Our list of best business and money documentaries on Netflix includes sensational picks like “Madoff: The Monster of Wall Street” as well as award winning movies such as “American Factory”.
Inside Bill’s Brain: Decoding Bill Gates
Inside Bill’s Brain: Decoding Bill Gates is a 2019 three-part documentary series created and directed by Davis Guggenheim. The series explores the mind and motivations of Bill Gates, co-founder and former CEO of Microsoft and founder of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, together with his then-wife.
The documentary “toggles between [Gates’] storybook upper-middle-class childhood, the creation of Microsoft, and his current status as the world’s second-richest man.” The opening sequence features a montage of archive footage, including Gates being caked in Belgium by Noël Godin, while on a visit to European Union officials.
The Business of Drugs
Former CIA analyst Amaryllis Fox investigates the economics of six illegal substances, show how drugs push people into risky behaviors.
Madoff: The Monster of Wall Street
Madoff: The Monster of Wall Street is a 2023 American true crime documentary series directed by Joe Berlinger and based in part on the 2021 book Madoff Talks by Jim Campbell.
A Netflix Original. The four-part series was produced by RadicalMedia in association with Third Eye Motion Picture Company for the streaming service Netflix and released in its entirety on January 4, 2023.
It details how Bernie Madoff rose to power and, using former employees, investigators, journalists, victims, whistleblowers, and Madoff video depositions, unpacks the world’s biggest Ponzi scheme while also laying blame on the many who saw an abundance of red flags but decided to shrug them off and look the other way.
The Bleeding Edge
The Bleeding Edge is a 2018 Netflix original documentary film that investigates the $400 billion medical device industry. Academy Award-nominated investigative filmmakers Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering examine lax regulations, corporate cover-ups, and profit-driven incentives that put patients at risk daily.
Weaving emotionally powerful stories of people whose lives have been irrevocably harmed, it asks: What lifesaving technologies may actually be killing us? According to the director: “Very few people know about the medical device industry and the fact that it is even less regulated than pharmaceuticals”. The film explores the process of regulating medical devices and the impact felt on impacted patients.
The film primarily focuses on Bayer’s permanent birth control device Essure, highlighting the device’s failures that led to pain, discomfort, lost pregnancies, and death for multiple women. The documentary explores the FDA’s 510(k) process which allows a medical device to be fast-tracked onto the market with less clinical study and human testing. The film also explores problems with hip replacement devices that can lead to cobalt poisoning and vaginal mesh devices that injured multiple women.
Lords of Scam
This documentary traces the rise and crash of scammers who conned the EU carbon quota system and pocketed millions before turning on one another.
Trump: An American Dream
This documentary tells the story of modern America through the life of one man — President Donald Trump. The four-episode series shows how he has embodied many of the movements that have shaped American society since the 1960s, including capitalism, political disenfranchisement, reality TV and social media.
The show traces Trump’s rise in the 1970s, when he built Trump Tower, through his expansion into casinos in the 1980s, financial problems in the early 1990s, and turning his attention to politics in the 2010s, including his decision to run for the White House.
Saving Capitalism
best business documentaries on netflix 2023 edition saving capitalismSaving Capitalism is a 2017 documentary film directed by Jacob Kornbluth and Sari Gilman, following former Secretary of Labor and Professor Robert Reich, speaking about the current state of the American economic system, and presents ideas how to “save capitalism”.
Fugitive: The Curious Case Of Carlos Ghosn
From his rise as a business mogul to his plummet into international notoriety, this true crime documentary examines the bizarre story of Carlos Ghosn.
Trust No One: The Hunt for the Crypto King
A Netflix Original. A group of investors-turned-sleuths try to unlock the suspicious death of cryptocurrency multimillionaire Gerry Cotten and the missing $250 million they believe he stole from them.
White Hot: The Rise & Fall of Abercrombie & Fitch
White Hot: The Rise & Fall of Abercrombie & Fitch is a 2022 American documentary film made for Netflix and directed by Alison Klayman. The film focuses on Abercrombie & Fitch’s massive success and controversies during the late 1990s to 2000s. It was released on April 19, 2022.
Untold: The Rise and Fall of AND1
Inspired by New York City streetball, influential brand AND1 turned local legends on the court into international icons. So why did it come to an end?
Money, Explained
A conversation about money and its many minefields, from credit cards to casinos, scam artists to student loans.
Eat the Rich: The GameStop Saga
A community of amateur traders enacts a daring plan to get rich quick and wreak havoc on the stock market. But can they beat Wall Street at its own game?
Pepsi, Where’s My Jet?
When a young man attempts to win a fighter jet in a Pepsi sweepstakes, he sets the stage for a David versus Goliath court battle for the history books.
Skandal! Bringing Down Wirecard
Upstart payment firm Wirecard wows the financial industry with its runaway success — until a tenacious team of journalists exposes massive fraud.
Print the Legend
Following the people racing to bring hot new 3D printing technology to peoples’ homes.
Downfall: The Case Against Boeing
An investigation into the two Boeing 737 MAX crashes that killed 346 people, exploring both the root causes and the human cost.
Dirty Money
There’s a cliche that says “the rich get richer,” and while that may be true it’s not always done through legal or moral methods. This docuseries takes a look at stories of scandal and corruption in business, exposing acts of corporate greed and corruption.
The episodes feature firsthand accounts of the unscrupulous activities from the perspectives of both the perpetrators and their victims. Some of the tales that are told include a car company that cheats emissions tests to save money and the drama and shady deals that abound in Donald Trump’s business empire.
American Factory
Academy Award Winner. This is one of our favorite Netflix Original documentaries: In post-industrial Ohio, a Chinese billionaire opens a new factory in the husk of an abandoned General Motors plant. Early days of hope and optimism give way to setbacks as high-tech China clashes with working-class America.
Weapon of Choice
Filmmakers talk to salespeople and owners about the history and subsequent rise in popularity of the Austrian designed Glock pistol, and examine the politics of violence and its consequences from Kirkuk to Chicago.
Rotten
People don’t always know where their food comes from, and sometimes there is a rotten underworld involved in food production. This series exposes the corruption, waste and real dangers behind everyday eating habits in a world where global supply chains are increasingly intertwined and consolidated.
Episodes dig deep into the largest food fraud investigation — looking into a scam called Honeygate — and the challenges farmers and chefs face as the number of people with food allergies continues to rise.
The Milk System
Milk is Big Business. Behind the innocent appearances of the white stuff lies a multi-billion euro industry, which perhaps isn’t so innocent.
Orgasm Inc.
An intriguing look at the science and business based around the intimate pleasure of women. Pharmaceutical companies produce an `arousal’ treatment but whether profit or health is the true motive becomes a challenge for the filmmaker to ascertain.
The Figo Affair: The Transfer that Changed Football
A spotlight on one of the most contentious deals in football history and the extraordinary player at the centre of the storm: Luís Figo.
Take Your Pills
In America today, where competition is ceaseless from school to the workforce and everyone wants a performance edge, Adderall and other prescription stimulants are the defining drugs of this generation.
Working: What We Do All Day
How people find meaning and connection through work, sharing experiences and struggles; former President Barack Obama visits people in their homes and workplaces, following them at all levels, from service jobs to the executive suite.