

Big Boss Interview
BBC News
Big Boss Interview is where the most high-profile chief executives and entrepreneurs come to give you their insights and experiences of running the world's biggest and well-known businesses. The series is presented by Sean Farrington, Felicity Hannah and Will Bain, who you'd normally hear presenting the business news on BBC Radio 4's Today programme as well as BBC 5 Live's Wake Up To Money. Each week they'll be finding out just what it takes to run a huge organisation and what the day to day challenges and opportunities are. You can get in contact with the team by emailing bigboss@bbc.co.uk
Episodes
Mentioned books

Mar 29, 2025 • 49min
Myanmar Earthquake: How aid gets to where it’s needed
Myanmar's military leader, Min Aung Hlaing, has made a rare request for international help after a powerful earthquake hit the centre of the country, flattening buildings and bridges.The US vice president, JD Vance, has accused Denmark of underinvesting in the security of Greenland and leaving it vulnerable.And Rahul Tandon will discuss how Dua Lipa has won the dismissal of a lawsuit that accused her of copying her hit single Levitating from two other songs.We will be joined throughout the programme by two guests on opposite sides of the world – From the US, Andy Uhler, Journalism fellow at the University of Texas Energy Institute and Columbia University's Centre on Global Energy Policy – and Nga Pham, a journalist based in Taiwan.

Mar 28, 2025 • 49min
Canada PM says the US is ‘no longer a reliable partner’
The Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney, has said the United States is no longer a reliable partner after President Donald Trump imposed 25% tariffs on car imports. Rahul Tandon speaks to businesses in both the US and Canada.
China's biggest company, Tencent Holdings, has made more than a billion-dollar investment in a new spin-off company of the French gaming giant Ubisoft, which owns franchises including Assassin’s Creed and Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six.And if you speak a language other than English, are there terms that English just doesn’t have or can't do justice to? Well, the Oxford English Dictionary feels your pain, and so it's incorporating "loan words" – words that would be coined as "untranslatable".
We will be joined throughout the programme by two guests on opposite sides of the world – Dante Disparte, Head of Policy at the Libra Association, who is in Washington, and Sushma Ramachandran, an independent business journalist and columnist for The Tribune, who is in Delhi, India.

Mar 27, 2025 • 49min
Trump imposes 25% tariffs on car imports
The US President Donald Trump has announced plans for long-promised tariffs on automotive imports shipped into the United States, and the tariffs will go into effect on 2nd April and will apply to finished cars and trucks that are shipped into the United States.
Also, Maryland is marking one year since a cargo ship crashed into Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge. The owner of the ship agreed to pay 102 million in damages back in September, and now it’s expected that the new bridge will be finished in 2028.
And Rahul Tandon discusses Marvel announcement of the production for Avengers: Doomsday, which is underway and appears to have revealed its cast.We will be joined throughout the programme by two guests on opposite sides of the world - Stephanie Hare, a researcher on technology and ethics originally from Illinois but living in London and KAREN PERCY – senior freelance reporter in Melbourne.

Mar 8, 2025 • 49min
US ports see record levels of activities due to worries of a global trade war
Ports in the United States are experiencing ‘record levels of activities’ due to the tariffs and businesses trying to stock up to avoid the threat of tariffs and trade war.
Bitcoin makes it big in Washington as President Trump establishes an official government cryptocurrency reserve office after meeting with crypto business leaders in the White House.And also we hear about hundreds of female tennis players on the WTA tour will be eligible for twelve months' paid maternity leave. Rahul Tandon will be joined throughout the programme by two guests on opposite sides of the world. In Buenos Aires, Argentina, Fermin Koop, environment and climate reporter; and in Lahore, Pakistan, Mehmal Sarfraz, journalist and analyst.

Feb 20, 2025 • 49min
Trump slams brakes on New York congestion charge
The US president, Donald Trump, moves to revoke the approval of New York City’s congestion pricing programs. We hear from one of the architects of the congestion charge policy in the city.Microsoft has unveiled a new quantum chip called Majorana One, which it says will help the company create computers able to solve meaningful industrial-scale problems in years, not decades.
And Roger Hearing discusses how a local government in the Philippines has come up with an unusual way of combating dengue fever by announcing a payment for every five mosquitoes caught and brought in.We will be joined throughout the programme by two guests on opposite sides of the world - Karen Percy, Senior freelance reporter in Melbourne, Australia, and Emily Peck, Axios Markets Correspondent and co-host of the Slate Money podcast, who's in New York.

