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Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal

Every company has a story.

Learn the playbooks that built the world’s greatest companies — and how you can apply them.

Acquired

We dive into the unbelievable and unlikely history behind the quietest technology giant of them all: the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company. Founded in 1987 by the then-56 year old Morris Chang, already a legend in the semiconductor industry by virtue of his meteoric rise and fall at Texas Instruments, TSMC today manufactures nearly all the leading-edge chips for Nvidia, Apple, Broadcom, Qualcomm, AMD, and yes — even Intel. Tune in for an incredible story of innovation, perseverance and lasers. Lots and lots of lasers!

Note: this is a remastered version of our original 2021 episode. We don’t often re-release old episodes, but in this case we have a very timely reason for doing so. Stay tuned! :)

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Episode Sources
Carve Outs:

Ted Lasso (Season 1)GreekWho is Michael Ovitz?
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‍Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.

TSMC (Remastered)

We flew to Taiwan to interview TSMC Founder Morris Chang in a rare English interview. In fact, the last long-form video interview we could find was 17 years ago at the Computer History Museum… conducted by the one-and-only Jensen Huang! This episode came about after asking ourselves a version of the Jeff Bezos “regret minimization” question: what conversations would we most regret not having if the chance passed Acquired by? Dr. Chang was number one on our list, and thanks to a little help from Jensen himself, we’re so happy to make it happen.

Dr. Chang shares the stories of a few crucial moments from TSMC’s history which have only been written about in his (currently Chinese-only) memoirs, including how TSMC won Apple’s iPhone and Mac chip business and a 2009 discrepancy with NVIDIA that almost jeopardized their relationship, and the lessons he took from them. We can’t think of a better way to kick off 2025. Please enjoy!

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Links:

Worldly Partners’ Multi-Decade TSMC StudyKarina Bao’s writing
Carve Outs:

AAADefunctlandEverything Everywhere all at OnceAsianometry
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‍Notes: 

This episode contains a paid endorsement for Fundrise. All investments can lead to loss. 

Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.

TSMC Founder Morris Chang

Rolex is a series of paradoxes. They sell obsolete and objectively inferior mechanical devices for 10-1000x the price of their superior digital successors… and demand is stronger than ever in history! Their products are comparable to a Hermès Birkin bag in price, luxury status and waitlist times… yet they produce over 1m units / year (roughly 10x annual Birkin production). They make the most universally recognized and desired Swiss watches… yet their founder wasn’t Swiss and didn’t start the company in Switzerland! If Rolex were publicly traded, they’d almost certainly be among the top 50 market cap companies in the world… yet they’re 100% owned by a charitable foundation in Geneva that (among other things) literally just gives away money to local people in the city.

Tune in for one of the most fascinating and admirable companies we’ve ever covered on Acquired. We had an absolute blast making the episode, and hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

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Many thanks to our fantastic Spring ‘25 Season partners:

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Links:

The Renaissance of the Swiss Watch Industry - Marc BridgeHODINKEE - Inside All Four Rolex Manufacturing Facilities“If you were…” campaignWorldly Partners’ Multi-Decade Rolex StudyEpisode sources
Carve Outs:

BlueyAcquired on Armchair ExpertEleven Reader
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‍Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.

Rolex

When you saw this episode pop up in your feed, you either jumped for joy and hit play immediately (in which case you’re not reading this), or you said “Huh. That’s a surprising episode.” Well, if you’re in group two, boy do we have a treat for you!

IPL is the fastest-growing, most dynamic and most disruptive force in the sports industry today… and this may come as a shock to many Americans, but it might just be on track to surpass the NFL as the world’s most valuable sports league. The IPL is currently valued at $16B, with a TV rights deal that’s higher in per-match dollars than the NBA and the English Premier League. And all this for a league that’s right now just 10 teams who collectively only play 74 total games per season… and oh yeah, the whole thing is only 17 years old! Tune in for an absolutely amazing story, filled with genius, drama (Rupert Murdoch! Disney! Bollywood!) and a perfect encapsulation of the rise of modern India.

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Many thanks to our fantastic Spring ‘25 Season partners:

J.P. Morgan PaymentsServiceNowFundriseCrusoe
Links:

Save the date, July 15 in NYC!Ed Cowan’s Business Breakdowns of IPLWorldly Partners’ Multi-Decade IPL StudyEpisode sources
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SeveranceStratechery
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‍Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.

Indian Premier League Cricket

What if we told you that the most important company in US healthcare was run from a farm in rural Wisconsin? And that farm contained the world’s largest subterranean auditorium, as well as Disneyland—style replicas of Hogwarts and the Emerald City? What if we told you that the person who started, runs and owns this establishment has legally ensured that it will never be sold, never go public and never acquire another company? And that this person, Judy Faulkner, is also likely the wealthiest and most successful self-made woman in history?

