Businessweek
Jealousy List 2024
The stories we admired most this year.
In Catholicism, envy is one of the seven deadly sins. In professional journalism, it’s a virtue, albeit too seldomly expressed. Which is why every year, Bloomberg Businessweek commits this cardinal act for all to witness, with our annual Jealousy List. Below, we’ve asked our editors and contributors to identify that one story in 2024 that filled them with the kind of indescribable resentment that theologians once thought was a dangerous gateway to other sins. In this case, however, we simply hope to create a handy guide to some of the best business journalism of the year. And if rival publications are jealous of the Businessweek Jealousy List — so much the better. —The Editors
Jeremy Keehn, features editor, Bloomberg Businessweek, @jkeehn.bsky.social
America Must Free Itself From the Tyranny of the Penny
From the New York Times
How, as a Canadian business editor, did I miss the opportunity for smugness presented by America’s inability to eliminate the penny, which Canada did in 2013? And how have I never edited a story with “trochilidine” in it? I looked it up—it means “of or relating to hummingbirds,” and, yeah, it was the perfect way to describe American penny production.
Annie Massa, wealth reporter, Bloomberg News, @antoniabmassa
Fur & Loathing
From Fur & Loathing podcast
I never saw myself recommending a podcast about an unsolved mystery from a Furry convention, but Fur & Loathing stuck with me all year. Host Nicky Woolf reopens the cold case of a poisonous chlorine gas attack at Midwest FurFest in 2014. This show is full of twists and offers insights into fandom, extremism and how the internet shapes events in the real world.
Chadwick Matlin, contributor, Bloomberg Businessweek
The Fate of the Finance Bro
From the New Yorker
This podcast starts with an ode to Industry, HBO’s disembowelment of capitalism and ambition, and ends with a treatise on David Guetta’s remix of a TikTok meme. The episode is an engaging, thought-provoking exploration of why we just can’t quit stories about Wall Street, even when we know where they may lead.
Andrew Barden, head of media, EMEA, Bloomberg News, @abarden
The Extra Mile
From the Atavist Magazine
The Last Annual Volunteer State Road Race is a 314-mile ultramarathon that attracts the very best (or craziest) on the planet. In her riveting long read for the Atavist Magazine, Maggie Gigandet masterfully intertwines the brutal nature of the race, a man’s attempt to recover from brain injury and a couple’s quest to rediscover each other. It made me want to run. And write.
Ritsuko Ando, senior editor, Asia editing hub, Bloomberg News
A British Nurse Was Found Guilty of Killing Seven Babies. Did She Do It?
From the New Yorker
I couldn’t stop thinking about this story for days. It changed my mind about a case I thought was rock-solid and a woman we were told was a monster. The story pointed out the flaws in the evidence and statistics that were central to the trial. It may not help overturn Lucy Letby’s conviction, but it’s raised serious questions about the UK legal process and the shockingly poor standard of care at National Health Service hospitals, something many don’t want to believe.
Bill Faries, senior editor, Singapore, Bloomberg News, @billfaries
How Chinese Students Experience America
From the New Yorker
Since his Peace Corps days, Peter Hessler has brought depth and nuance to China reporting that too often focuses on Beijing and Washington. This time he looks at how the experience of post-Covid America affects Chinese students in the US. Gun culture, religion and Chinese basketball leagues populate the narrative, and made me wish more people knew both countries better.
Eric Morrow, audience development editor, Bloomberg News, @morrow.bsky.social
The Spectacular Failure of the Star Wars Hotel
From YouTube
The future of journalism isn’t four-hour long YouTube videos. But Jenny Nicholson’s deep dive into a high-profile Disney error is an eviscerating tragicomedy in the corporate-driven era of fandom. In a world where more people are turning to influencers rather than news brands, there’s still a way to tell compelling stories.
Jeff Muskus, senior features editor, Bloomberg Businessweek, @JeffMuskus
The Open-Air Prison for ISIS Supporters—and Victims
From the New Yorker
Anand Gopal has a gift for telling stories other people miss, but he also puts in the work. This story is about the 50,000 people from more than 50 countries who are effectively imprisoned for life in a US-backed concentration camp. It’s nuanced and sensitive, a testament to the value of keeping on a big story long after others have looked away.