Feb 19, 2025 • 49min
What is the future of US-Russia economic relations?
The US and Russia have outlined their intention to build relations far beyond a deal over Ukraine—extending to cooperation on other global issues and developing sizeable economic and investment links.
Argentine President Javier Milei has denied promoting a newly launched cryptocurrency that collapsed shortly after he mentioned it in a social media post on Friday.
And Ed Butler hears about a shocking revelation from Nasa that a large asteroid could be on course to hit earth. Although the space agency does go on to say, don't panic, it almost certainly won't. We’ll be joined throughout the programme by two guests on opposite sides of the world - Amita Arudpragasm, who's an Independent policy analyst based in Sri Lanka, and Sergio Guzman, the Director of Colombia Risk Analysis, which advises local and global companies looking to invest in Colombia and the region.

Feb 18, 2025 • 49min
Who’s spent what on the war in Ukraine?
European leaders have been meeting in Paris to discuss military support for Ukraine. The United States has demanded that Europe increases defence spending and sends troops to Ukraine if there is a ceasefire in the war with Russia. Also, are Canadians boycotting US goods in shops after President Trump’s tariff threats?And Ed Butler reports from one of Africa’s biggest e-waste dumps in Ghana. Also, Meta, Facebook’s parent company, says it plans to build the world’s longest undersea cable, to bring industry-leading connectivity to five continents. We will be joined throughout the programme by two guests on opposite sides of the world - Sushmar Ramachandran, who is Independent journalist and columnist with the Tribune newspaper based in Delhi and Oliver Stuenkel, an associate professor of International Relations at the Getulio Vargas Foundation in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Feb 1, 2025 • 49min
Canada, Mexico, and China face tariffs on Saturday, White House says
President Trump confirms big tariffs are being imposed on goods coming into the US from Mexico, Canada, and China. We'll hear from businesses in Canada and Mexico on their response.
We hear the story of one family's return to their home following the Los Angeles wildfires. David Brancaccio, a journalist with our US partner Marketplace, who bought a house just a few months ago and was burnt down by the California firestorms earlier this month.
India’s finance minister will be presenting the country’s annual budget in a few hours’ time, outlining the government’s spending plans for the coming year.
Throughout the program, we will be joined by two guests on opposite sides of the world: Andy Uhler, Journalism Fellow at the Energy Institute at The University of Texas, who's in Austin, and Nga Pham, a journalist in Taipei in Taiwan.

Jan 31, 2025 • 49min
Black boxes recovered in deadly Washington DC plane crash
Investigators from the US federal agency noted that mid-air collisions like this are rare in the US, and they said it was far too early to speculate on what caused the crash; however, we will look at crowded airspaces and complex issues surrounding airports.
Also, economic growth in the US slowed at the end of last year, as trade and investment declined and the country was hit by hurricanes and strikes.
And, shoplifting, shrinkage, the five-finger discount—whatever you call it—stealing from shops is on the rise. Here in the UK, the British Retail Consortium has told the BBC retail crime is "out of control."Throughout the program, we will be joined by two guests on opposite sides of the world: Karen Percy, Senior freelance reporter, who's in Melbourne, and Emily Peck, Markets correspondent at Axios, in New York.

Jan 18, 2025 • 49min
US Supreme Court upholds TikTok ban law
The US Supreme Court has upheld a law that bans TikTok in the US unless its China-based parent company, ByteDance, sells the platform by this Sunday.
A cold snap in Washington, DC, means Donald Trump's inauguration on Monday will now be held indoors instead of on the steps of the Capitol. Also, Argentina has reported a fiscal surplus for the first time in sixteen years, as a result of comprehensive budget cuts implemented by President Javier Milei.
We will look at how immigration is a high-profile public policy issue in many countries, including the United States. So, how does Trump's MAGA movement, which favours a huge cut in the numbers of people receiving work visas, affect the tech sector in Silicon Valley?
Throughout the program We will be joined by two guests on opposite sides of the world: Jyoti Malhotra, editor in chief of The Tribune—she's in Chandigarh, India—and Ralph Silva from the Silva Research Network is in Toronto, Canada.


