The Profit Prophet

The Chicken Cartel: How Four Companies Convinced America They Were Competing While Fixing Prices, Sharing Secrets, and Carving Up the Most-Consumed Meat in the Country

Episode Summary

Last week we exposed how mattress companies weaponized confusion to pick your pocket. This week, we go to the dinner table — specifically to an industry where four corporations control 54% of the U.S. chicken supply, a whistleblower algorithm accidentally exposed a decade of coordinated price manipulation, and the victims weren't just consumers but the farmers who raised the birds and never saw a dime of the markup. The broiler chicken industry isn't just a food story — it's a masterclass in how to run an oligopoly in plain sight.