Business

Tracking the underground bike theft economy

A few years ago, bike enthusiast Bryan Hance got a tip. A whole bunch of expensive bikes that were stolen in the Bay Area had suddenly turned up ... for sale on a Facebook page in Mexico. The revelation started Bryan down a years-long investigation where he would uncover an intricate, large-scale criminal operation out of Jalisco, Mexico.

In today's episode, we talk to freelance reporter Christopher Solomon who wrote about Hance's journey in WIRED Magazine.

Related episodes:
Is retail theft getting worse? (Apple / Spotify)
The economics of stealing bikes

For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.

The tower of NVIDIA

For a moment last week, semiconductor chip designer NVIDIA eclipsed Microsoft to become the world's most valuable company. How did it get there?

Today on the show, David Rosenthal, one half of the tech podcast Acquired, explains how NVIDIA's founder Jensen Huang laid the groundwork for the company's meteoric rise, and why there may be obstacles ahead.

Related episodes:
The life and death spirals of social media networks (Apple / Spotify)
The semiconductor founding father

For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.