
Winner Take All
Winner Take All is a business & tech news show covering the world of platform businesses, tech antitrust, regulations, and innovation. Hosted by Alex Moazed and Nick Johnson, authors of the Amazon Best-Seller Modern Monopolies.
Latest episodes

Aug 25, 2021 • 27min
Winner Take All #169 | Amazon Department Stores, China's Fake Biologist, OnlyFans Bans NSFW?
The show opens with a look at the announcement that the platform OnlyFans will be banning explicit content, AKA the type of content the site is known for. Next, a look at China investing a fake Swiss scientist quoted in news media and Beijing gaining a board seat at tech company ByteDance. The second half of the show covers a Wall Street Journal report that Amazon will be opening brick and mortar department stores and the FTC recent opinion about Facebook's monopoly status.
00:00 - Subscribe for Tech & Business News Daily
00:19 - OnlyFans Bans NSFW
05:30 - Fake Swiss Biologist
07:41 - China on ByteDance Board
11:07 - Amazon Department Stores
19:25 - Facebook FTC Monopoly Lawsuit
Originally Aired: 08/20/21
#Amazon #Podcast #China

Aug 24, 2021 • 41min
Winner Take All #168 | Podcast Platform Battle, Financial Deplatforming, iPhone Backdoor
Alex opens up the show looking at Spotify's continued growth of its podcasting platform and data that shows listener numbers on Spotify are surpassing Apple. Next, Alex's reaction to Keith Rabois discussing China on CNBC and a look at two stories concerning censorship, Apple's announced scanning of photos on user's iPhones, and PayPal engaging in financial deplatforming. Also covered in this episode, big tech joining the five eyes, the rise of BRICS countries, and Cloudflare's complaints about AWS.
Originally Aired: 08/10/21
#iPhone #Privacy #Censorship

Aug 14, 2021 • 53min
Big Tech Censorship: Is Treating Platforms as Common Carriers a Solution? - Eugene Volokh Interview
Eugene Volokh is founder and coauthor of The Volokh Conspiracy, a leading legal blog. His law review articles have been cited by opinions in eight Supreme Court cases and several hundred court opinions in total, as well as several thousand scholarly articles. Eugene sits down with Alex and Nick to discuss his recent article in the Journal of Free Speech Law that looks at the pros and cons that could occur if the U.S. were to treat social media platforms as common carriers. Companies distinguished as common carriers are generally required to provide service to the public without discrimination.
📗 READ 📗 SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS AS COMMON CARRIERS?: https://www2.law.ucla.edu/volokh/carrier.pdf
Originally Aired: 08/12/21
#FreeSpeech #Interview #Podcast

Aug 10, 2021 • 35min
Silicon Valley Non-Profit Fighting Online Censorship - 1st & 14th Institute Founder Mike Matthys
Mike Matthys is co-founder of the 1st & 14th Institute, a non-partisan champion for free speech, free press, and due process. Matthys joins Alex on Winner Take All for a discussion on the current landscape of online speech and what can be done to prevent censorship by big tech arbiters like Facebook, Twitter, and Amazon. The two discuss the 1st & 14th Institute's formation, past projects, and planned future initiatives to ascertain a free and fair internet where all voices are heard and decisions have the benefit of all views.
Learn more at https://www.firstandfourteenth.com/
Originally Aired: 08/09/21
#FreeSpeech #Censorship #OnlineSpeech

Aug 5, 2021 • 31min
Winner Take All #167 | Walmart Licenses eCom Tech, $HOOD IPO, Decline of VC in China
Alex opens the episode with a look at Netflix's recent earnings report where it was announced that a digital movie studio would move into the gaming space. Next, a look at Robinhood's tumultuous first two weeks as a public company and some promising data from alternative tech platforms focused on user privacy and free speech. The second half of the show covers Walmart's announcment it will begin to license the eCommerce tech that runs Walmart Marketplace and statistics that show a decline in VC investment into China.
00:00 - Subscribe for Tech & Business News Daily
00:56 - NFLX FY Q2 2201 Earnings
03:33 - Robinhood Goes Public!
09:41 - Alt Tech and Social Media 3.0
16:26 - Walmart to License eCommerce Tech
22:05 - VC Decline in China
Originally Aired: 08/04/21
#Podcast #VentureCapital #eCommerce

