Season 4, Episode 1: ESPN

Acquired

Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal

Venturecapital, Ma, Investing, Acquisitions, Startups, Vc, Investment, Business, Technology

4.8 • 2.9K Ratings

🗓️ 21 January 2019

⏱️ 86 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Booyah! Acquired, the worldwide leader in acquisitions and IPOs, kicks off Season 4 with a classic: ESPN. How did a failed former TV weatherman end up building the world’s most valuable media company on top of a dump (quite literally) in Bristol, Connecticut? We follow the incredible entrepreneurial journey from Getty Oil diversification strategy to Berkshire Hathaway home run to Disney crown jewel. This Is Awesome, Baby!!

Sponsors:
Vanta: https://bit.ly/acquiredvanta

Statsig: bit.ly/statsigacquired
Modern Treasury: https://bit.ly/acquiredmoderntreasury

Links:

ESPN’s first moments on air: https://www.espnfrontrow.com/2018/12/espn-remembers-lee-leonard/
The Outsiders Book: https://www.amazon.com/Outsiders-Unconventional-Radically-Rational-Blueprint-ebook/dp/B009G1T74O/

Carve Outs:

Ben: Numbers Geek with Steve Ballmer: The Basketball Box Score Mystery https://www.geekwire.com/2019/numbers-geek-steve-ballmer-basketball-box-score-mystery/
David: Fast Company on Masa, “The most powerful person in Silicon Valley” https://www.fastcompany.com/90285552/the-most-powerful-person-in-silicon-valley

Transcript

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0:00.0	And to be completely honest, I'm Ben Gilman. of Acquired, the podcast about technology acquisitions and IPOs.
0:24.4	I'm Ben Gilbert.
0:25.2	I'm David Rosenthal, and we are your hosts.
0:28.2	Today we are covering a company that is absolutely synonymous with sports.
0:32.7	E-SPN.
0:33.8	The worldwide leader.
0:34.8	Indeed, and as they say in the very first moments of their 1979
0:38.6	broadcast, if you're a fan, if you're a fan, what you'll see in the next minutes, hours, and days to follow may
0:46.0	convince you you've gone to sports heaven.
0:49.4	Indeed, required it has gone to Sports7 here.
0:53.0	It was obligatory.
0:55.0	For a long time listeners to the show, you know that we cover, you know, typically one acquisition
0:59.7	and that we talk about it and we grade it and we have a pre-standard format.
1:03.3	This episode covers not one acquisition but three, each one sort of fairly monumental.
1:09.7	And I want to outline what that's going to be so that the story has a little bit of structure to it.
1:13.4	As I mentioned the first broadcast was in 79. E-S-P-N was acquired by ABC in 1984.
1:21.6	Just one year later in a surprising turn of events the smaller capital cities
1:26.1	Broadcasting Corporation incredibly bought ABC took its name and got ESPN along with it.
1:32.8	And then finally in 1996, 95 96,
1:36.9	there was a $19 billion buyout of ABC by the one and only Disney.
1:44.0	And a little teaser, the capital city's acquisition
1:47.4	had a little help on the way from a certain oracle in Omaha.
	...

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