# What Happens When Brands Change Hands? Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-bottom-line-1067438/what-happens-when-brands-change-hands Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-bottom-line-1067438/what-happens-when-brands-change-hands.md Podcast: [The Bottom Line](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-bottom-line-1067438) Published: 2026-01-29T12:30:00+00:00 Episode link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002qj8k Audio file: http://open.live.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/6/redir/version/2.0/mediaset/audio-nondrm-download-rss/proto/http/vpid/p0mxt1wx.mp3 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-bottom-line-1067438/episodes/what-happens-when-brands-change-hands Duration seconds: 1998 ## Resource From headline deals like Vodafone-Three or home builder, Barratt buying rival, Redrow, corporate mergers and takeovers are on the rise. Evan Davis and guests take a fresh look at what happens when companies combine. They discuss why deal-making is growing, why execs turn to M&A, what can go wrong and whether mergers deliver growth or simply disguise deeper problems. Guests: Vittorio Colao, CEO at Vodafone Group 2008-2018, and now Vice Chairman, EMEA, General Atlantic Pip Hulbert, CCO for International Markets at VML Farshid Azadegan, Director of BEC Distribution Production team: Presenter: Evan Davis Producer: Sally Abrahams Production Co-ordinator: Katie Morrison Sound engineers: Russell Newlove and Andy Garratt Editor: Matt Willis The Bottom Line is produced in partnership with The Open University ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-bottom-line-1067438/episodes/what-happens-when-brands-change-hands/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-bottom-line-1067438/what-happens-when-brands-change-hands.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.