Power Failure
The Rise and Fall of an American Icon
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wish list failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy Now for $37.88
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Eric Jason Martin
-
Written by:
-
William D. Cohan
About this listen
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
The New Yorker Best Books of 2022 • Financial Times Best Books of 2022 • The Economist Best Books of 2022
The dramatic rise—and unimaginable fall—of America's most iconic corporation by New York Times bestselling author and pre-eminent financial journalist William D. Cohan
No company embodied American ingenuity, innovation, and industrial power more spectacularly and more consistently than the General Electric Company. GE once developed and manufactured many of the inventions we take for granted today, nearly everything from the lightbulb to the jet engine. GE also built a cult of financial and leadership success envied across the globe and became the world’s most valuable and most admired company. But even at the height of its prestige and influence, cracks were forming in its formidable foundation.
In a masterful re-appraisal of a company that once claimed to “bring good things to life,” pre-eminent financial journalist William D. Cohan argues that the incredible story of GE’s rise and fall is not only a paragon, but also a prism through which we can better understand American capitalism. Beginning with its founding, innovations, and exponential growth through acquisitions and mergers, Cohan plumbs the depths of GE's storied management culture, its pioneering doctrine of shareholder value, and its seemingly hidden blind spots, to reveal that GE wasn't immune from the hubris and avoidable mistakes suffered by many other corporations.
In Power Failure, Cohan punctures the myth of GE, exploring in a rich narrative how a once-great company wound up broken and in tatters—a cautionary tale for the ages.
©2022 William D. Cohan (P)2022 Penguin AudioYou may also enjoy...
-
Unscripted
- The Epic Battle for a Media Empire and the Redstone Family Legacy
- Written by: James B. Stewart, Rachel Abrams
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 12 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 2016, the fate of Paramount Global’s entertainment empire hung precariously in the balance. Its founder and head, ninety-three-year-old Sumner M. Redstone, was facing a very public lawsuit brought by a former romantic companion, Manuela Herzer, which placed Sumner’s deteriorating health and questionable judgment under a harsh light.
-
-
Fascinating insight to rich people behaving badly.
- By Candice S. on 2023-06-20
Written by: James B. Stewart, and others
-
Dead in the Water
- A True Story of Hijacking, Murder, and a Global Maritime Conspiracy
- Written by: Matthew Campbell, Kit Chellel
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 9 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In July 2011, the oil tanker Brillante Virtuoso was drifting through the treacherous Gulf of Aden when a crew of pirates attacked and set her ablaze in a devastating explosion. But when David Mockett, a maritime surveyor working for Lloyd’s of London, inspected the damaged vessel, he was left with more questions than answers. How had the pirates gotten aboard so easily? And if they wanted to steal the ship and bargain for its return, then why did they destroy it? The questions didn’t add up—and Mockett would never answer them.
-
-
Crazy interesting
- By patrick on 2023-11-29
Written by: Matthew Campbell, and others
-
Chip War
- The Quest to Dominate the World's Most Critical Technology
- Written by: Chris Miller
- Narrated by: Stephen Graybill
- Length: 12 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
You may be surprised to learn that microchips are the new oil—the scarce resource on which the modern world depends. Today, military, economic, and geopolitical power are built on a foundation of computer chips. Virtually everything—from missiles to microwaves—runs on chips, including cars, smartphones, the stock market, even the electric grid. Until recently, America designed and built the fastest chips and maintained its lead as the #1 superpower, but America’s edge is in danger of slipping, undermined by players in Taiwan, Korea, and Europe taking over manufacturing.
-
-
Transistor, transistor, transistor.
- By Vitalii on 2022-11-30
Written by: Chris Miller
-
The Smartest Guys in the Room
- The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron
- Written by: Bethany McLean
- Narrated by: Dennis Boutsikaris
- Length: 22 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The definitive volume on Enron's amazing rise and scandalous fall, from an award-winning team of Fortune investigative reporters.
-
-
exhaustive account of the Enron scandal
- By Sam on 2019-10-07
Written by: Bethany McLean
-
The Power Law
- Venture Capital and the Making of the New Future
- Written by: Sebastian Mallaby
- Narrated by: Will Damron
- Length: 16 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Innovations rarely come from “experts.” Elon Musk was not an “electric car person” before he started Tesla. When it comes to improbable innovations, a legendary tech VC told Sebastian Mallaby, the future cannot be predicted, it can only be discovered. It is the nature of the venture-capital game that most attempts at discovery fail, but a very few succeed at such a scale that they more than make up for everything else. That extreme ratio of success and failure is the power law that drives the VC business, all of Silicon Valley, the wider tech sector, and, by extension, the world.