Rebecca Penty, senior editor, Bloomberg Businessweek, @rpenty
She said she had a miscarriage—then got arrested under an abortion law
From the Washington Post
We hear warnings about the risk of women going to jail for having a miscarriage in the US. The Washington Post found one such woman, and her story is chilling. The investigation revealed deep failings at every level of the justice system and in a broader society that sought to punish rather than help an impoverished mother.
Emily Cadman, executive editor, APAC hub, Bloomberg News, @ecadman
You Might Be a Late Bloomer
From the Atlantic
This beguiling essay about those who don’t make it big—at least initially—is the perfect mental antidote if you’ve read too many breathless articles on the latest trends. Funny and touching by turns, it dissects a question I’d never really pondered before: What does it take to bloom late when society is structured to promote early talent?
Ira Boudway, global business of sports reporter, Bloomberg News, @iboudway.bsky.social
A Psychiatrist Tried to Quit Gambling. Betting Apps Kept Her Hooked
From the Wall Street Journal
As a reporter, I’m always looking for individual stories that can reveal and illuminate larger trends or conflicts. I’ve never done it as well as Katherine Sayre does in this chronicle of a Pennsylvania woman who lost more than $400,000 in a year playing online casino games—and how sports betting apps enabled her addiction.
Felix Gillette, media/entertainment editor, Bloomberg News, @felixgillette
Dana White, Donald Trump and the Rise of Cage-Match Politics
From the New York Times
This is a terrific profile of Ultimate Fighting Championship ringleader Dana White and how he transformed a fringe, debt-laden entertainment business into the thriving economic and political epicenter of America’s new-wave conservatism. Anyone in the future looking back and trying to understand this mercenary, bloodthirsty, concussed era of American history, will be well served by reading this lucid, insightful business story.
David Rocks, senior editor, Bloomberg Businessweek, @RealDavidRocks
The Case Against Pessimism
From the Atlantic
In the Atlantic, Anne Applebaum lays out the case for continued US and European support for Ukraine as Vladimir Putin’s war there enters its fourth year.
Dietmar Liz-Lepiorz, senior visuals editor, Bloomberg Businessweek
The New AI-Universe
From Capital
Capital magazine opened its cover story with a conceptual spread graphic of the solar system representing and identifying 40 companies that will profit early from the AI boom. With Nvidia in the center, the planetary rings represent different market segments: The closer to Nvidia, the more likely they are to benefit. And each planet’s circumference indicates the company’s market value. Simple graphic visualization at its best.
Giles Turner, global business of sports managing editor, Bloomberg News, giles-turner--b5a3a19
The End of the NFL’s Concussion Crisis
From New York magazine
There’s nothing more annoying than thinking, “We should do something on this” and—while you’re still flapping around—someone else just nails it. This piece is a simple yet definitive take on concussions and the NFL, spelling out a simple yet brutal truth: We just don’t care anymore about the risk of brain damage in the sport.
James Tarmy, arts columnist, Bloomberg News, @jstarmy
A New Washington Influence Industry Is Making Millions From Sanctions
From the Washington Post
Rigorous investigative journalism that uncovers large quantities of money hiding in plain sight and in the process makes a devastating (and convincing) argument that America’s foreign policy is for sale.
Danielle Sacks, senior features editor, Bloomberg Businessweek, @daniellesacks
The Unbranding of Abercrombie
From the Cut
In an industry with one obit after the next, a retailer that manages to pull off a turnaround is practically a unicorn. The Cut’s Chantal Fernandez beat us in telling how the notorious aughts-era mall fixture Abercrombie & Fitch shed its baggage to become “the toast of Wall Street” by “killing almost everything the preppy, testosterone-driven brand once stood for” in favor of “a reasonably priced uniform for the TikTok-adjacent life.”
Anna Edney, national health-care reporter, Bloomberg News, @annaedney
The Year After a Denied Abortion
From ProPublica
This story blew my mind. Many articles have shown the horrors associated with denying and limiting abortion access, but this one from ProPublica rose to the top for me for the subject’s courage allowing a reporter and photographer into her life, the seemingly insurmountable hardships it portrays in intimate detail and the care with which it was told.
