Big Take

American consumers disputed nearly 30% more credit card transactions in 2025 than they did just four years earlier. Some of those “chargebacks” are legitimate issues or outright scams. But increasingly, many are what Bloomberg Businessweek reporter Amanda Mull says is friendly fraud — transaction disputes that aren’t completely honest or the retailer’s fault.
On today’s Big Take podcast, Mull joins host Sarah Holder to discuss the sharp rise in chargebacks, and the consequences of this trend for retailers, banks and consumers.
Read more: Credit Card Holders Are Using ‘Friendly Fraud’ to Get Back at Retailers
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Hosted by Sarah Holder; Produced by Julia Press; Reported by Amanda Mull; Edited by Naomi Shavin.
Fact-checking by Laura Newcombe; Engineering by Sean Carter.
Senior Producer: Naomi Shavin; Deputy Executive Producer: Julia Weaver. Executive Producer: Nicole Beemsterboer.
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After the pandemic-era run on medical gloves, the US government set a plan in motion to reshore manufacturing. Roughly six years and almost $1 billion later, America is once again facing potential shortages of medical gloves because of supply chain disruptions stemming from the war in Iran.
On today’s Big Take podcast, host Sarah Holder and health care industry reporter Anna Edney break down why US efforts to make American medical gloves have largely failed, what it says about reshoring manufacturing writ large and where the industry goes from here.
Read more: Almost $1 Billion Later, the US Still Can’t Make a Medical Glove
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Hosted by Sarah Holder; Produced by Laura Newcombe and Rachael Lewis-Krisky; Reported by Anna Edney; Edited by Naomi Shavin. Fact-checking by Victor Swezey; Engineering by Sean Carter. Senior Producer: Naomi Shavin; Deputy Executive Producer: Julia Weaver. Executive Producer: Nicole Beemsterboer.
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How did Tether — the largest stablecoin issuer in the world — go from fighting stablecoin regulation to supporting the Genius Act? That’s the subject of a new Bloomberg News investigation into how Trump insiders helped to loosen safeguards and shape the process that led to the law in ways that benefitted the company.
On today’s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg’s Anthony Cormier and David Kocieniewski detail their reporting for host Sarah Holder, including how US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, according to court filings, ‘managed to kill’ less favorable legislation before taking office, and how former White House aide Bo Hines defended a provision Tether wanted – before going to work for the company.
Read more: How Tether Benefited as Trump Insiders Shaped First US Crypto Law
Further listening: Meet Tether, The Most Powerful Crypto Firm You’ve Never Heard Of
We have a special Bloomberg subscription offer for podcast listeners at Bloomberg.com/podcastoffer.
Hosted by Sarah Holder; Produced by David Fox; Reported by Anthony Cormier, David Kocieniewski and Annie Massa; Edited by Aaron Edwards, Tracey Samuelson.
Fact-checking by Rachael Lewis-Krisky; Engineering by Emma Munger, Alex Sugiura.
Senior Producer: Naomi Shavin; Deputy Executive Producer: Julia Weaver. Executive Producer: Nicole Beemsterboer.
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When a 1,000-year-old Cambodian statue came up for auction at Sotheby’s in New York, it sparked off an investigation that uncovered one of the world’s most extensive art trafficking networks.
On today’s Big Take Asia Podcast, host K. Oanh Ha talks to Bloomberg’s Matthew Campbell and American lawyer Bradley Gordon on how Cambodia’s looted treasures ended up scattered around the world and what it takes to bring them home.
Read more: Chasing the Man Who Stole the Gods
Watch, from Originals: Cambodia to Museums: We Want Our Statues Back
We have a special Bloomberg subscription offer for podcast listeners at Bloomberg.com/podcastoffer.
Hosted by K. Oanh Ha; Produced by Naomi Ng; Reported by Matthew Campbell; Edited by Aaron Edwards. Fact-checking by Victor Swezey and Yang Yang; Engineering by Taka Yasuzawa and Emma Munger. Senior Producer: Naomi Shavin; Deputy Executive Producer: Julia Weaver. Executive Producer: Nicole Beemsterboer. Photo by Agnes Dherbeys/The New York Times/Redux
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From celebrity wedding details to the timing of military strikes, prediction markets have opened the door to gambling on almost anything. They’ve also created a new class of insider trader that platforms and US regulators are racing to stop.
On today’s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg’s Denitsa Tsekova and Leonardo Nicoletti join host Sarah Holder to break down a $200 million surge in unusual bets on Polymarket — and explore what it will take for regulators to rein them in.
Read more: Prediction Markets Are Minting a New Type of Insider Trader
We have a special Bloomberg subscription offer for podcast listeners at Bloomberg.com/podcastoffer.
Hosted by Sarah Holder; Produced by Rachael Lewis-Krisky and Victor Swezey; Reported by Denitsa Tsekova and Leonardo Nicoletti; Edited by Aaron Edwards and Julia Weaver.
Fact-checking by Victor Swezey, Laura Newcombe and David Fox; Engineering by Emma Munger.
Senior Producer: Naomi Shavin; Deputy Executive Producer: Julia Weaver. Executive Producer: Nicole Beemsterboer.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.