Foundering
- Episodes
- 187
- Format
- Series – listen from the start
- Latest episode
- May 7, 2026
About the podcast
Foundering is an award-winning, serialized podcast from the journalists at Bloomberg Technology. Each season, Foundering brings you inside a different high-stakes drama from the technology industry, where its companies are wielding unprecedented capital and power.
Episodes 187
Bob Lee Part 5: Tech vs. San Francisco
With Nima Momeni convicted of second degree murder, the media storm around Bob Lee faded. Reporter Shawn Wen tries to make sense of the widespread fascination with Lee’s death. She looks to the period before …
Show notes
With Nima Momeni convicted of second degree murder, the media storm around Bob Lee faded. Reporter Shawn Wen tries to make sense of the widespread fascination with Lee’s death. She looks to the period before his death, when San Francisco was gripped by a bitter political fight over street crime, and to the years afterwards, when it emerged from the doom loop and into the AI boom.
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Bob Lee Part 4: The Made-for-TV Murder Trial
Nima Momeni's trial for murdering Bob Lee began in October 2024. Lee's killing, no longer a stand-in for random street crime, no longer fit neatly into the political zeitgeist. Instead, the tabloids latched …
Show notes
Nima Momeni's trial for murdering Bob Lee began in October 2024. Lee's killing, no longer a stand-in for random street crime, no longer fit neatly into the political zeitgeist. Instead, the tabloids latched onto the story for its salacious mix of drugs, violence and sex. Reporter Shawn Wen brings listeners inside the made-for-TV murder trial, which also served as a referendum on San Francisco.
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Bob Lee Part 3: The Brilliant Programmer and a Lot of Wild Living
Weeks after his death, Bob Lee’s toxicology report was released, indicating that he had alcohol, cocaine, and ketamine in his system. While his killing no longer fit neatly with the San Francisco Doom Loop …
Show notes
Weeks after his death, Bob Lee’s toxicology report was released, indicating that he had alcohol, cocaine, and ketamine in his system. While his killing no longer fit neatly with the San Francisco Doom Loop narrative, a new story emerged that Lee traveled through an underground party scene known as “the Lifestyle.” Lee was twisted into a symbol for a second time, now representing the secret world of the wealthy tech elite. In conversation with Lee’s friends and family, reporter Shawn Wen tells the tale of the man they knew.
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Bob Lee Part 2: The Brother Did It
Nine days after Bob Lee was found stabbed in San Francisco, police arrested Nima Momeni for his murder. Desperate to squash the ‘Doom Loop’ narrative, San Francisco officials insisted that Bob Lee was killed by …
Show notes
Nine days after Bob Lee was found stabbed in San Francisco, police arrested Nima Momeni for his murder. Desperate to squash the ‘Doom Loop’ narrative, San Francisco officials insisted that Bob Lee was killed by someone he knew, a fellow tech executive. But the Cash App founder’s friends and family had never heard of Momeni. Reporter Shawn Wen tells the story of Momeni’s teen years in the East Bay, his minor brushes with the law, and the events that put him on a collision course with Lee.
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Bob Lee Part 1: San Francisco Has Blood On Its Hands
Three years ago, Bob Lee, a tech executive famous for creating Cash App, was found stabbed in San Francisco. His killing set off a wave of online fury. Reporter Shawn Wen takes us back to the turbulent days …
Show notes
Three years ago, Bob Lee, a tech executive famous for creating Cash App, was found stabbed in San Francisco. His killing set off a wave of online fury. Reporter Shawn Wen takes us back to the turbulent days before his killer was arrested, when misinformation and rumors ran rampant. Several tech industry leaders decried violent crime in San Francisco, including David Sacks, who “bet dollars to dimes” that Lee was stabbed by “a psychotic homeless person,” and Elon Musk, who called the city “horrific.”
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Foundering: The Killing of Bob Lee (Trailer)
Three years ago, Bob Lee, a tech executive best known for creating Cash App, was found stabbed in the streets of San Francisco. His killing set off a wave of online fury. Rumors and misinformation ran rampant …
Show notes
Three years ago, Bob Lee, a tech executive best known for creating Cash App, was found stabbed in the streets of San Francisco. His killing set off a wave of online fury. Rumors and misinformation ran rampant. Several tech industry leaders weighed in, including David Sacks, who “bet dollars to dimes” that Lee was stabbed by “a psychotic homeless person,” and Elon Musk, who disparaged the district attorney. When Lee’s killer was arrested, it became clear that the truth of what happened could not be further from the initial speculation.
