About this channel
Acquired examines companies through their business histories, strategic choices and ways of making money. In this selection, Disney and its surrounding businesses provide much of the material, with…
Acquired examines companies through their business histories, strategic choices and ways of making money. In this selection, Disney and its surrounding businesses provide much of the material, with Home Depot offering another company story. The subjects move between acquisitions, creative production, distribution and the reuse of existing assets, encouraging a view of a business as a set of decisions accumulated over time.
Audio-labelled episodes sit alongside more narrowly focused videos. A broad account of Disney's renaissance and expansion is accompanied by pieces on individual parts of that story. One asks what Disney gained from buying Marvel, another considers how its film library generated revenue, and a third looks at the process of making a Pixar movie. These are different levels of the same business question: how do ownership, production and distribution contribute to the value of an entertainment company?
The selection also follows connections between businesses and people, including Steve Jobs' purchase of Pixar and the relationship between ESPN and Disney. Material on Disneyland and the original idea for EPCOT extends the discussion from films to physical places and ambitious plans. The variety gives viewers several routes into the larger company history without limiting the subject to a single acquisition or financial measure.
Acquired suits people who enjoy using detailed company stories to think about strategy. Founders, managers and curious viewers can follow how a business broadens its activities, reuses intellectual property or links one operation to another. The benefit is a set of concrete cases for examining choices and consequences. In this collection, entertainment businesses become a way to explore the relationship between creative work, corporate ownership and the commercial systems that bring a product to an audience.
Latest episode
The Home Depot: The best-performing stock in the S&P 500 since IPO (Audio)
The Home Depot's founding story is like an Avengers movie… if the Avengers got fired, went broke, and stacked empty paint cans ten feet high to look legitimate. After being unceremoniously fired from…
The Home Depot's founding story is like an Avengers movie… if the Avengers got fired, went broke, and stacked empty paint cans ten feet high to look legitimate. After being unceremoniously fired from their previous hardware chain at ages 48 and 35, Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank took the words of their New York banker Ken Langone (who had also just accidentally caused their firings) to heart: they'd just been "kicked in the ass with a golden horseshoe.” They proceeded to author the greatest compounding story in American retail history, helped by some legendary cameos along the way from Sol Price, Jamie Dimon, and Ross Perot (to name a few). And the ending is as good as any superhero film: from its 1981 IPO to today, The Home Depot has been the single highest-returning equity in the entire US stock market — higher than Apple, Microsoft, Berkshire Hathaway, and everything else!
*Sponsors:*
Many thanks to our fantastic Fall '26 Season partners:
- Sierra: https://link.acquired.fm/sierra
- WorkOS: https://link.acquired.fm/workos
- Anthropic: https://link.acquired.fm/claude
- Sentry: https://link.acquired.fm/sentry
*Links:*
- Sign up for email updates, get our takeaways and research photos from each episode, and vote on future topics: https://www.acquired.fm/email
- The Official Acquired Meetup on Sept 17th with our friends at Sentry. Join us!: https://acquired.fm/meetup
- The Acquired Home Depot Companion PDF: https://library.acquired.fm/episodes/home-depot.pdf
- Our Visual Artifacts page for Home Depot: https://www.acquired.fm/artifacts/home-depot
- Built from Scratch by Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank: https://a.co/d/0d81p0yp
- Kick Up Some Dust by Bernie Marcus: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0063259923?ref_=cm_sw_r_ffobk_cp_ud_dp_AAM79TH9S230EHF4MN3B&bestFormat=true
- The Board Wore Chicken Suits by Joe Nocera, The New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/27/business/27nocera.html
- Frank Blake on Invest Like the Best: https://colossus.com/episode/blake-investing-in-your-people/
- Ken Langone's interview with Arvind Navaratnam: https://worldlypartners.com/in-conversation/ken-langone/
- Worldly Partners' Multi-Decade Home Depot Study: https://worldlypartners.com/businesshistory
- All episode sources: https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/home-depot#sources
*Carve Outs:*
- Silo Season 3: https://tv.apple.com/us/show/silo/umc.cmc.3yksgc857px0k0rqe5zd4jice
- Tires Season 3: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt31491435/
- Ratio 8 Coffee Maker: https://link.acquired.fm/4iNsnAo
- Trade Coffee: https://link.acquired.fm/4gDhPCJ
- Quarterback: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt26777035/
- Comedian: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0328962/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_4_tt_4_nm_4_in_0_q_comedian
*More Acquired:*
- Get email updates and vote on future episodes! https://www.acquired.fm/email
- Join the Slack http://acquired.fm/slack
- Check out the latest swag in the ACQ Merch Store! https://www.acquired.fm/store
00:00:00 Start
00:00:43 Intro
00:05:32 Bernie Marcus's Early Career and meeting Arthur Blank (1972)
00:15:58 Ken Langone & Handy Dan (1970s)
00:33:08 Ken Buys Handy Dan, Bernie & Arthur Fired
00:43:55 Ross Perot Almost Buys Home Depot
00:51:20 Pat Farrah & The HomeCo Interlude
01:05:03 First Stores & Early Model (1979)
01:14:16 Home Depot Goes Public & Expands (1981)
01:24:35 Home Depot's Unique Operating System
01:46:01 Arthur Blank Takes CEO & Early Cracks (1997)
01:56:07 The Bob Nardelli Era (2000-2007)
02:12:09 Nardelli's Public Downfall & Firing (2006-2007)
02:24:24 Frank Blake's Turnaround: Crisis & Culture (2007)
02:42:30 E-commerce & Distribution Revolution
02:59:57 Home Depot Today: Pro & DIY (2024)
03:12:04 Analysis: The Paradox of Specialness
03:16:18 7 Powers: Home Depot's Competitive Advantages
03:19:17 Quintessence: Why It Got So Big
03:26:27 Carve-Outs + Outro
_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._
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