Corner Office from Marketplace

Jane Rosenthal is a film producer with a side gig as a CEO of the Tribeca Film Festival

Wed, 24 Apr 2019 15:11:16 -0500

Running the Tribeca Film Festival is Jane Rosenthal’s side hustle. Rosenthal co-founded it with her producing partner, Robert De Niro, in the aftermath of 9/11 when few visitors wanted to make their way downtown. Her more than 50 credits include movies like “Meet the Parents,” “Bohemian Rhapsody” and the upcoming Martin Scorsese directed crime drama “The Irishman," which will be released by Netflix later this year. She talked with us about why she doesn’t like the word “content,” what she does like about video games and why she’s excited for the way Netflix has disrupted the movie business.

RERUN: Jamie Dimon on what keeps him up at night

Wed, 10 Apr 2019 13:47:37 -0500

Jamie Dimon led JPMorgan Chase & Co. through the financial crisis. Today, it’s the largest bank in the United States, managing nearly $3 trillion – more than the gross domestic product of several countries. Now, though, he’s more worried about cyber security. And yes, he does know what he wants to do when he (eventually) retires.

This interview was originally released October 3, 2018

The IMF's Christine Lagarde knows you're anxious about the future

Wed, 27 Mar 2019 11:04:50 -0500

One of the few women leading global economic policy today is Christine Lagarde, the head of the International Monetary Fund. She says the biggest problems of our day, from cyberthreats to climate change, can't be solved "by turning inwards, by looking at your belly button." She describes herself as part architect, part firefighter and explains why she thinks banks would be better off if more of them had female CEOs.

How Duolingo's CEO harnessed our game addiction for good

Wed, 13 Mar 2019 15:39:13 -0500

You already know Luis von Ahn's work. He helped create CAPTCHA, the technology that helps control spam on the internet and crowd-sources humans to help computers read and digitize old text. In 2012, he co-founded Duolingo, a free language learning app. To him, the app was meant to solve "this mismatch where most of the people trying to learn a language didn't have $1,000, whereas the software that would teach you a language cost about $1,000." Von Ahn says there are now more Americans learning on his app than there are in the public school system. Why? Because Duolingo works like a video game.

Why no Wall Street CEO went to jail after the financial crisis

Tue, 26 Feb 2019 13:49:20 -0600

Millions of people lost their homes, their jobs and their savings during the financial crisis. The resulting recession destroyed over $30 trillion of the world's wealth. Although the crisis grew out of big banks’ handling of mortgage-backed securities, no Wall Street CEO served time for it. So what happened? We spent the past year reporting on how the crisis changed America, and this was the question we were asked the most. On this special episode of Corner Office, we have the answer.

Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg on manufacturing in America today

Mon, 11 Feb 2019 13:25:01 -0600

Dennis Muilenburg started as an intern at Boeing in 1985 and never left. The aerospace company is America's largest exporter, the Defense Department's second-biggest contractor, and since Muilenburg became CEO, its annual revenue topped $100 billion for the first time. We visited the company's headquarters in Chicago to talk with Muilenburg about biking 10,000 miles a year, his differences with the president, and why manufacturing in America today is “harder than it’s ever been."

Goodyear CEO Rich Kramer talks about changing the tire shopping experience

Wed, 23 Jan 2019 11:00:09 -0600

If you own a car, then you know that taking it to the shop can be a pain. But the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company wants to make it easier to understand how the rubber — literally — meets the road. One of the largest tire companies in the world, Goodyear has been around for over 100 years. Chairman and CEO Rich Kramer tells us although tires haven't changed much, consumer behaviors and technology have.

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Inside the business of basketball with Los Angeles Lakers CEO Jeanie Buss

Wed, 02 Jan 2019 11:42:26 -0600

The Los Angeles Lakers are more than just a basketball team. They are also a global brand worth $3.3 billion, one of the most successful franchises in the NBA and fundamentally an entertainment company with outsized influence. Lately though, the team has struggled to deliver on the court, missing the playoffs five years in a row. Back in October, we drove across town to the Los Angeles Lakers' new headquarters in El Segundo, California, to talk with CEO and co-owner Jeanie Buss. She showed Marketplace host Kai Ryssdal around her basketball empire and talked about some of the tough choices she's had to make trying get the Lakers back on top.

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SpaceX's Gwynne Shotwell says we'll be on Mars within 10 years

Wed, 12 Dec 2018 11:45:32 -0600

SpaceX may be the face of the private space industry now, but it wasn't always that way. In the 16 years since its founding, the company went from curious newcomer to leading the sector. And the reason? It's made a business out of building and launching affordable, reusable rockets, attracting clients like NASA who use SpaceX rockets to get their devices into space. Elon Musk may be the company's founder and CEO, but Gwynne Shotwell has been the company's chief operating officer for over a decade and is the person running the company day to day. Marketplace host Kai Ryssdal took a tour with Shotwell of SpaceX's flagship manufacturing facility, where they talked about the state of the commercial space industry, what it's like to run a rocket company and the plan to put people on Mars within 10 years.