Erik Schatzker, editorial director, Bloomberg New Economy, @eschatzker
Reckoning With the Dead at the Sphere
From the New Yorker
The beauty of this business story is how effortlessly it masquerades as a critique of Dead and Company’s Las Vegas residency. Nick Paumgarten channels every longtime fan’s nostalgia and ambivalence; but underneath is a fascination with the enduring power of the Grateful Dead as a brand, the economics of live music and the Sphere itself—the “ripe manifestation of risk capital.”
Matthew Boyle, senior reporter, Work Shift, matthewsboyle
The plight of the girlboss
From Business Insider
I’m consistently jealous of Aki Ito’s workplace coverage, and this piece especially, as she gained exclusive access to an expensive retreat for powerful (yet miserable) businesswomen to explore the complicated, contradictory reality of their post-pandemic pursuit of “work-life balance,” which remains an illusion for most American workers, particularly women.
Josh Eidelson, senior labor reporter, Bloomberg News, @josheidelson
Abortion Bans Have Delayed Emergency Medical Care. In Georgia, Experts Say This Mother’s Death Was Preventable
From ProPublica
Kavitha Surana’s meticulously reported ProPublica stories illuminated the deaths of women, including 28-year-old mom Amber Nicole Thurman, who couldn’t get legal abortions and timely medical care in Georgia. “Thurman waited in pain in a hospital bed … as doctors monitored her infection spreading, her blood pressure sinking and her organs beginning to fail,” Surana wrote. “It took 20 hours for doctors to finally operate.”
Reyhan Harmanci, senior editor, Bloomberg Businessweek, @harmancipants.bsky.social
The Return of Ta-Nehisi Coates
From New York magazine
This was one of the first stories about Coates’ new book—and the best one. It somehow both served to introduce audiences to what would be a controversial and much discussed major new work, and also consider Coates’ own position regarding his book’s central topic: power. You get the sense that Coates has more to reckon with when it comes to his place in the world.
Zeke Faux, reporter, Bloomberg News, @zekefaux.bsky.social
The Dead Admonish
From Harper’s Magazine
John Ganz struggles to understand what lessons he should draw from the lives of his German Jewish ancestors in an essay that’s an example of the intellectual traditions he admires.
Brad Stone, editor, Bloomberg Businessweek, @BradStone
The Billionaire Bully Who Wants to Turn Texas Into a Christian Theocracy
From Texas Monthly
Another banger from Russell Gold in Texas Monthly about oilman Tim Dunn, a ruthless and mostly invisible oligarch who wields tremendous power in Texas politics and aims to bring Christian-nationalist governance to America. With a full airing of his views on public schools, LGBTQ rights and the mainstream media, it’s a resonant piece, particularly after the reelection of Donald Trump, whom Dunn has religiously (irony intended) backed.
Devin Leonard, senior writer, Bloomberg News, devin-leonard-05425626
Op Nation: Why Tucker Carlson Became America’s Conspiracist-in-Chief
From Tablet
You may remember David Samuels as a star contributor to Harper’s, the Atlantic and the New York Times Magazine. He’s now editor of County Highway, a print-only, broadsheet, and he’s still dropping his own pieces that I find personally humbling. Like this one from Tablet, invoking everybody from Diddy to Don DeLillo and culminating in an extended riff about the certain bow-tied, ex-Fox News personality that you won’t want to miss.
David Dudley, senior editor, Bloomberg CityLab, @davedudley.bsky.social
Guns. Knives. Bats. Hammers. Hatchets. Spears
From the Washington Post
US roads are weirdly, persistently dangerous. Rather than reeling off stats and policy fixes, Ruby Cramer explores one facet of the traffic safety crisis—road rage—and gives it a human face, shadowing a court-ordered course for aggressive drivers in Texas and crafting a dialogue-driven portrait of a nation coming apart at the seams, behind the wheel.
