-Whale-Audiobook/1478948000?qid=1548351044&sr=1-1&ref=a_search_c3_lProduct_1_1&pf_rd_p=e81b7c27-6880-467a-b5a7-13cef5d729fe&pf_rd_r=D3A67G0APYVG06H98NGK&)Billion Dollar Whale (https://www.audible.com/pd/Billion-Dollar-Whale-Audiobook/1478948000?qid=1548351044&sr=1-1&ref=a_search_c3_lProduct_1_1&pf_rd_p=e81b7c27-6880-467a-b5a7-13cef5d729fe&pf_rd_r=D3A67G0APYVG06H98NGK&), Malaysia Wants Goldman’s Money Back (https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-01-18/malaysia-wants-goldman-s-money-back). Coté: UNIQLO HEATTECH (https://www.uniqlo.com/uk/en/men/featured/heattech), as soft as a fancy conference t-shirt. Herbarium (https://www.ceskatelevize.cz/telexport/programmes?kategorie=24&porad=770), dubbed in English - “that’s Jim’s spatula!” Outro: "'93 'til Infinity." (https://genius.com/Souls-of-mischief-93-til-infinity-lyrics)

How can a gay person come out in a conservative society? The Kunyits share their own (non-) coming out experiences and discuss acknowledging their sexuality to themselves, family and friends, as well as to their bosses. They also put a spotlight on bold, queer Singaporean YouTubers Hirzi Zulkiflie and Dee Kosh, and chat briefly on the tale that is the Billion Dollar Whale. Check us out on Facebook: facebook.com/KunyitSquared Twitter: twitter.com/KunyitSquared

Jho Low and his fellow schemers made off with $2.7 billion in one of the most extensive grifts of all time. Did you like the movie The Wolf of Wall Street? Well, it was financed with money from this scheme. Oriana talks with NY Post reporter Kevin Dugan and The Verge reporter Sean O'Kane about this Stefon bit of a grift. Maybe get yourself a copy of "Billion Dollar Whale" (by Wall Street Journal reporters Bradley Hope and Tom Wright) before listening. Photo from Jessica Simpson (https://www.flickr.com/photos/jeslettt/) via Flickr under Creative Commons license.

In de 8e aflevering van de Business Books Podcast bespreken Thijs Peters (business journalist) en Remy Ludo Gieling (hoofdredacteur Sprout) de lessen uit: » Blitzscaling van Reid Hoffman over hypergroei. » Interview met meesteronderhandelaar en Harvard-professor Dan Shapiro. » Leren we waarom je (niet) in cryptovaluta moet stappen. » Bespreken we de roof van de eeuw met het boek A BIllion Dollar Whale waarin Jho Low miljarden verduister uit het Maleisische staatsfonds. Meer luisteren of de boeken bestellen, dat kan via www.businessbookspodcast.nl.

The new book “Billion Dollar Whale” chronicles the Malaysian mega-scandal involving Goldman Sachs and Leonardo DiCaprio. Co-author Tom Wright joined Breakingviews in Hong Kong to discuss how alleged mastermind Jho Low pulled it off and what the saga's next chapter may bring. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Bradley Hope is a finance and malfeasance reporter for the Wall Street Journal and his latest book is “Billion Dollar Whale: The Man Who Fooled Wall Street, Hollywood, and the World.” Bradley is a Pulitzer finalist and winner of the Gerald Loeb Award for international reporting and the TRACE International Award for Investigative Reporting. “Billion Dollar Whale” profiles a man named Jho Low – a young Malaysian man from a relatively wealthy family. He grew up attending the best boarding schools and finished up schooling at The Wharton School. During his time at Wharton he created a private equity group. He was able to get some of his wealthier friends and their parents to throw money into the fund. From a young age he knew what made people tick and had a talent connecting with very wealthy and strong political figures. Jho eventually got an audience with the Prime Minister of Malaysia to set up a fund for the Prime Minister’s campaign – this is where the real story of Jho Low starts to unfold. Jho quickly went from a guy with a million or so dollars to worth about $700 million over night. He began throwing extravagant parties, renting private yachts and planes, and rubbing elbows with the world’s elite. He started buying giant stakes in companies and was even able to borrow 6 ½ billion from Goldman Sachs. The extent of how much he has stolen and from who is still largely unknown. Jho Low figured out how the world works, develop relationships and was the king of understanding that you could buy just about everything. With the scandal still unfolding in real time, Bradley’s book has created waves in countries around the world. In this episode of Trend Following Radio: The Wolf of Wall Street Sovereign wealth funds Money laundering Goldman Sachs Banking compliance

Anna and Annie discuss the Prime Minister's Awards shortlists; and the alternative Nobel Prize for Literature has been awarded to Maryse Conde. Our book of the week is Billion Dollar Whale by Tom Wright and Bradley Hope.  The true story of the 1MDB scandal involving Jho Low, the Malaysian Prime Minster and The Wolf of Wall Street, soon to be made into a movie by the producers of Crazy Rich Asians.  Is there such a thing as a financial thriller?  Next week, Anna, Annie and Amanda are reading Bridge of Clay by Marcus Zusak. Follow us! Facebook: Books on the Go Email: booksonthegopodcast@gmail.com Instagram: @abailliekaras and @mr_annie Twitter: @abailliekaras and @captain_midget Litsy: @abailliekaras and @mr_annie Credits: Artwork: Sascha Wilcosz

A special discussion with the Wall Street Journal journalist, Tom Wright, who dropped by to discuss his new book Billion Dollar Whale which he co-wrote with Bradley Hope. Its a story from the outer reaches of capitalism and international corruption. In a story far wilder than fiction Wright takes us on a guided tour of the 1MDB scandal.

Tom Wright reads from his book  ‘Billion Dollar Whale’ giving an insider’s look into Jho Low and the 1MDB scandal.

Wall Street supposedly cleaned up its act after the Great Recession. How then could the biggest banking fraud ever unfold in the years after 2008? Tom Wright, author of “Billion Dollar Whale,” joins Robert & Kim to discuss a bank fraud that resembles a Hollywood thriller, except it’s true, and still unfolding. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Billion Dollar Whale, multi-billion dollar heists, sovereign wealth funds, and the trade war with China on this week's episode with Felix Salmon, Anna Szymanski, Emily Peck, and Tom Wright. In the Slate Plus segment, Felix, Anna, Emily and Tom discuss the epic partying and celebrity relationships of Jho Low. Email: slatemoney@slate.comTwitter:@felixsalmon, @Three_Guineas, @EmilyRPeck, @TomWrightAsia Production by Max Jacobs. Listen to Slate Money via Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Billion Dollar Whale, multi-billion dollar heists, sovereign wealth funds, and the trade war with China on this week's episode with Felix Salmon, Anna Szymanski, Emily Peck, and Tom Wright. In the Slate Plus segment, Felix, Anna, Emily and Tom discuss the epic partying and celebrity relationships of Jho Low. Email: slatemoney@slate.comTwitter:@felixsalmon, @Three_Guineas, @EmilyRPeck, @TomWrightAsia Production by Max Jacobs. Listen to Slate Money via Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, on Bookmark, Uma is joined by BFM's very own Melisa Idris and Keith Kam for an in depth look at Tom Wright and Bradley Hope's epic expose on the secret life of Jho Low.

This week, on Bookmark, Uma is joined by BFM's very own Melisa Idris and Keith Kam for an in depth look at Tom Wright and Bradley Hope's epic expose on the secret life of Jho Low.