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Preview: The Sixth Bureau, Episode 1
It’s an open secret that the Chinese government has engaged in a global campaign to acquire intellectual property from foreign rivals. At the center of that campaign is the Ministry of State Security, China’s …
Show notes
It’s an open secret that the Chinese government has engaged in a global campaign to acquire intellectual property from foreign rivals. At the center of that campaign is the Ministry of State Security, China’s elusive intelligence agency. The US has apprehended hundreds of people accused of giving information to the MSS, but the agency’s inner workings have been a mystery — until now.
Today, we’re bringing you Episode 1 of The Sixth Bureau, a limited-run series from The Big Take. The series follows an MSS intelligence officer whose mission was to acquire the crown jewels of American aerospace companies. With aliases, blackmail and the occasional break-in, he targeted corporate giants. That is, until his sloppiness — and a cunning FBI sting — led to a stunning reversal: Xu Yanjun became the first Chinese intelligence officer ever convicted on American soil.
Listen to Episode 2, available now in The Big Take.
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OpenAI Part 5: Beware the Ides of November
Right as Sam Altman was at the peak of his success, touring the world to espouse the virtues of AI, his board turned on him. Altman was unceremoniously fired. OpenAI’s coup is a story of secrets, betrayal …
Show notes
Right as Sam Altman was at the peak of his success, touring the world to espouse the virtues of AI, his board turned on him. Altman was unceremoniously fired. OpenAI’s coup is a story of secrets, betrayal, employee revolt and Altman’s expert political maneuvering to regain his position of power. In this episode, reporter Ellen Huet also examines Altman’s history of broken promises and alleged manipulation.
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OpenAI Part 4: Heaven and Hell, Part 2
It’s widely predicted that AI will upend the economy and threaten many existing jobs. Sam Altman, in trying to stay ahead of public fears of mass unemployment, has offered universal basic income as a solution …
Show notes
It’s widely predicted that AI will upend the economy and threaten many existing jobs. Sam Altman, in trying to stay ahead of public fears of mass unemployment, has offered universal basic income as a solution. He also has envisioned an AI future of abundance. In this episode, reporter Ellen Huet looks at Altman’s proposals for ending poverty and his current relationship with his sister, Annie Altman, who struggles with homelessness in Hawaii.
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OpenAI Part 3: Heaven and Hell, Part 1
A group of high-level early employees who had glimpsed the fluidity and power of the technology behind ChatGPT left OpenAI to start a new company. Their exit sparked concerns that OpenAI is not prioritizing …
Show notes
A group of high-level early employees who had glimpsed the fluidity and power of the technology behind ChatGPT left OpenAI to start a new company. Their exit sparked concerns that OpenAI is not prioritizing safety. Meanwhile, the success of ChatGPT drove a craze within the tech industry but also added fuel to existing apocalyptic fears. In this episode, reporter Ellen Huet examines the frenzy around AI, both its utopic dreams and visions of impending doom.
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OpenAI Part2: Ilya Dreams of AGI
OpenAI employees were motivated by the dream of building an artificial general intelligence, which could think and solve problems like a human mind. In reality, they sometimes spent their days building bots …
Show notes
OpenAI employees were motivated by the dream of building an artificial general intelligence, which could think and solve problems like a human mind. In reality, they sometimes spent their days building bots that played video games. But new research allowed the company to create increasingly powerful AI models, giving them a lead in the AI race. Meanwhile, a power struggle between Sam Altman and Elon Musk led to Musk’s departure from the company. In this episode, reporter Ellen Huet takes a look at OpenAI’s early days and the company’s shift away from its promises to be open-source and nonprofit.
