Skip to content
AcquiredAcquired

Acquired Live at Radio City Music Hall (Presented by J.P. Morgan)

It’s finally here! Today we are releasing Acquired’s first “concert film” — the full video recording of our Radio City live show from this summer with Jamie Dimon, Andrew Ross Sorkin, New York Times CEO Meredith Kopit Levien, Barry Diller, and cameos from around the Acquired Cinematic Universe including Christina Cacioppo, Ben Clymer, and Howard Schultz. *Sponsors:* - Live Show Presented By: J.P. Morgan: https://bit.ly/acquiredJPMPs14 - Shopify: https://bit.ly/ShopifyACQ25 - ServiceNow: https://bit.ly/acquiredsn *More Acquired:* - Get email updates: https://www.acquired.fm/email and vote on future episodes! - Join the Slack: http://acquired.fm/slack - Subscribe to ACQ2: https://pod.link/acquiredlp - ACQ Merch Store: https://www.acquired.fm/store 0:00 Intro and Welcome 4:50 Jamie Dimon 57:17 Intermission 58:30 Andrew Ross Sorkin 1:00:36 Meredith Kopit Levien 1:20:15 Acquired Wordle 1:22:45 Trivia with the Audience 1:25:20 Barry Diller 1:56:32 Closing, band, and curtain call 1:58:47 Post-Credits Sequence ‍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.

Ben GilberthostDavid RosenthalhostJamie DimonguestMeredith Kopit LevienguestBarry Dillerguest
Nov 5, 20251h 59mWatch on YouTube ↗

At a glance

WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT

Acquired goes Broadway: CEOs on risk, media, and disruption

  1. Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal stage Acquired as a theatrical live event at Radio City, structured as two acts: a deep leadership interview and a late-night talk-show format after intermission.
  2. Act One is a sweeping career and strategy discussion with Jamie Dimon, centering on JPMorgan’s rise through disciplined risk management, incentives, and crisis-era acquisitions (Bear Stearns, WaMu, and later First Republic).
  3. Act Two pivots to media and tech: Andrew Ross Sorkin introduces Meredith Kopit Levien, who updates NYT’s transformation into a global digital subscription bundle spanning news, games, and lifestyle—alongside a clear stance on AI, licensing, and the OpenAI/Microsoft lawsuit.
  4. The night closes with Barry Diller reflecting on Hollywood-to-internet-era lessons, why “betting the company” is a mistake for most leaders, and how tech platforms (not studios) now control entertainment economics—plus audience games and surprise cameos (Howard Schultz).

IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING

5 ideas

Career resets can become strategic reinventions.

Dimon frames his Citi firing as a hit to “net worth, not self-worth,” then deliberately chooses Bank One—a smaller, troubled bank—because it offered true control and a turnaround canvas.

Risk management is pricing, stress-testing, and surviving fat tails—not avoiding risk.

Dimon emphasizes running stress tests to “worst ever,” avoiding aggressive accounting, and building systems so the firm is still standing when competitors chase peak ROE via leverage.

Incentives shape behavior; removing ‘side deals’ reduces blow-up risk.

He attributes pre-2008 resilience partly to eliminating banker arrangements that rewarded isolated wins, leverage, and short-term profit pools that encouraged client-harming decisions.

Crisis acquisitions can be patriotic—and still punish you later.

Dimon describes Bear Stearns as necessary to avert systemic collapse but says subsequent government mortgage actions taught him not to assume future administrations will honor prior “deals.”

Concentration, not just ‘uninsured deposits,’ drives bank runs.

On SVB/First Republic, Dimon highlights concentrated depositor networks that moved in coordinated fashion, amplified by HTM accounting masking rate risk and delaying market recognition.

WORDS WORTH SAVING

5 quotes

It was my net worth, not my self-worth, that was involved.

— Jamie Dimon

You want to build a real strong company… not relying on leverage.

— Jamie Dimon

I wouldn’t really trust the government again.

— Jamie Dimon

We are aiming to be the essential subscription for curious people everywhere.

— Meredith Kopit Levien

I think the only thing you don’t do is bet the company.

— Barry Diller

Radio City as a “show” format for a podcastDimon’s firing from Citi and rebuilding at Bank OneFortress balance sheet and conservative accountingIncentives, leverage, and surviving 2008Bear Stearns/WaMu/First Republic acquisitions and government riskNYT’s subscription bundle: news + lifestyle + gamesAI as force multiplier vs IP misappropriation; OpenAI lawsuitBarry Diller: Hollywood system, Fox, QVC epiphany, IAC eraTech platforms’ dominance over entertainment (Netflix/Amazon/Apple)Audience interactivity: Wordle, trivia, surprise guests

High quality AI-generated summary created from speaker-labeled transcript.

Get more out of YouTube videos.

High quality summaries for YouTube videos. Accurate transcripts to search & find moments. Powered by ChatGPT & Claude AI.

Add to Chrome