Welcome to the story of Epic Systems, the software company that underpins the majority of the American healthcare system today. Epic isn’t “just” an electronic medical record (the category it’s usually lumped into), or an online patient portal (which is how most of the US population interacts with it via its MyChart application). It’s more akin to a central nervous system for hospitals and health clinics. Almost everything in a hospital — from patient interactions to billing, staffing, scheduling, prescriptions and even research — happens on Epic’s platform, and over 90% of American medical schools’ graduating doctors, nurses and health administrative staff are trained on it during their educations. Tune in as we dive into the almost-unbelievable story of how this epic company came to be!

Sponsors:

Many thanks to our fantastic Spring ‘25 Season partners:

J.P. Morgan PaymentsFundriseServiceNowCrusoe
Links:

Save the date, July 15 in NYC!Epic’s Verona campusWorldly Partners’ Multi-Decade Epic Systems StudyEpisode sources
Carve Outs:

Ken Block in San FranciscoNintendo Switch 2Knives OutBrat by Charli xcxMusic To Refine To: A Remix Companion to Severance by ODESZA
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‍Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.

Epic Systems (MyChart)

We sit down with Steve Ballmer, the legendary former Microsoft CEO and owner of the LA Clippers, for an epic conversation covering his 34 years at Microsoft. Steve listened to our Microsoft episodes and had some thoughts to share — and boy, did he deliver. Steve takes us point-by-point through the original IBM DOS deal that started everything, how he built Microsoft's enterprise business from scratch, and offers his candid reflections on missing mobile and search. We also cover the story behind “developers, developers, developers”, the complexities of his relationship with Bill Gates (including a year where they didn't speak), and why he ultimately decided to step down as CEO. Plus, we learn why Steve has held onto his Microsoft stock through it all — giving him arguably the best investment track record in the world over the last 10 years with his net worth growing from $20B to $130B since leaving. And of course, we couldn't resist also talking about his other passion: the Clippers and Intuit Dome. Hit play and get ready to experience the patented Steve Ballmer energy and fun on full display!

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Many thanks to our fantastic Summer ‘25 Season partners:

J.P. Morgan PaymentsStatsigVercelAnthropic
Links:

Steve's PowerPoint SlidesJoin us July 15 at Radio City!
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‍Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.

The Steve Ballmer Interview

Every company has a story. Learn the playbooks that built the world’s greatest companies — and how you can apply them. 

The episodes are deep and heavily-researched, uncovering the full histories behind household names you thought you already knew like Rolex, Amazon, Starbucks, or NVIDIA. Enjoy!

Trailer: What is Acquired?

Ben and David discuss Disney's acquisition of Pixar in 2006. Was it a success? If so, what are the criteria that made it work? What lessons can be learned for other acquisitions in the future?

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© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC

Episode 1: Pixar

Ben and David discuss Facebook's acquisition of Instagram in 2012. Was it a success? If so, what are the criteria that made it work? What lessons can be learned for other acquisitions in the future?

Sponsors:

WorkOS: https://bit.ly/workos25
Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentry
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© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC

Episode 2: Instagram

Ben and David discuss Amazon's acquisition of Twitch in 2014. Unlike previous episodes, this recent acquisition still has a lot of open questions, and Amazon hasn't publicly reported growth of Twitch since the purchase. Ben and David talk about Justin Kan's original product with Justin.tv, and the transformation into the Twitch that Emmett Shear is running today.

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WorkOS: https://bit.ly/workos25
Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentry
ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsn

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© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC

Episode 3: Twitch

We go deep behind the "epic" story of a plucky game developer from Cary, North Carolina (by way of Potomac, Maryland) which, after bootstrapping for its first 22 years, has quietly morphed into an $18b juggernaut that may become the most important technology company for the next evolution of the internet. And oh yeah, its founder, CEO and controlling shareholder? He cares more about land conservation than he does about money, he's beholden to no one and has the firepower of China's biggest internet giant behind him, and he's willing to stare down Apple, Google and anyone else who doesn't support his vision of an open and equal-opportunity internet future in a fight to the death. You'll want to buckle your seats for this one!! 

Sponsors:

WorkOS: https://bit.ly/workos25
Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentry
ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsn

More Acquired!:

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© Copyright 2015-2025 ACQ, LLC

New! We're codifying our own Playbook notes and takeaways from each episode and posting them on our website. Check it out: www.acquired.fm/episodes/epic-games

Links:

 • MTV Cribs, "Tim Sweeney Edition": 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRGUKMKadJ8
Carve Outs:

 • Ben's "3 part carve out": 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bErPsq5kPzE • - original video demo of Unreal Engine for filmmaking
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUnxzVOs3rk • - Feb 2020, video on "The Volume"
https://ascmag.com/articles/the-mandalorian • David 
 • Asimov's Foundation Series: 
 https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Asimovs-Foundation-Foundations-Prelude/dp/B01EFDEMS8
Sources: (available on Journal at https://usejournal.com/app/space/journal:space:project/7efa6d43-a601-4784-8e36-1edda2b1b451 )

Epic Games

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