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OpenAI Part 1: The Most Silicon Valley Man Alive
Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, shot to tech stardom with the release of ChatGPT. His company is one of the most valuable startups in the world, and he is treated like an ambassador for the AI future, zipping around …
Show notes
Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, shot to tech stardom with the release of ChatGPT. His company is one of the most valuable startups in the world, and he is treated like an ambassador for the AI future, zipping around the globe, meeting with world leaders. But how did he amass so much power? In this episode, reporter Ellen Huet looks at Altman’s rise and his penchant for forming close bonds with powerful Silicon Valley figures, who in turn have lent their influence and money to his ever-growing ambitions.
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Foundering: The OpenAI Story (Trailer)
The biggest story in tech is artificial intelligence, and the biggest story in AI is OpenAI. The company’s rapid progress and blazingly popular consumer products like ChatGPT have pushed tech giants to dump …
Show notes
The biggest story in tech is artificial intelligence, and the biggest story in AI is OpenAI. The company’s rapid progress and blazingly popular consumer products like ChatGPT have pushed tech giants to dump billions of dollars into an AI arms race. OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman, has been dogged by persistent allegations of being manipulative, deceitful, and power hungry – even to the point of being fired by his own board. This season of Foundering takes listeners straight to the heart of the AI explosion: feuds, betrayals, billionaires, and the extinction of humanity…. maybe?
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McAfee Bonus: Q&A
A live Q&A with this season’s host, Jamie Tarabay, and a cybersecurity expert featured in the series, Allan Liska. This bonus episode was recorded following a live production of “Foundering: The John McAfee …
Show notes
A live Q&A with this season’s host, Jamie Tarabay, and a cybersecurity expert featured in the series, Allan Liska. This bonus episode was recorded following a live production of “Foundering: The John McAfee Story” in San Francisco at the RSA Conference in April 2023. The conversation, moderated by Foundering’s editor Mark Milian, explores the reporting process for the show and McAfee’s lasting impact on the digital security industry.
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Introducing - Spellcaster: The Fall of Sam Bankman-Fried
Coming soon: When nerdy gamer Sam Bankman-Fried rocketed to fame as the world’s richest 29-year-old, he pledged to donate his billions to good causes. But then his crypto exchange FTX collapsed Billions of …
Show notes
Coming soon: When nerdy gamer Sam Bankman-Fried rocketed to fame as the world’s richest 29-year-old, he pledged to donate his billions to good causes. But then his crypto exchange FTX collapsed Billions of dollars were missing, and Sam was in handcuffs. Those who knew him were left wondering — who was Sam really? A well-meaning billionaire who made a mistake? Or a calculating con man? From Wondery and Bloomberg, the makers of The Shrink Next Door, comes a new story of incredible wealth, betrayal and what happens when “doing good” goes really really bad. Learn more here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/spellcaster-the-fall-of-sam-bankman-fried/id1685258534
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McAfee Part 6: The Demise
A desperate escape by sea finds John McAfee deported to Europe. He ends up in a small Spanish town, but the walls are closing in on him. Reporter Jamie Tarabay investigates the final days of McAfee and the …
Show notes
A desperate escape by sea finds John McAfee deported to Europe. He ends up in a small Spanish town, but the walls are closing in on him. Reporter Jamie Tarabay investigates the final days of McAfee and the circumstances surrounding his death.
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McAfee Part 5: The Descent
John McAfee forms a new operation to capitalize on a financial opportunity in cryptocurrencies. Drugs and paranoia take over. Reporter Jamie Tarabay chronicles the beginning of the end for McAfee.See …
Show notes
John McAfee forms a new operation to capitalize on a financial opportunity in cryptocurrencies. Drugs and paranoia take over. Reporter Jamie Tarabay chronicles the beginning of the end for McAfee.
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McAfee Part 4: The White House
John McAfee is back in America. He meets a new business partner who helps broker a lucrative deal. As reporter Jamie Tarabay learns, the new associate eventually inspires McAfee to make a long-shot bid for the …
Show notes
John McAfee is back in America. He meets a new business partner who helps broker a lucrative deal. As reporter Jamie Tarabay learns, the new associate eventually inspires McAfee to make a long-shot bid for the US presidency.
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McAfee Part 3: The Jungle
John McAfee seeks to evade a lawsuit and leaves the US behind. He makes a new life for himself in Central America, but reporter Jamie Tarabay finds it doesn’t take long before a new crisis envelops him.See …
Show notes
John McAfee seeks to evade a lawsuit and leaves the US behind. He makes a new life for himself in Central America, but reporter Jamie Tarabay finds it doesn’t take long before a new crisis envelops him.
