Guy Raz has acquired full ownership of “How I Built This” from NPR and will partner with Vox Media to expand the business podcast into video, live events, and a doubled publishing schedule, according to an official announcement.

Raz, who created and has hosted the entrepreneurship interview show since its 2016 launch, is taking over the franchise after a decade at NPR. Vox Media will handle sales, marketing, distribution, business operations and live-event infrastructure under the new arrangement. Financial terms were not disclosed, and NPR will retain no ownership or economic stake in the show going forward, a Vox Media spokesperson confirmed to TheWrap.

“As we mark the first ten years of the show, I can’t think of a better partner than Vox Media to help me build the next chapter,” Raz said in the announcement. “I’m so excited to expand the HIBT franchise and to bring even more stories of founders and how they built some of the most iconic businesses and brands in modern times.”

Video, Volume and a Return to Live Events

“How I Built This” will begin releasing video episodes on YouTube and social platforms later this fall, with publishing volume set to double in early 2027. Raz told The Hollywood Reporter the show has put out roughly 45 episodes a year in recent years despite fielding about 1,000 pitches weekly, leaving room to cover more founders without changing the format. Vox and Raz also plan to bring back live events and test new formats built around the show’s audience of founders and business leaders.

Raz said he sees video as a discovery tool rather than a replacement for audio, which he expects to remain the primary mode for commuters and on-the-go listeners. “We have an opportunity to really professionalize it and to get the video right,” he told The Hollywood Reporter, adding that the emotional moments in founder interviews often translate better on screen.

Since 2016, the show has published more than 700 episodes, drawn hundreds of millions of downloads, and hosted guests including Richard Branson, Sara Blakely, Howard Schultz, Tory Burch and Jensen Huang. It ranks in Edison Research’s top 50 U.S. podcasts and has won Webby, Ambie and iHeartRadio awards. 

Raz is represented by UTA’s Oren Rosenbaum, who brokered both the NPR exit and the Vox partnership. “This partnership creates a powerful foundation for the franchise’s next chapter,” Rosenbaum said.

A Pattern of Hosts Taking the Exit

The deal adds to a run of podcast hosts moving ownership and control away from the institutions that built their shows. In June, “Hard Fork” hosts Kevin Roose and Casey Newton signed with UTA as they prepared to leave The New York Times to launch an independent media venture built around their existing format. Raz’s move follows the same logic in reverse: rather than leaving to start something new, he is buying the asset he already built and pairing it with a network partner for distribution and sales.

The shift toward video also lands alongside data on where podcast audiences already are. In June, YouTube was the most-used platform for podcast consumption, cited by 44% of weekly consumers in Cumulus Media and Signal Hill Insights’ “Podcast Download” report, with “watchable podcasts” reaching a new high in the same survey. For Vox, the acquisition brings an established, advertiser-friendly franchise onto a network that already spans Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway’s “Pivot,” Preet Bharara’s “Stay Tuned,” and shows hosted by Ina Garten and Sue Bird. 

“Over the last decade, Guy has inspired a generation of business leaders,” Ray Chao, Vox Media’s SVP and GM of Podcasts, said in a statement, adding that the goal is to grow the show into “an enduring franchise.”

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