
The Bottom Line
The definitive business podcast from the BBC. Each week, the BBC's Evan Davis is joined by bosses, entrepreneurs and industry experts, to lift the lid on how their businesses work, and what it’s like to be in charge. They discuss a big issue, a big challenge, or a big question facing their industry. From managing AI to managing millennials, from supermarkets to supercharging a new product.And our guests will share their stories of success and failure along the way. Podcasts are published every Thursday. And as well as being a podcast, we are also available every Thursday afternoon and Tuesday evening on BBC Radio 4. You can now also listen to The Bottom Line on a smart speaker. If you want to listen, just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play The Bottom Line”. It works on most smart speakers.The Bottom Line has published a spin off series - Decisions That Made Me - where Evan asks entrepreneurs and business leaders about the most crucial moments in their lives and careers. You can watch these episodes here: https://t.ly/oJ8lW. Got a question or a comment? Get in touch with Evan and the team on email at bottomline@bbc.co.uk.The Bottom Line is produced in partnership with The Open University and is an EcoAudio certified production.
Latest episodes

Jun 19, 2025 • 40min
Cyber Attack: On The Front Line Of A Hack
Cyber criminals have seriously damaged some household names recently - M&S, Co-op, North Face, Harrods - but what really happens behind the scenes when a business is hacked?Evan Davis speaks to the former head of information security at Royal Mail about the major attack it suffered in 2023 - from the initial alert and the eye-watering ransom demand, to the media leak and the long, slow rebuild.Plus, how should you negotiate with hackers, how sophisticated have they become, and how do they choose their victims?Evan is joined by:Jon Staniforth, former Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at Royal Mail;
Lisa Forte, founder and partner, Red Goat.Production team:Producer: Simon Tulett
Editor: Matt Willis
Sound: Nathan Chamberlain and James Beard
Production co-ordinator: Sophie Hill and Janet Staples

Jun 12, 2025 • 29min
Pay: What If You Knew What Your Colleagues Earned?
Discussing pay is one of society’s big taboos - it’s just not the done thing to ask other people what they earn. And it can be even more hush-hush in the workplace - we’re not told to keep quiet, but somehow everyone does. And yet, most of us would love to know what our colleagues earn. So would lifting the lid on salaries trigger resentment and frustration, or be a tool for fairness and accountability? Evan Davis explores the pros and cons of pay transparency — from closing gender pay gaps to boosting retention – and speaks to one boss who’s tried a radical approach. Is it the next frontier in corporate accountability, or does the culture of secrecy still serve a purpose?
Evan is joined by:
Bob Leung, CEO, Grant Tree;
Justine Woolf, Director of Consulting, Innecto;
Clare Kelliher, Professor of Work and Organisation, Cranfield University School of Management.
Production team:
Producer: Osman Iqbal
Editor: Matt Willis
Sound: Neil Churchill and Pete Wise
Production co-ordinator: Katie Morrison

Jun 9, 2025 • 3min
Introducing…The Bottom Line
The definitive business podcast from the BBC.
Each week host Evan Davis is joined by company bosses, entrepreneurs and industry experts, who lift the lid on how the world of business really works, and what it’s like to be in charge.
From managing AI to managing millennials, from supermarkets to supercharging a new product, the panel tackles the big issues, big challenges, or big questions facing their industry. And they share stories of success and failure along the way, revealing the personalities and human dramas behind some of our best-known brands.
The Bottom Line also has a spin-off series – Decisions That Made Me – of one-on-one interviews with entrepreneurs and business leaders about the pivotal moments in their careers. These shorter episodes take a deep dive into the moments of opportunity, risk, or crisis that have defined some of the UK’s best-known business figures.
Podcasts are published every Thursday.
The Bottom Line is a BBC Long Form Audio Production for BBC Radio 4.

Jun 5, 2025 • 35min
Made in China: How To Get A Product Manufactured In The Far East
Join Nick Grey, founder of Gtech, Kate Sbuttoni, from The Ginger Jar Lamp Co., and Jonathan Duck of Amtico International as they discuss the complexities of manufacturing in China. They share personal stories about evolving production processes and the impact of tariffs on business. The trio examines the challenges of sourcing materials, building relationships with manufacturers, and the potential shift towards Southeast Asia. Insightful and entertaining, this conversation navigates the delicate balance between cost and quality in today's global market.