Written by: Sebastian Mallaby
-
For Profit
- A History of Corporations
- Written by: William Magnuson
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 13 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Americans have long been skeptical of corporations, and that skepticism has only grown more intense in recent years. Meanwhile, corporations continue to amass wealth and power at a dizzying rate, recklessly pursuing profit while leaving society to sort out the costs. In For Profit, law professor William Magnuson argues that the story of the corporation didn’t have to come to this. Throughout history, he finds, corporations have been purpose-built to benefit the societies that surrounded them.
Written by: William Magnuson
-
Unscripted
- The Epic Battle for a Media Empire and the Redstone Family Legacy
- Written by: James B. Stewart, Rachel Abrams
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 12 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 2016, the fate of Paramount Global’s entertainment empire hung precariously in the balance. Its founder and head, ninety-three-year-old Sumner M. Redstone, was facing a very public lawsuit brought by a former romantic companion, Manuela Herzer, which placed Sumner’s deteriorating health and questionable judgment under a harsh light.
-
-
Fascinating insight to rich people behaving badly.
- By Candice S. on 2023-06-20
Written by: James B. Stewart, and others
-
Dead in the Water
- A True Story of Hijacking, Murder, and a Global Maritime Conspiracy
- Written by: Matthew Campbell, Kit Chellel
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 9 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In July 2011, the oil tanker Brillante Virtuoso was drifting through the treacherous Gulf of Aden when a crew of pirates attacked and set her ablaze in a devastating explosion. But when David Mockett, a maritime surveyor working for Lloyd’s of London, inspected the damaged vessel, he was left with more questions than answers. How had the pirates gotten aboard so easily? And if they wanted to steal the ship and bargain for its return, then why did they destroy it? The questions didn’t add up—and Mockett would never answer them.
-
-
Crazy interesting
- By patrick on 2023-11-29
Written by: Matthew Campbell, and others
-
Chip War
- The Quest to Dominate the World's Most Critical Technology
- Written by: Chris Miller
- Narrated by: Stephen Graybill
- Length: 12 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
You may be surprised to learn that microchips are the new oil—the scarce resource on which the modern world depends. Today, military, economic, and geopolitical power are built on a foundation of computer chips. Virtually everything—from missiles to microwaves—runs on chips, including cars, smartphones, the stock market, even the electric grid. Until recently, America designed and built the fastest chips and maintained its lead as the #1 superpower, but America’s edge is in danger of slipping, undermined by players in Taiwan, Korea, and Europe taking over manufacturing.
-
-
Transistor, transistor, transistor.
- By Vitalii on 2022-11-30
Written by: Chris Miller
-
The Smartest Guys in the Room
- The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron
- Written by: Bethany McLean
- Narrated by: Dennis Boutsikaris
- Length: 22 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The definitive volume on Enron's amazing rise and scandalous fall, from an award-winning team of Fortune investigative reporters.
-
-
exhaustive account of the Enron scandal
- By Sam on 2019-10-07
Written by: Bethany McLean
-
The Power Law
- Venture Capital and the Making of the New Future
- Written by: Sebastian Mallaby
- Narrated by: Will Damron
- Length: 16 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Innovations rarely come from “experts.” Elon Musk was not an “electric car person” before he started Tesla. When it comes to improbable innovations, a legendary tech VC told Sebastian Mallaby, the future cannot be predicted, it can only be discovered. It is the nature of the venture-capital game that most attempts at discovery fail, but a very few succeed at such a scale that they more than make up for everything else. That extreme ratio of success and failure is the power law that drives the VC business, all of Silicon Valley, the wider tech sector, and, by extension, the world.
Written by: Sebastian Mallaby
-
For Profit
- A History of Corporations
- Written by: William Magnuson
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 13 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Americans have long been skeptical of corporations, and that skepticism has only grown more intense in recent years. Meanwhile, corporations continue to amass wealth and power at a dizzying rate, recklessly pursuing profit while leaving society to sort out the costs. In For Profit, law professor William Magnuson argues that the story of the corporation didn’t have to come to this. Throughout history, he finds, corporations have been purpose-built to benefit the societies that surrounded them.
