The Evolution of Flat-Packed Furniture

IKEA may be the most singular company we’ve ever studied on Acquired. They’re a globally scaled, $50B annual revenue company with no direct competitors — yet have only ~5% market share. They’re one of the largest retailers in the world — yet sell only their own products. They generate a few billion in free cash flow every year — yet have no shareholders. And oh yeah, they also sell hot dogs cheaper than Costco! (Sort of.)

Tune in for an episode flat-packed with counterintuitive lessons about how this folksy mail order business from the Swedish countryside came into your living rooms (and bedrooms and dining rooms and kitchens and bathrooms and patios and garages and backyards) all over the globe!

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Links:

• Please take our 2024 Acquired Survey if you have a minute. It'd mean the world to us!
• The Testament of a Furniture Dealer
• Our past episodes on Costco, Walmart, Amazon, LVMH and Hermès
• Worldly Partners Multi-Decade IKEA Study
• Episode sources

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• The QB School
• Ice Cube at the World Series

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