The Mega-Brands That Built America

Founding fathers of the biggest retail stores in the world battle to be the first to innovate, build, and revolutionize the industry. And one of the top businessmen of the 20th century, Sam Walton, will construct the world's largest retail empire.

A century ago, shipping packages was slow and shipping overnight was impossible, until two Seattle brothers risk everything to reinvent shipping packages for all; a tenacious Yale graduate creates a world-famous express delivery service.

The evolution of America's most beloved sports of baseball, basketball and football are made possible by the innovations of sporting goods pioneers named Spalding, Wilson, and the Rawlings brothers.

When Motorola introduces the first handheld portable telephone to the world, the futuristic technology sets off a fierce battle among international telecommunications companies to produce the most popular cell phone. The competition for the next great mobile device produces innovations such as flip phones, ringtones, and text messaging. But when a little-known tech upstart from Canada decides to combine the features of a computer with a cell phone to make a smartphone called the Blackberry, the way we use phones will never be the same again.

A database software engineer is inspired to create a bigger, unprecedented family friendly video-store, Blockbuster. But, as the dot com boom explodes an opening appears for two software executives in California to redefine the industry and take on the media giant with their online subscription service, Netflix.

In the middle of the 20th century, a small piece of plastic revolutionizes the world of commerce as Diners' Club, Bank of America, and American Express race to change how people pay for everything kicking off the $6 trillion dollar a year credit card industry.

The biggest names in computers go head-to-head in a race to create the first portable computers; through failures, alliances and the return of an American icon, they'll usher in their first ever handheld device.

Three American retail icons are born within months of each other in 1962, sparking a rivalry for the ages.

An ambitious upstart leaves Wall Street to start an internet store that becomes a global empire, while a young computer programmer revolutionizes the way we buy and sell online--creating rival multibillion-dollar brands that become household names.