Ellen Huet, technology features writer, Bloomberg News, @ellenhuet
Andrew Huberman’s Mechanisms of Control
From New York magazine
So much had already been written about science-wellness podcast guru Andrew Huberman. But Kerry Howley uncovered a completely unknown side of him. She recounts his trail of deceptions—romantic and otherwise—with masterly prose, meticulous care and unrelenting suspense, all while navigating a sensitive topic (and braving the rage of his defenders and stan army).
Stacy-Marie Ishmael, executive editor, Bloomberg News, @smi.bsky.social
‘I’m stuck. Get me outta here!’
From Financial Times
The industry term for getting stuck in a lift—an elevator, to non-Brits—is “entrapment.” And this FT Magazine story by Aidan Tulloch about the people who work in the call center dedicated to answering the cries of the entrapped has everything: climate change, political dysfunction, an aging society, cake-fueled office gossip. All against a backdrop of primal fear. Brilliant.
Dasha Afanasieva, reporter, Bloomberg News, @dasha_reports
The Delusions of Advanced Recycling
From ProPublica
This is the very nerdy but very comprehensible explanation of the circular economy myth. It’s what Big Plastic doesn’t want you to know about plastic recycling—including newfangled chemical methods. It goes into detail about recycling methods and the industry’s caginess about their effectiveness.
Aeriel Brown, photo director, Bloomberg Businessweek, @aeriel78
When Babies Rule the Dinner Table
From the New Yorker
W.C. Fields once advised, “Never work with dogs or children.” Photographer Olaf Becker does both beautifully here, while never veering into saccharine territory. The images are weird but not too weird; cute but not too cute—a needle that’s difficult to thread when working with children.
Austin Carr, technology reporter, Bloomberg News, @AustinCarr
After year of hoaxes, real bomb targets Satanic Temple
From the Salem News
For 10 years, Dustin Luca reported on schools and city hall for my hometown paper while working side gigs to make ends meet. When he switched careers over the summer, I found myself in awe of what he’d sacrificed to write about K-12 budgets and council meetings. You’ll see many flashy articles on this list, but don’t forget to appreciate the unsung, dying coverage provided by local newspapers. Luca’s work is a good reminder to subscribe to yours.
Jeff Grocott, senior editor, podcasts
Season 7 of Chameleon: The Michigan Plot
From Campside Media
The heart of a good podcast is good tape. Chameleon: The Michigan Plot has great tape—a trove of undercover recordings of Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s would-be kidnappers as they move between covert meetings, recon missions and fast-food runs. Are these guys fearsome militants? Big-talking stoners? Hear the tape and decide for yourself—and ask whether things might have turned out differently had the tape recorders not been running.
Kim Bhasin, senior reporter, Bloomberg News, @KimBhasin
The Great Bedrock Clog Heist
From Outside
A little outdoor company had a crucial shipment of its shoes stolen en route to its headquarters and suddenly found itself targeted by a cargo theft ring that almost ruined its business. Scott Yorko steers us through an international crime saga with shady mystery truckers and a highway patrol raid—all over a shipment of closed-toe, open-back mountain clogs.
Susan Berfield, investigative reporter, Bloomberg News
The Number
From the Washington Post
I began reading this piece because it was written by John Lanchester, but with some trepidation because he was writing about statistics and the consumer price index. No problem! I was immediately captivated by his language and humor, by his ability to begin the piece with a sentence about a volcano on Vanuatu and end with a profound statement about the consumer price index as an Enlightenment value.
Jessica Loudis, senior editor, Bloomberg News
Inside the U.S. Government-Bought Tool That Can Track Phones at Abortion Clinics
From 404 Media
Since launching less than two years ago, 404 Media has managed to make itself an indispensable part of the tech journalism ecosystem through deep dives into how tech affects and shapes lives. This story illustrates in vivid—and unsettling—detail how easily digital tools can be weaponized to surveil women in states that have restricted abortion access.
Mark Milian, deputy editor, Bloomberg Businessweek, @markmilian.com
Why A.I. Isn’t Going to Make Art
From the New Yorker
I was a fan of Ted Chiang’s fiction before I even knew that he’s a great explanatory journalist, too. This essay shows how he can take a complicated topic and boil it down to its essence. I expected to learn something about AI but didn’t anticipate leaving with a new point of view about what constitutes art.