Jul 20, 2021 • 16min
Winner Take All #166 | Streaming Wars 📺, Amazon Equity Leaching, Blood Drones 🩸, Gympass Series E 💪
The episode starts off with a look at updated numbers from the various streaming service providers as the competitive landscape enters a new phase post COVID pandemic. Next, a look at an interesting Wall Street Journal article that details how Amazon will take equity from its suppliers. Also covered, Zipline, a startup that can deliver blood to doctors via drones, and Alex's thoughts on Gympass's recently announced series E funding round.
00:00 - Subscribe for Tech & Business News Daily
00:22 - Streaming Wars Update
05:22 - Amazon Supplier Equity
10:50 - Zipline On-Demand Blood Delivery
12:35 - Gympass vs ClassPass
Originally Aired: 07/10/21
#StreamingWars #Gympass #Amazon

Jul 19, 2021 • 20min
Winner Take All #165 | Asset Inflation Update, Xometry, Instacart New CEO, State of Venture Report
The show kicks off with a look at CB Insights new State Of Venture Q2’21 Report, which details the runaway valuations of tech startups over the past year. On that thread, Alex looks at the recently IPOd platform, Xometry, and Nextdoor's plan to go public via SPAC. The second half of the show covers Etsy's next M&A move acquiring Elo7, regulatory concerns for Big Tech expanding through M&A, and Instcart's new CEO. Alex closes the episode with a message about the 4th of July.
00:00 - Subscribe for Tech & Business News Daily
00:18 - Asset Price Inflation
03:18 - IPO ASAP!
09:33 - M&A Landscape
13:56 - New Instacart CEO
17:30 - 4th of July Note
Originally Aired: 07/09/21
#CBInsights #Instacart #Xometry

Jul 9, 2021 • 40min
Winner Take All #164 | Shopify Dev Fees, Antitrust Big Tech Lawsuit Roundup, Didi IPO
Alex opens the show looking at the recent debacle surround Chinese ride sharing app DiDi's initial public offering. Investors saw $DIDI shares drop 20%+ after the Cyberspace Administration of China announced the app would be removed from app stores for illegally collect personal data. Next, a look at Shopify's announcement that they will waive fees on the first million dollars that developers make on their app store. Also covered, the slew of new suits and initiatives from various U.S. government agencies to reign in Big Tech and a recent article highlighting bias on Wikipedia.
00:00 - Subscribe for Tech & Business News Daily
00:35 - DiDi IPO
11:10 - Shopify App Developer Fees
16:05 - Antitrust Big Tech Battles
33:48 - Wikipedia Bias
Originally Aired: 07/08/21 #BigTech #DiDi #IPO

Jul 1, 2021 • 25min
Winner Take All #163 | DuckDuckGo Funding, Huawei HarmonyOS, Etsy Acquires Depop
Alex kicks off the show looking at DuckDuckGo, an internet search engine that emphasizes protecting searchers' privacy and avoiding the filter bubble of personalized search results, and their recently announced $100m secondary investment. The episode also takes a look at claims that the COVID pandemic has accelerated the shift to eCommerce by 5 years, and Huawei's announcement that their mobile operating system, HarmonyOS, is now the #3 OS in the world. The show closes out with a look at Amazon's statement on its battle against fake reviews, Prime Day 2021, and Etsy acquiring peer-to-peer social shopping app Depop.
00:00 - Subscribe for Tech & Business News Daily
00:19 - DuckDuckGo $100mm Raise
05:45 - COVID eCommerce Acceleration
10:33 - Huawei HarmonyOS
15:55 - Amazon Reviews Probe
17:31 - Prime Day 2021 "Soft"
19:47 - Etsy Acquires Depop
Originally Aired: 06/25/21
#DuckDuckGo #Huawei #Depop

Jun 29, 2021 • 36min
Can Instacart Make $1B/Year on Ads? w/ Tri Tran + Big Tech Regulation Update
Applico CTO and former Munchery CEO, Tri Tran, joins the show to discuss Instacart's playbook to build a $1 billion ad business and what this revenue stream could mean for the delivery platform's highly anticipated IPO. Tran discusses how he sees the online grocery and delivery landscapes playing out over the next few years while highlighting some of the challenges he thinks Instacart will have to overcome to sell $1 billion in ads per annum. Alex and Tri close out the conversation by highlighting some alternative tech solutions in the food space that don't require that retailers cede the customer relationship to a gatekeeping tech provider.
Also, a bonus segment analyzing the current regulatory landscape broken down by big tech company.