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McAfee Part 2: The Yogi
After cashing out, John McAfee uproots and tries to reinvent himself. He starts a new company and forms a yoga retreat. Reporter Jamie Tarabay also looks into a new and extremely dangerous hobby that captures …
Show notes
After cashing out, John McAfee uproots and tries to reinvent himself. He starts a new company and forms a yoga retreat. Reporter Jamie Tarabay also looks into a new and extremely dangerous hobby that captures McAfee’s interest.
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McAfee Part 1: The Virus
McAfee antivirus software was ubiquitous in the 1990s, and its creator John McAfee helped define the modern cybersecurity industry. McAfee was an archetype of the Silicon Valley founder — bombastic, enigmatic …
Show notes
McAfee antivirus software was ubiquitous in the 1990s, and its creator John McAfee helped define the modern cybersecurity industry. McAfee was an archetype of the Silicon Valley founder — bombastic, enigmatic and brilliant. But his life would take a dark turn. Reporter Jamie Tarabay investigated the early days of his career and found that the warning signs were there from the beginning.
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Introducing: The John McAfee Story
This season of Foundering retraces the life and gruesome death of John McAfee. In the 1980s and ’90s, the McAfee name was synonymous with computer antivirus software, and he helped establish the modern …
Show notes
This season of Foundering retraces the life and gruesome death of John McAfee. In the 1980s and ’90s, the McAfee name was synonymous with computer antivirus software, and he helped establish the modern cybersecurity industry. But afterward, his life took a strange and dark turn. He was accused of murder and went on the lam. He sought to reinvent himself as a cryptocurrency guru and as a candidate for US president. Reporter Jamie Tarabay interviews McAfee’s colleagues, acquaintances, investigators and family members to demystify lies he told throughout his life, reveal the secrets he kept and resolve questions surrounding his public and decades-long self-destruction.
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Introducing: Crash Course
Hosted by Bloomberg Opinion senior executive editor Tim O'Brien, Crash Course will bring listeners directly into the arenas where epic business and social upheavals occur. Every week, Crash Course will explore …
Show notes
Hosted by Bloomberg Opinion senior executive editor Tim O'Brien, Crash Course will bring listeners directly into the arenas where epic business and social upheavals occur. Every week, Crash Course will explore the lessons to be learned when creativity and ambition collide with competition and power -- on Wall Street and Main Street, and in Hollywood and Washington.
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Amazon Part 7: The Final Frontier
It was the end of an era. Jeff Bezos announced he was leaving the CEO role at Amazon and becoming executive chairman. But as one epic business story was ending, another was beginning. His handpicked successor …
Show notes
It was the end of an era. Jeff Bezos announced he was leaving the CEO role at Amazon and becoming executive chairman. But as one epic business story was ending, another was beginning. His handpicked successor, Andy Jassy, would have to defuse the company’s mounting confrontations with regulators and employees, including a rising labor union at a Staten Island warehouse.
Reporter Brad Stone chronicles what happened when Jeff Bezos’s feet left the ground – literally. One of the world’s wealthiest people wanted to spend more time on space travel, philanthropy, and a life of peripatetic indulgence with his new partner, Lauren Sanchez. But with pressing problems facing his company – and the planet – how serious is Bezos about deploying his vast resources and keen intellect to solving real problems? And 30 years after he started Amazon in a Seattle area garage, what will be Bezos and Amazon’s lasting legacy?
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Amazon Part 6: The Billionaire and the Tabloid
A wayward CEO, a tabloid newspaper determined to humiliate the world’s richest person, a callously disloyal brother and dramatic allegations of cyberespionage and international intrigue.The events surrounding …
Show notes
A wayward CEO, a tabloid newspaper determined to humiliate the world’s richest person, a callously disloyal brother and dramatic allegations of cyberespionage and international intrigue.