Joshua Brustein, technology features editor, Bloomberg News
Who died and left the US $7 billion?
From Sherwood News
This story sets out to solve one of the more perplexing mysteries in the history of capitalism: Why did a billionaire, when faced with a large tax bill, just go ahead and pay it? Jumping off a chance discovery on the US Treasury’s balance sheet, the piece takes us on a fun ride, and it even gets to what’s probably (but not definitely) the answer.
Cristina Lindblad, global economics editor, Bloomberg Businessweek
Welcome to Pricing Hell
From the Atlantic
For me the stories that inspire the most jealousy are ones I wanted to assign but never got around to. For that reason, I nearly wept when I saw Chris Beam’s story on personalized pricing. The pandemic-induced inflation surge pulled back the curtain a bit on how companies price their products and services. As business journalists, we need to stay on this story even as inflation abates.
Shawn Donnan, senior economics writer, Bloomberg News, @sdonnan.bsky.social
The U.S. Chinese immigrants running temu shipping centers from their homes
From Rest of World
I’m increasingly obsessed with the bits of the economy that we don’t see. This story dived into one of those. I’ve written about trade and the economy for years. I had no idea this particular nook of the global economy even existed.
Robert Friedman, senior investigations editor, Bloomberg News, @rfriedman305
The Brutality of Sugar: Debt, Child Marriage and Hysterectomies
From the New York Times
Coke, Pepsi and hysterectomies. Megha Rajagopalan and Qadri Inzamam’s investigation of child labor, debt bondage and other abusive labor practices in the Indian sugar industry followed the bittersweet trail from the fields of Maharashtra to the world’s largest soda makers. Powerful reporting, strong visuals and accountability—a package every journalist can envy.
Gabrielle Coppola, auto industry reporter, Bloomberg News, @gablova
Autocracy in America
From the Atlantic
This podcast from Anne Applebaum and Peter Pomerantsev, two journalists with deep knowledge of eastern European history, had a powerful kaleidoscopic effect on my brain. Drawing parallels between American political culture and post-Soviet Russia or Poland gave me an interesting lens through which to understand the current moment in a bigger, broader and more historical way. Not exactly a happy podcast, but useful.
Riley Griffin, health-care reporter, Bloomberg News, @rileyraygriffin
Despite bird flu anxiety in the dairy barn, a yearly tradition carries on at an Iowa County fair
From Stat
As H5N1 began spreading through America’s dairy farms, veterinarians and public health officials quietly whispered, “What will happen to the county fairs?” With vivid illustrations of the “pre-prom anxiety” of Iowa farmers preparing to show off their heifers, Eric Boodman captures an industry reluctant to address a budding health outbreak. Despite its harrowing implications, Eric offers an udder-ly delightful read.
Neil Munshi, deputy managing editor, Africa, Bloomberg News, @neiLmunshi
The New Immigration
From ProPublica
The US immigration debate can feel nebulous or alarmist or simplistic. This ProPublica series takes a nuanced, panoramic view of the issue, with real stories from all over the country to explain how new immigration patterns are changing the US—and its politics. It goes local to help readers understand the implications of this national phenomenon.
Max Abelson, reporter, Bloomberg News, @maxabelson
What Goes Up
From Harper’s Magazine
A good piece of financial journalism offers answers, but a great one wins the right to just ask questions. I envy the curiosity and uncertainty of Andrew Lipstein’s exploration of index funds.
Jessica Nix, news rotator, Bloomberg News, @jessicanix_
My rendezvous with the raw milk black market: quick, easy and unchecked by the FDA
From Stat
Less than 7 miles from the FDA’s headquarters: the world’s weirdest drug deal. Stat reporter Nicholas Florko stood in a DC driveway, waiting for a man named Karl to drop off a jug of raw milk, and chronicled the federal crime, the fringe (but booming) business of raw milk and its plethora of public health concerns—including spreading bird flu.
