MTV Co-Founder Tom Freston: What the World Taught Him About Giving

About this episode

MTV co-founder and former Viacom CEO Tom Freston on getting fired twice, rebuilding media in Afghanistan, and nearly two decades chairing the ONE Campaign. Before MTV, Tom was running a clothing import business between New Delhi and Kabul. It made millions, then disappeared almost overnight when the Soviets invaded Afghanistan and new US quotas cut off imports from India. He was 33, back in New York, and in debt. What came next: helping build MTV into a network in 75 countries, running Viacom, making an offer to buy Facebook in 2005 (Zuckerberg said no), being blocked from buying YouTube, and getting fired over MySpace. Then the third chapter. An orphanage, hospital, clinic, and school in…