Numbers Geek with Steve Ballmer

Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's non-partisan, not-for-profit civic data initiative, USAFacts, today is publishing its third annual report on U.S. local, state and federal government — compiling and analyzing the government's own data to update Americans on the state of the country in much the same way as a business reports to its shareholders. In short, it's a picture of America in numbers.

On this episode of our Numbers...

People from across the political spectrum use a lot of different words to answer the question of what happened to the middle class: Hollowed out, wiped out, disappearing, declining, doesn't exist anymore. But what's really happening to the middle class? What do the numbers say? We answer that question on this episode of Numbers Geek with Steve Ballmer. Learn more at usafacts.org and find more episodes at geekwire.com/numbersge...

With even more yelling and fist-pumping than normal, Steve Ballmer might not have seemed like an analytical guy to casual fans watching his LA Clippers come back from a 31-point deficit to defeat the Golden State Warriors in Game 2 of their first-round NBA playoff matchup earlier this week. It was the biggest come-from-behind victory in NBA playoff history. But as listeners to this podcast know, the former Microsoft CEO has a passi...

Sure, you know how many points your favorite NBA player scored in his last game. But how do turnovers, field goal percentage and rebounds improve chances of winning? How did NBA rule changes impact average points per game this season? And how did "wins above replacement value" factor into the year's big trades?

From the boardroom to the baseline, those are a few of the numbers that make a difference in the world of basketball, and ...

Back in 2013, Jamie Siminoff was the founder and chief inventor of a struggling video doorbell company, pinning all the startup’s hopes on his appearance on the television show Shark Tank. He walked out empty handed, as all five sharks went out, but five years later, he sold the company, now known as Ring, to Amazon for a reported $1 billion. On this episode of Numbers Geek, we continue our look at the numbers behind Sha...

$30 million. That number will forever be associated with our guest on this week's Numbers Geek podcast, Arum Kang, co-founder and co-CEO of Coffee Meets Bagel. She turned down a $30 million acquisition offer from Mark Cuban for the online dating company that she founded with her two sisters. It was, at the time, the larger offer in the show's history.

So what happened after Shark Tank? On this episode of the Numbers Geek, we get th...

Can Steve Ballmer figure out the identity of an anonymous company just by looking at the numbers on its income statement? On this episode of Numbers Geek, we challenge the former Microsoft CEO to solve a numerical mystery, with a few surprise twists along the way. In the process, our Resident Numbers Geek gives us a glimpse into how he reads one of the most important types of documents in the business world. Follow along and see if...

Peter Sagal is best known as the host of NPR’s weekly quiz show, Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me, which marked its 20th anniversary in October. But he’s also an avid runner, a columnist for Runner’s World magazine and the author of the new memoir, The Incomplete Book of Running. And he fashions himself an amateur Constitutional scholar, especially after hosting the PBS documentary series, Constitution USA. On this ...

Imagine you’ve been working in the same job for the same organization for your entire career, through all the ups and downs, and suddenly you find yourself in the midst of your best year ever. That’s what happened to basketball legend Sue Bird in 2018, as she led the Seattle Storm to the WNBA title. On this episode of our Numbers Geek podcast, we talk with Sue Bird about the numbers behind her record season, hear how sh...

How big is the U.S. trade deficit, in reality, and what are the implications of trade negotiations with China and other major countries around the world? This week, we dive into the numbers behind the U.S. trade deficit, the trade war with China, and the implications for the U.S. economy, with our resident Numbers Geek, former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, the founder of our podcast partner USAFacts. For more episodes, go to geekwir...

Mandy Manning is uniquely qualified to offer her perspective on education, one of the subjects we’ve been exploring this season on Numbers Geek. She also has day-to-day experience with another of our key topics: immigration. Manning is the 2018 National Teacher of the Year, as recognized by the Council of Chief State School Officers, and she teaches immigrant and refugee students at the Newcomer Center at Joel E. Ferris High ...

On this episode of Numbers Geek, we’ll talk with someone who specializes in recognizing "bogus and misleading" numbers in media coverage and public statements: Brian Kernighan, a Princeton University computer science professor and the author of a new book, “Millions, Billions, Zillions: Defending Yourself in a World of Too Many Numbers.” Then we'll use those techniques to sniff out false and misleading statem...

Can Steve Ballmer identify a famous basketball game purely by the numbers? Can you? That's our fun and enlightening challenge on this new episode of the Numbers Geek podcast, featuring the former Microsoft CEO and current owner of the L.A. Clippers. With cameos by Stephen A. Smith, Steve Kerr and Sue Bird. We’ve given Steve multiple pages of statistics from a specific legendary NBA game -- a box score showing the scoring by q...

Arlan Hamilton looks at the number of startup investments going to companies run by women, people of color and LGBT entrepreneurs, and doesn’t just see disparity, or inequity. She sees financial opportunity. These startup leaders aren’t simply underrepresented. They’re underestimated. And she is betting on that fact by investing tens of millions of dollars in people and companies that others have overlooked. 

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Something remarkable happened in the White House this week, as House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer met with President Trump to talk about border security amid their standoff over the federal budget. The president attempt to ground the discussion in numbers. We'll go further on this bonus episode of Numbers Geek, exploring the key numbers and long-term trends behind U.S. border security. 

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Student-teacher ratio, teacher pay, graduation rates and test scores. What do the numbers really say about K-12 public education in the U.S.? We'll find out this week with our Resident Numbers Geek, Steve Ballmer, with some twists along the way, including a surprise guest from Steve's past. We’ll also test Steve’s knowledge of algebra, and offer a chance to win your very own Numbers Geek shirt, if you can solve the prob...

Can facts heal America's political divide? We attempt to find out on the first episode of Numbers Geek with Steve Ballmer, the podcast where we use facts and numbers to make sense of the world. This episode takes Numbers Geek Host Todd Bishop to Politicon, a two-day political conference that showcases America's deep partisanship. He tries to get political figures like Ann Coulter and Michael Avenatti to stop the theatrics and focus...