Deena Shanker, reporter, Bloomberg News, @deenashanker.bsky.social
Make America Healthy Again Hits Capitol Hill
From Food Fix
There is simply no other journalist with an ear to the ground of food policy like Helena Evich Bottemiller. We all know about MAHA now, but Helena saw it coming months ago, covering the emerging RFK Jr. coalition in September. Hindsight is 20/20, so now we can all see just how important the hearing at that time really was. But Helena saw it when it happened. If you care about food policy, get on her newsletter.
Matthew Campbell, Asia editor, Bloomberg Businessweek
Seventy Miles in Hell
From the Atlantic
Every year, hundreds of thousands of migrants transit a wildly dangerous stretch of Central American jungle on foot, often with toddlers and even babies, all in the hopes of a new life in America. Caitlin Dickerson’s haunting account of their journey will stay with you a long time—as it did with me.
Will Wade, energy reporter, Bloomberg News, @willwwade.bsky.social
The Crash of the Hammer
From the Atavist Magazine
It’s a talent to combine shoe-leather reporting in the Maine backwoods, neo-Nazis politics, a vivid look at small-town life and a dive into the paradox of tolerance. Add a weed-smoking gumshoe and a minister with deep philosophical questions about hatred, and I was hooked. I loved this story about a wannabe race warrior who wasn’t welcome in America’s Whitest state.
Catherine Larkin, global business deputy managing editor, Bloomberg News
Inside the Colorful and Cultish World of Nerds Gummy Clusters
From the New York Times
As a lifelong Nerds enthusiast, this story from Hank Sanders felt like a visit to candy heaven. The images are delectable, and it’s full of rich detail about the history of Nerds and the shrewd decision-making that led to Gummy Clusters becoming a cult hit. Just an all-around fun piece.
Enda Curran, global economy reporter, Bloomberg News, @endacurran
AP traces the printing of Trump’s ‘God Bless America’ Bibles to the country he accuses of stealing American jobs: China
From the Associated Press
The supply chain for Donald Trump’s bibles that leads to … China. Associated Press reporters Richard Lardner and Dake Kang did great work joining the dots on a story that goes beyond well bibles and is a parable for the modern trade debate.
Tim Stenovec, co-host, Bloomberg Businessweek on Bloomberg TV and Radio, @timsteno
The Problem With Erik: Privilege, Blackmail and Murder for Hire in Austin
From Texas Monthly
A true crime feature at its best: a wealthy heir, blackmail, ex-Special Forces and even Charlie Sheen’s former bodyguard. It starts with a mystery text message, and it all unravels from there. I couldn’t put it down once I started reading. I imagine Hollywood showrunners will be knocking soon, if they haven’t already.
Allison Miller, copy editor, Bloomberg Businessweek, @cliopticon.bsky.social
Episode 3: The Journalist and the Firefighter
From Question Everything podcast
Who needs more soul-searching about democracy? When it’s the legendary reporter Barton Gellman explaining why he quit the ink-stained trade to do research at a nonprofit, I’m all ears. Even though it gets pretty dark, this episode of the podcast Question Everything made me proud to be a journalist.
Kristen Bellstrom, senior editor, Bloomberg Opinion, @kbellstrom.bsky.social
Animal
From the New York Times
I honestly have no idea how Sam Anderson made a podcast series about such a seemingly banal topic—cute animals!—into a meditation about mortality, connection and the responsibility of being human. But he did, and I loved every minute, even if the bat episode made me sob on the 4 train.
Olivia Carville, reporter, Bloomberg News, @livcarville
How Google Spent 15 Years Creating a Culture of Concealment
From the New York Times
I’m a sucker for an exposé on unsavory corporate culture. This piece unveiled Google’s 15-year campaign of secrecy to destroy evidence and conceal internal comms, exposing the company’s legal strategy to sidestep the justice system. So, yeah, I was jealous.
Amanda Mull, senior reporter, Buying Power, Bloomberg Businessweek, @amandamull.bsky.social
Meet the queen of the ‘trad wives’ (and her eight children)
From the Times
This profile of the influencer Hannah Neeleman does a wildly satisfying job teasing out all of the unsettling things about her family’s story that had been hiding in plain sight—and that had escaped the many, many people who had already tried to chronicle her ascendance as the queen of the tradwives. (Naturally, Neeleman hated it.)
(Corrects publication name in Erik Schatzker entry.)