We originally published this interview with Bloomberg&#x27;s Joe Weisenthal on Feb. 11, 2026, and it&#x27;s one of my favorite chats of the year. We&#x27;ll be back with a new conversation on July 8. If Joe Weisenthal didn’t exist, the internet would have to invent him. Because Joe Weisenthal is built for the internet — more specifically, an internet personality: Knows a lot, curious about even more, often right, happy to be wrong, always has something to say about anything. That persona/personality did wonders for Joe in the early days of Business Insider — which, not coincidentally, were also the early days of Twitter, where Joe really took off. Then he took his talents to Bloomberg, and since then has turned himself into a successful business/finance podcaster: Along with co-host Tracy Alloway, they’ve turned “Odd Lots” into a project no one at their employer knew or cared about into a genuine hit. Discussed here: Why Joe is still at Bloomberg, instead of doing the indie media route that could make him a gazillion dollars; what makes a perfect podcast guest; and Joe’s semi-secret country music ambitions. Plus something smart you can say about tariffs, if you’re in a place where people are talking about tariffs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Encore: Inside Joe Weisenthal's brain

Channels with Peter Kafka

From the Vox Media Podcast Network, this is Channels with Peter Kafka. That's me. Today, I'm talking to Joe Weisenthal, who in some ways is like a lot of the creators I've talked to over the past few years who are running one person media operations based around their personal brand. In Joe's case, that brand would be guy who's broadly interested in business and markets and finance and has lots of ideas and opinions and wants to talk about them in real time all the time.

The difference is that Joe isn't on his own. After making a name for himself at Business Insider, he spent the last decade at Bloomberg and for the last five years has spent most of his time on Odd Lots, the nerdy and excellent show he co-hosts with Tracy Alloway. And as we discussed, Joe really does seem like the kind of guy who could leave his big media job to do his own thing. But unless he's BSing me, he seems like he's very happy staying put.

Which is maybe a lesson for both creators and companies that employ them. There is a way to let people build big brands around themselves and keep them working for you. Also, Joe is someone I've known a tiny bit for a long time and I'm always marveled at his approach to communicating, which in another time may not have worked well at all, but turns out to be perfect for the internet slash social media era. So we've talked about how he's turned that mindset into a career.

Encore: Inside Joe Weisenthal's brain

Read the full transcript

The candid version is on a podcast,
not the earnings call.

Encore: Inside Joe Weisenthal's brain

Read the full transcript

The candid version is on a podcast, not the earnings call.

The candid version is on a podcast,
not the earnings call.