The events surrounding the divorce of Jeff Bezos and MacKenzie Scott in early 2019 were almost too far-fetched to believe. A day after they announced the dissolution of their 25-year marriage with a tweet, the National Enquirer published an explosive story, detailing Bezos’s extramarital relationship. Reporter Brad Stone tells the dramatic story of Bezos’s evolving personal life and its impact on the tech giant he founded — leading to his ultimate decision to step back from the role of CEO.
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Amazon Part 5: The Price of Speedy Delivery
For its first 20 years, Amazon relied on UPS and other delivery companies to get packages to its customers’ doorsteps. Then a shipping disaster one Christmas made Jeff Bezos decide to build his own …
Show notes
For its first 20 years, Amazon relied on UPS and other delivery companies to get packages to its customers’ doorsteps. Then a shipping disaster one Christmas made Jeff Bezos decide to build his own transportation network.
Reporter Brad Stone chronicles the remarkable expansion of the Amazon transportation network into our communities, the company’s strained relationship with its delivery contractors and drivers, who wear Amazon uniforms but do not technically work for the tech giant.
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Amazon Part 4: The Virtual Bazaar
Jeff Bezos made an unorthodox decision two decades ago to open the Amazon’s virtual shelves to merchandise from outside sellers, turning the site from a simple online store into a virtual flea market. But …
Show notes
Jeff Bezos made an unorthodox decision two decades ago to open the Amazon’s virtual shelves to merchandise from outside sellers, turning the site from a simple online store into a virtual flea market. But converting Amazon.com into a marketplace also brought unexpected challenges. Cheap knockoffs flooded onto the site. Small businesses discovered that their professional lives were dictated by the whims of executives in Seattle.
Reporter Brad Stone chronicles the epic expansion of the Amazon Marketplace, which generated tremendous growth for the company and unprecedented wealth for Jeff Bezos. It also attracted a litany of complaints from customers and competitors – and the critical attention of regulators around the word.
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Amazon Part 3: The Bumpy Road to Hollywood
Before Mrs. Maisel was marvelous and Jack Ryan saved the world, Jeff Bezos was convinced that the internet would change how people watched TV shows and movies. His response to the opportunity was called Prime …
Show notes
Before Mrs. Maisel was marvelous and Jack Ryan saved the world, Jeff Bezos was convinced that the internet would change how people watched TV shows and movies. His response to the opportunity was called Prime Video –a seemingly prescient bet to bring a selection of video programming into the bundle of perks for Prime members. Reporter Brad Stone tells the story of Amazon’s bumpy road into Hollywood.
After an early taste of success, the company navigated a public relations crisis around allegations of inappropriate behavior targeted at studio boss Roy Price. And then Bezos got his first significant brush with celebrity culture, sparking a personal reinvention that would have major consequences for the company and his own muted personal life.
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Amazon Part 2: The Obsessive Secrecy Around Alexa
One day in 2011, a small team of Boston-based AI scientists got an unexpected call: Amazon wanted to buy their company. Its founder and CEO, Jeff Bezos, was leading a secret team to develop a unique device, a …
Show notes
One day in 2011, a small team of Boston-based AI scientists got an unexpected call: Amazon wanted to buy their company. Its founder and CEO, Jeff Bezos, was leading a secret team to develop a unique device, a voice-activated computer that could recognize and respond to user questions from across a noisy room. The world would soon know the device as the Amazon Echo, and its virtual personality as Alexa. Brad Stone tells the Alexa story and sizes up its impact on culture, and conventional notions of privacy. He also tracks down the actress who Amazon got to perform the voice that’s now in millions of homes worldwide.
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Amazon Part 1: The Inventor vs. The Monopolist
Today Amazon is an inescapable juggernaut. Back in 1994, it was just an idea, pitched by a former Wall Street banker named Jeff Bezos to disbelieving investors at the very birth of the internet era. Reporter …
Show notes
Today Amazon is an inescapable juggernaut. Back in 1994, it was just an idea, pitched by a former Wall Street banker named Jeff Bezos to disbelieving investors at the very birth of the internet era. Reporter Brad Stone, who has spent years chronicling the Amazon story, describes how the company almost flamed out the dot.bomb era and how Bezos rescued the company in part by ginning up two new lines of business – Prime shipping and its digital reader, the Kindle.
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These are the latest 60 of 187 episodes. You’ll find older episodes in the podcast’s feed.
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