Written by: William Magnuson
-
The Fund
- Ray Dalio, Bridgewater Associates, and the Unraveling of a Wall Street Legend
- Written by: Rob Copeland
- Narrated by: Rob Copeland, Will Damron
- Length: 12 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ray Dalio does not want you to listen to this audiobook. Late last year, when the billionaire founder of Bridgewater Associates, the largest hedge fund on the planet, announced that he was stepping down from the company he started out of his apartment nearly 50 years ago, the news made headlines around the world. Dalio cultivated an aura of international admiration and fame thanks to his company’s eye-popping success, coupled with a mystique he encouraged with frequent media appearances, celebrity hobnobbing, and his bestselling book, Principles.
-
-
Searing
- By Mia Cara Cosco on 2024-10-21
Written by: Rob Copeland
-
Money and Power
- How Goldman Sachs Came to Rule the World
- Written by: William D. Cohan
- Narrated by: Rob Shapiro
- Length: 30 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the best-selling, prize-winning author of The Last Tycoons and House of Cards, a revelatory history of Goldman Sachs, the most dominant, feared, and controversial investment bank in the world. William D. Cohan has constructed a vivid narrative that looks behind the veil of secrecy to reveal how Goldman has become so profitable - and so powerful.
Written by: William D. Cohan
-
Lucky Loser
- How Donald Trump Squandered His Father's Fortune and Created the Illusion of Success
- Written by: Russ Buettner, Susanne Craig
- Narrated by: Gabra Zackman
- Length: 17 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the Pulitzer Prize-winning reporters behind the 2018 bombshell New York Times exposé of then-President Trump’s finances, an explosive investigation into the history of Donald Trump’s wealth, revealing how exactly one of the country’s biggest business failures lied his way into the White House.
-
-
Revealing
- By Brandy A on 2024-11-18
Written by: Russ Buettner, and others
-
Kochland
- The Secret History of Koch Industries and Corporate Power in America
- Written by: Christopher Leonard
- Narrated by: Jacques Roy
- Length: 23 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Just as Steve Coll told the story of globalization through ExxonMobil and Andrew Ross Sorkin told the story of Wall Street excess through Too Big to Fail, Christopher Leonard’s Kochland uses the extraordinary account of how the biggest private company in the world grew to be that big to tell the story of modern corporate America.
Written by: Christopher Leonard
-
Flying Blind
- The 737 MAX Tragedy and the Fall of Boeing
- Written by: Peter Robison
- Narrated by: Feodor Chin
- Length: 10 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Boeing is a century-old titan of industry. It played a major role in the early days of commercial flight, World War II bombing missions, and moon landings. The plane maker remains a cornerstone of the U.S. economy, as well as a linchpin in the awesome routine of modern air travel. But in 2018 and 2019, two crashes of the Boeing 737 MAX 8 killed 346 people. The crashes exposed a shocking pattern of malfeasance, leading to the biggest crisis in the company’s history—and one of the costliest corporate scandals ever.
-
-
Gripping and well told
- By pinkmarshmellow on 2022-04-30
Written by: Peter Robison
-
Barbarians at the Gate
- The Fall of RJR Nabisco
- Written by: Bryan Burrough, John Helyar
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 22 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A number-one New York Times best seller and arguably the best business narrative ever written, Barbarians at the Gate is the classic account of the fall of RJR Nabisco. An enduring masterpiece of investigative journalism by Bryan Burrough and John Helyar, it includes a new afterword by the authors that brings this remarkable story of greed and double-dealings up to date 20 years after the famed deal.
Written by: Bryan Burrough, and others
What the critics say
"An epic piece of work."—MIKE BARNICLE, MSNBC Morning Joe
"A riveting, magisterial work of business history."—FAST COMPANY
“A sweeping tale of ambition, arrogance, egos, and feuds—and how they brought down a once-great company.”—KIRKUS REVIEWS
What listeners say about Power Failure
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- cathyborutski
- 2024-11-11
Time to rewatch 30 Rock
Great book that covers the rise and fall of one of the most important companies in American history.
It's easily accessible and entertaining for those on the outside of corporate America, and a valuable lesson for those on the inside.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!