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Big tech is transforming every aspect of our world. But how, and at what cost? This season of Land of the Giants – The Disney Dilemma – focuses on Disney’s ability to weather the ups and downs of the business cycle and changing tastes and explores what has kept it successful for over 100 years. The entertainment giant has leveraged nostalgia and its intellectual property to build a beloved brand, but after an acquisition spree that included Marvel, Lucasfilm, and 20th Century Fox, can it sustain high quality and brand loyalty on a scale that keeps it growing? Who is Disney now, and can it compete against the tech giants in a battle for our attention and dollars?
From Vulture and the Vox Media Podcast Network. New episodes drop every Wednesday.
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Disney is a Tech Company?
Streaming didn’t just change the way consumers watched movies and TV shows, it reconfigured how media giants operated, and how they saw themselves. If tech companies were disrupting old business models, perhaps Disney’s best move was to joi
Disney is Bob Iger's Company
The Walt Disney Company has been led by eight different men in its century of existence. But few would object to the idea that only three have really mattered. Walt Disney, Michael Eisner, and Bob Iger have all made lasting impacts on the c
Disney is a Cinematic Universe Company
Marvel and Star Wars are the crown jewels of Disney’s empire. They’re the highest-grossing movie franchises in history, with devoted fan bases and expansive IP universes, but right now, both are in a bit of a slump. As Disney asked for more
Disney is an Animation Company
Disney’s soul is arguably its animation studio, which has a 100-year track record of creating iconic characters and stories, and a distinct brand centered around “once upon a time.” Not so long ago, Disney produced films like "The Little Me
Disney is a Theme Parks Company
These days the Walt Disney Company is mostly a theme parks company. About 70 percent of its operating income comes from its parks and other experiences like Disney Cruises. But the parks do something else: they help the company attach itsel
Disney is a TV Company
When you think about Disney, your first thought isn’t “cable television giant.” But Disney’s broadcast and cable television holdings, especially ESPN, helped turbocharge Disney’s growth over the last 30 years. It was a formula that worked e
The Disney Dilemma
Over the past 100 years, the Walt Disney Company has grown from a small animation studio to become one of the largest companies in the world, with an enviable history of creative and financial success. But as it's grown and acquired compani
Elon Saves Humanity
In October 2022, Elon Musk made the world’s most expensive impulse purchase. His reasons for buying Twitter were murky at best, but in the story he tells now, he’s saving civilization. In the final episode of this season, we look at Twitter
Havoc On the Platform, and Off
Twitter employees had always imagined the platform would be used for social good. Their idea was that free expression on the internet would lead to good things. But after the 2016 U.S. election, that notion would be put under stress. And Tw
A Million Different Twitters
Twitter was created by its users, who invented features like the retweet and hashtag. These features helped create vibrant communities like Black Twitter and Comedy Twitter, but eventually, some groups exploited Twitter’s virality in order
What We All Got Wrong About Twitter
Twitter began life as an accident. In the beginning, even its founders weren’t sure what it was: the internet’s town square, a real-time information source, or the next Facebook, maybe? Twitter's power has always been misunderstood -- by it
The Twitter Fantasy
A year ago, in what was essentially the world’s most expensive impulse purchase, Elon Musk bought Twitter. That made him Twitter’s most important user. But he’s certainly not the only one to fall for its spell - a spell that promises attent
The Global Race for EV Adoption
Tesla has spurred the EV revolution around the world, most notably in China. So why is the US so far behind on EV adoption, when it's the birthplace of Tesla? What went wrong here? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoi
The Self-Driving Experiment
Seven years ago, Elon Musk stood on stage and said he “would consider autonomous driving to be basically a solved problem.” He also said Teslas could “drive with greater safety than a person right now.” That statement wasn’t true. But Musk
The Human Cost of Ultra Hardcore
“Please prepare yourself for a level of intensity that is greater than anything most of you have ever experienced before,” Elon Musk once wrote in an email to employees at Tesla. The subject line, “ultra hardcore,” also operates as an edict
Tesla vs. The Competition
A few years ago Tesla owned roughly 80% of the EV market. But now, the company’s share is down to 60%. And some projections whittle it down even further - to just 18% - by 2026. It appears the competition has caught up… or has it? Learn mor
How Tesla Became the Elon Musk Co.
Not many people can name the original founders of Tesla. So how did two guys who wanted to build an electric car create a company synonymous with Elon Musk? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The Electric Car Goes Mainstream
Before Teslas were everywhere, they were playthings for the rich and famous. Building its first affordable car made Tesla a breakout success, but it nearly bankrupted the company. This is the story of how the Model 3 changed Tesla and the e
‘The Tesla Shock Wave’ Has Arrived
About a decade ago, Tesla did something extraordinary: it started making electric cars people actually wanted to drive. They were fast. They were high-tech, and eventually, Tesla reset the future of cars. Now, with the entire industry racin
AI to IRL: The Future of Dating
Looking ahead, where is dating headed? Is it leaning into artificial intelligence or dating chat bots? Or is it unplugging and trying to meet people the old-fashioned way – in real life? And with Gen Z skeptical of dating apps, will tech co
Can Niche Dating Apps Save Us?
Welcome to the wide world of niche dating apps. There's an app for almost every group -- Muslims, vegans, the kink community, cat lovers, farmers, rock climbers, and many more. All aimed at helping specific communities find "their people."
Bumble, the Girlboss of Dating Apps
Bumble is the second most downloaded dating app in the U.S., behind Tinder. Dubbed the "feminist dating app," the "anti-Tinder" was designed to make dating feel better, safer, and less creepy for women. But does Bumble deliver on its promis
The Secret Algorithms That Control Your Love Life
Dating app execs don’t like to explain how their matchmaking algorithms work– they’ll claim it’s too hard to explain, or that they just can’t talk about it, Fight Club style. But critics say that if daters really knew how basic the algorith
The Hidden Hand Behind Your Swipes
Tinder, Hinge, OkCupid, The League. If you’ve ever wondered why using these different dating apps feels similar, it may be because they’re all owned by Match Group, the company that helped start online dating in the 90s, and now owns two-th
Tinder Changed the Game
When Tinder launched in 2012, it changed dating culture and our expectations around dating forever by leveraging the iPhone and gamifying the dating experience. But did the rise of dating apps make finding romance easier or harder, and what
Dating Games
This season, The Verge and New York Magazine's The Cut trace the evolution of the multi-billion dollar dating app industry. Through conversations with industry leaders, experts, and users, hosts Sangeeta Singh Kurtz and Lakshmi Rengarajan e
Zuckerberg's Biggest Bet
Mark Zuckerberg has a vision for the future -- that in a few years, we’ll be living our digital lives in a blend of augmented and virtual reality. The metaverse. To pursue that vision, Zuckerberg’s renamed his entire company and invested bi
It's A WhatsApp World
Meta’s most expensive acquisition ever and one of the most used communication apps in the world: WhatsApp. With over 2 billion users, WhatsApp is embedded in the social, economic, and political infrastructure of countries across the globe.
Facebook's Plan To Be Cool Again
Facebook defined an era of social media built on our connections, our social lives. We’re watching that era come to a close. Now, your main feeds of both Facebook and Instagram will use AI to start increasingly recommending content from peo
The Facebook Election
Facebook used to brag about how its tools helped politicians swing elections. Now, the platform’s relationship to politics is much more complicated. Today: the story of how one politician again and again forced Zuckerberg to confront his ow