Editor's note (Dec. 12, 2018): The headline has been updated.

Glassdoor CEO says where you work is one of the most important decisions of your life

Wed, 05 Dec 2018 09:59:10 -0600

Glassdoor is one of the world’s largest job and recruiting sites. It’s probably best known as a place where you can rate your employer and get salary information for different companies. Before co-founding Glassdoor, chief executive Robert Hohman started his career as a software developer at Microsoft and was one of the earliest employees to work on Microsoft Expedia Travel Services, an online travel platform that would later become Expedia. Hohman sat down with us to talk about why he became interested in starting this company and the importance of transparency in employment.

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AEG CEO says the company is recession resistant

Wed, 14 Nov 2018 14:07:58 -0600

AEG is an international sports and entertainment company. It owns and operates, or is affiliated with, more than 120 of the world's biggest venues and entertainment districts, such as the O2 Arena in London, Mercedes-Platz in Berlin, the Barclays Center and PlayStation Theater in New York, and the Staples Center and L.A. Live in Los Angeles. We went out to L.A. Live, a sports and entertainment district that is about a mile and a half away from Marketplace headquarters, to talk to Dan Beckerman, the president and CEO of AEG. While there, he gave us a tour of the Staples Center which is home to Los Angeles basketball teams the Clippers, the Lakers, and the Sparks, as well as the National Hockey League’s Los Angeles Kings.

Kaiser Permanente's CEO on the evolution of health care

Wed, 07 Nov 2018 13:47:46 -0600

It’s open enrollment time for health care plans, so we're talking to Bernard Tyson, CEO of Kaiser Permanente, one of the country’s largest health care and hospital organizations. He sat down with us to explain the dilemma of health insurance costs and what patients are getting with their coverage. “There are two parts to the affordability that I think about all the time,” Tyson said. “The affordability of coverage and the affordability of care. Those are two very different things.”

Why Charles Schwab's CEO strives for “less revenue per dollar.”

Wed, 31 Oct 2018 10:21:45 -0500

At the dawn of the financial crisis, Walt Bettinger took over as president and CEO of Charles Schwab from the company's founder and namesake. "It was an intense period. At that point in time, your actions weren't likely to change the trajectory of your company," Bettinger said. But under his leadership, he did change one of America's largest banks, taking it to an even larger scale. With millions of new accounts holding trillions of dollars, the company has seen record growth and earnings. He sat down with us to explain why, despite this growth, his company makes less profit off every dollar invested than its competitors — and why he takes pride in that.

Why RuPaul is the 'Queen of Queens'

Tue, 23 Oct 2018 12:54:54 -0500

It's hard to think about about the term "drag queen" and not think of RuPaul. He is probably best known for hosting "RuPaul's Drag Race" (for which he's won three Emmys, including this year's award for best reality TV competition), but he's also created an industry out of the drag world, which he's been a part of for over three decades. "I've earned the right to say I am definitely the Queen of Queens," RuPaul said. "I'm the most famous drag queen in the world. I'm the most famous drag queen ever in the history of humans on this planet."

The RealReal CEO Julie Wainwright isn't afraid of growing too fast

Wed, 17 Oct 2018 10:55:41 -0500

Would you buy a used luxury brand handbag? Maybe a watch or some shoes? Think Gucci, Chanel, Louis Vuitton, to name just a few. Julie Wainwright, CEO of The RealReal, knows pre-owned luxury goods are a big market, which led her to start her company. “We should be over a billion [dollars in sales] next year if we do our job right,” Wainwright told us during a tour of her e-commerce center in Secaucus, New Jersey.

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JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon doesn't think he has too much power in this economy

Wed, 03 Oct 2018 15:22:34 -0500

Jamie Dimon has been at the helm of JPMorgan Chase since 2005. As the largest bank in the United States, it manages nearly $3 trillion — more than the gross domestic product of several countries. Dimon is also the longest-serving chief executive on Wall Street. “It is a scary place to be,” he told Marketplace’s Kai Ryssdal. Ryssdal spoke with Dimon about a wide range of issues, including interest rates, wages and the financial crisis.

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Who is Michael Ovitz?

Wed, 26 Sep 2018 13:36:30 -0500

You may not know the name Michael Ovitz, but you almost certainly know his work. For years, he was one of the most powerful people in Hollywood, the deal-making talent agent behind "Jurassic Park," "Ghostbusters," "Tootsie," "Rain Man" and "Schindler's List," to name a few. Creative Artists Agency, the talent agency he co-founded and ran for two decades, represents Hollywood A-listers like Meryl Streep, George Clooney and Tom Hanks. Ovitz tells us how the practice of "packaging" talent together helped shift Hollywood's balance of power from studios to artists and their agents. He also reflects on how the industry has changed and Hollywood's #MeToo reckoning.

