Bloomberg Businessweek

This Is Spinal Tap is a comedy classic, but its creators made practically no money from it. Robert Kolker looks at the legal battle over what Hollywood owes Harry Shearer, Rob Reiner, Michael McKean, and Christopher Guest.

When corrections agencies started using electronic ankle monitors to relieve overcrowded prisons, 3M capitalized on the market opportunity. Their products’ failures caused innocent people to suffer and challenged the company’s long-heald philosophy about design and innovation.

No matter how innovative or cutting-edge ESPN makes itself, the cable money is just too lucrative, and the costs of licensing live sports are just too great, to finally cut the cord and offer itself as a standalone internet subscription service the way HBO did with HBO Now.

A powerful in-depth look at the human costs of bringing auto parts factory jobs to Alabama — with inadequate training for employees and unreasonable expectations for output. “American consumers are not going to want to buy cars stained with the blood of American workers.”

The once-flagging pizza chain launched dozens of digital marketing initiatives and made headline-grabbing changes to its delivery trucks, but their rebound can be traced to just one thing — making the pizza better.

“It’s not smoking. It’s platform-agnostic nicotine delivery solutions.”

Before getting nabbed by the Policía de Investigaciones — the Chilean equivalent of the FBI — 23-year-old Harold Vilches acquired and resold over 4,000 lbs. of gold worth $80 million in under two years. It all started with a Google search for gold dealers in Peru and YouTube videos on how to make your own gold ingots.

Cosmetic companies like Estée Lauder Cos., the company behind MAC, Clinique, and other popular brands have been battling counterfeit cosmetics for years. But the rise of sourcing websites such as China’s Alibaba has made it even easier for people to buy counterfeit makeup in bulk and sell them to unsuspecting buyers who believe they’re getting a deal on real products.

“The answer may reside in Brazil. It’s here, in the shadows of Globo, that Netflix has been creating, revising, and perfecting the first draft of its international playbook.” Over the past few years, the streaming service has grown to prominence in Brazil, setting the stage for expansion into more than 100 other countries.

Can an agency turn anyone into an Instagram star? Bloomberg Businessweek reporter Max Chafkin volunteers to find out.