May 8, 2025 • 16min
Decisions That Made Me: Richard Farleigh (former Dragon, entrepreneur)
Richard Farleigh grew up poverty-stricken in outback Australia as one of eleven children. When he was an infant, he was taken into care and spent the majority of his childhood in a foster home. A love of puzzles, a determination to prove himself, and some teachers who believed in his abilities, helped him gain a scholarship to university. From there he became a successful investment fund manager, eventually retiring at 34 to become an entrepreneur, and later an angel investor. The former dragon talks to Evan Davis about his new book Humble Stumbles, and how some of his early entrepreneurial decisions didn’t work out quite as well as he’d hoped. Production team:
Producers: Eleanor Harrison-Dengate
Editor: Matt Willis
Sound: John Scott
Production co-ordinator: Katie Morrison
Photo credit: Visual Marvels

May 1, 2025 • 15min
Decisions That Made Me: Erinch Sahan (DEAL, Social Enterprise expert)
The child of immigrant parents to Australia, Erinch was taught to want a stable life. He was having a successful career at Proctor and Gamble, but one day had a realisation that this was not what he wanted to be doing with his life. Now Erinch is a business and enterprise lead at the Doughnut Economics Action Lab, and designs businesses so they follow a social or ecological purpose. The social enterprise expert talks to Evan Davis about how he dealt with discovering his values were not aligning with his career path and what he did next. Production team:
Producers: Nick Holland and Simon Tulett
Editor: Matt Willis
Sound: John Scott
Production co-ordinator: Katie Morrison

Apr 24, 2025 • 14min
Decisions That Made Me: Sophie O’Brien (Pollen Careers, CEO)
After 14 years of having a successful career in media, Sophie found herself unemployed. She thought with her skills and experience finding a new role would be easy, but it was the opposite. After struggling with applications and repeated denials, Sophie decided she wanted to change the process of applying for a job. The employment specialist talks to Evan Davis about how she’s trying to change the way recruitment works with her business Pollen Careers. Production team:
Producers: Nick Holland
Editor: Matt Willis
Sound: John Scott
Production co-ordinator: Katie Morrison

Apr 17, 2025 • 15min
Decisions That Made Me: Sir Kenneth Olisa (technology entrepreneur)
At a time when coding and IT was in its infancy, Sir Kenneth fortuitously took a computer class to get out of cross country running; that choice would shape the rest of his life. From an internship at IBM, he later went on to a senior position at Wang laboratories, but then was fired after an unsuccessful management buyout. He eventually struck out on his own and founded two merchant banks. The entrepreneur talks to Evan Davis about the moment he was fired after trying to engineer a management buyout, and then what happened next. Production team:
Producers: Eleanor Harrison-Dengate
Editor: Matt Willis
Sound: John Scott
Production co-ordinator: Katie Morrison

Apr 10, 2025 • 14min
Decisions That Made Me: Chris May (Mayden, Founding Director)
When a family member gets sick, it can mean major changes to our lives. For Chris May, it meant he needed a role that could be done entirely from home. He quit his job, and created his own enterprise doing management consulting. One of the contracts he had after that was to create a report on the standards of north London hospitals. Instead of just a report, Chris created an entire database, and his work snowballed from there. The health technology entrepreneur talks to Evan Davis about how he eventually created the database for the entire NHS. Production team:
Producers: Nick Holland and Simon Tulett
Editor: Matt Willis
Sound: John Scott
Production co-ordinator: Katie Morrison

Apr 3, 2025 • 14min
Decisions That Made Me: Claire Daniels (Trio Media, CEO)
Grief hits everyone differently. For Claire Daniels, it changed her life; she had been working as the head of marketing for a technology firm and believed she’d keep climbing the corporate ladder, but after her brother’s death she found herself needing time out and quit. Later she began working for her sister in law’s business as a stopgap measure while she got herself back on track, but then that ended up becoming permanent. The marketing executive talks to Evan Davis about what it was like to work for family, and how she eventually became CEO of Trio media. Production team:
Producer: Bob Howard
Editor: Matt Willis
Sound: John Scott
Production co-ordinator: Katie Morrison