NerdWallet wants to help you with finance

Wed, 19 Sep 2018 10:17:44 -0500

It started with a simple Google search to compare credit cards, but when nothing helpful turned up, an idea was born. Tim Chen is the founder and CEO of NerdWallet, a financial advice website with more than 100 million yearly users. While struggling to compare credit cards online, he got the idea for a website with all types of financial advice and products. He told Kai Ryssdal that the idea resonated with millennials because “millennials are just used to comparing things. Even college professors.”

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Chegg CEO on shifting the company from textbooks to digital

Wed, 05 Sep 2018 15:45:39 -0500

When Dan Rosensweig took over as CEO of Chegg back in 2010, the company was mainly known for textbook rentals. The Chegg of today looks a little different. The company went public in 2013 and transitioned into subscription-based tools likes bibliography services, AI paper editors and tutors. We sat down with Rosensweig to talk about what it was like to lead the company through that transition and where a company like Chegg fits into the education landscape of today.

Who's the next great startup founder? Venture capitalists want to know.

Wed, 29 Aug 2018 09:48:34 -0500

Venture capital can turn a person with a great idea into a person that runs a company. “We are looking at companies and technology well before everyone else recognizes what it is and where it’s going,” says Ann Miura-Ko, co-founding partner at the VC firm Floodgate. She was an early investor in Lyft, TaskRabbit, Refinery29, ModCloth and more, and she's on the show this week telling us what venture capitalists do and their role in closing tech's diversity gap.

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The men's fashion company that's part apparel, part big data

Wed, 15 Aug 2018 14:04:56 -0500

Subscription box services may be the big apparel movement right now, but tech and data are allowing at least one company to go in a very different direction: custom tailoring. Colin Hunter is the CEO and co-founder of high-end men's fashion company Alton Lane, and his goal is to make that retail experience personal — like, really personal. His company uses body scanners to get your body measurements in a matter of seconds, which are then sent to fabric makers who construct garments to order (which, of course, is not cheap). Also, the company's showrooms have bartenders on duty to serve drinks. Hunter tells us why his company's brand of retail could be the future, and how customer data could change the role of retail as we know it.

Movie theater subscription service Sinemia is determined to make it work

Wed, 01 Aug 2018 15:32:37 -0500

You’ve probably heard of MoviePass, the subscription-based movie ticket service — yeah, the one having a lot of problems recently. Sinemia offers a similar ticket plan through their mobile app, but with a different business model. It's not a household name yet in North America, but Sinemia's expanded to Canada, Australia, the U.K. and now the U.S. Founder and CEO Rifat Oguz moved the company to Los Angeles last year, and he told us how he plans to make the movie subscription business work.

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The CEO who killed Archie and brought the brand back to life

Wed, 25 Jul 2018 13:41:13 -0500

Archie has always been a part of Jon Goldwater's life. His father, John, co-created the iconic character and the rest of the Riverdale gang. But under the younger Goldwater's tenure as co-CEO, the "Archie" of today looks pretty different from the "Archie" of yesteryear. From introducing the series' first openly gay main character, to Archie's infamous death, to the hit television show "Riverdale," Goldwater has ushered the "Archie" brand through a tremendous overhaul. Marketplace host Kai Ryssdal talks to Goldwater about those decisions, the challenges of taking over the family business, and where "Archie" may be headed next.

RERUN: Travel tips from the CEO of Marriott, Arne Sorenson

Wed, 04 Jul 2018 12:25:59 -0500

Arne Sorenson is only the third CEO in Marriott's history and the first not to have "Marriott" as his surname. In 2016, he oversaw the company's multi-billion dollar merger with Starwood Hotels and Resorts, making Marriott the largest hotel chain in the world by far. Sorenson joined host Kai Ryssdal from the lobby of the Ritz-Carlton in New York City to talk about how the travel ban has affected his business, that open letter he wrote to Donald Trump, why he hopes tax reform comes soon, what hotels of the future will look like and his personal tips for travel.

This episode was originally released October 4th, 2017

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The CEO of Zillow says we're missing millions of homes (thanks to the recession)

Wed, 20 Jun 2018 10:03:51 -0500

Spencer Rascoff has been at Zillow, the company familiar to many a person searching for a home or apartment, pretty much from the beginning. Since 2005, he's weathered the housing crisis and another housing boom. And as CEO, he's leading the real estate/tech/data company into a new market: buying and selling its own homes. He talked with us about where the housing market's been and where it's going.

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