Business Wars

By Wondery

History Business

What's Business Wars about?

Netflix vs. HBO. Nike vs. Adidas. Business is war. Sometimes the prize is your wallet or your attention. Sometimes, it’s just the fun of beating the other guy. The outcome of these battles shapes what we buy and how we live.  Business Wars gives you the unauthorized, real story of what drives these companies and their leaders, inventors, investors and executives to new heights -- or to ruin. Hosted by David Brown, former anchor of Marketplace. From Wondery, the network behind Dirty John and American History Tellers. New episodes come out Wednesdays for free. Binge new full seasons early and ad-free, plus get exclusive past seasons, with Wondery+ or on Amazon Music with a Prime membership or Amazon Music Unlimited subscription.

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The Rise of AI | Battle Bot...

09.27.2023

With the popularity of ChatBots exploding, Microsoft invests billions of dollars into AI-assisted internet search,trying to strike at Google’s core business. Google answers back with its own ChatBot “Bard”. And Facebook makes a surprising move to stay in the race. ...

Business Wars episodes:

09.27.2023 The Rise of AI \| Battle Bots \| 3 With the popularity of ChatBots exploding, Microsoft invests billions of dollars into AI-assisted internet search,trying to strike at Google’s core business. Google answers back with its own ChatBot “Bard”. And Facebook makes a surprising move to stay in the race. ...
09.20.2023 The Rise of AI \| No Reservations \| 2 Google is the undisputed leader in the race to dominate AI, in part because of its reputation as a company with strong corporate ethics. But as questions about the morality and efficacy of AI become more pronounced, Google finds itself ...
09.14.2023 Best of Business Wars Daily \| AI Disruptors \| 6 You've heard about how AI is poised (and already) revolutionizing just about everything. We're digging deeper into that and taking a look at the way AI has altered three industries — climate change management, fast food and advertising. We're joined ...
09.13.2023 The Rise of AI \| The Next Big Thing \| 1 For decades, AI stagnated with only a few dedicated scientists working on it. But in 2012, a researcher at the University of Toronto made a breakthrough — and every major tech company wanted in on it. They were convinced that ...
09.06.2023 Hilton vs Marriott \| Pretty Cool Hotels \| 5 Grab your suitcase, because we’re taking a vacation! Today, we’re joined by Allison Pohle, travel reporter for the Wall Street Journal. She’s zooming in on the hotel industry — the post-pandemic bounceback, labor strikes, and Airbnb’s continued impact — and ...
08.30.2023 Hilton vs Marriott \| The Inn Crowd \| 4 It’s 2001 and the hotel industry is reeling from 9/11. But terror attacks are only the one of the new challenges closing in on Marriott and Hilton. The uniform hotels of the 20th century no longer cut it with young ...
08.28.2023 Listen Now: Sports Explains the World Sports Explains the World unveils some of the wildest and most surprising sports stories you’ve never heard - And they’re all true. From the teenager who wrote a Wikipedia page that got a young athlete signed to a million-dollar deal ...
08.23.2023 Hilton vs Marriott \| Wake-Up Call \| 3 It’s the early 1990s and Marriott’s a financial wreck heading for the rocks, and running out of time to find a way to remedy its debts. But as Marriott crumbles, the sleeping giant that is Hilton is waking up. And ...
08.16.2023 Hilton vs Marriott \| Bad Heir Day \| 2 It’s the late 1960s and succession is top of mind at both Hilton and Marriott. Conrad Hilton’s almost 80 and about to hand his business over to his sons, Nicky and Barron. But their rivalry will push Hilton into making ...
08.10.2023 Best of Business Wars Daily \| Room Service \| 6 We'll take a look at the hotel industry landscape this summer, including the "Taylor Swift effect," and the amped up fight against rental companies like AirBnB. Travel industry journalist Sean O'Neill and comedian Liz Barrett join us for this journey. ...
08.09.2023 Hilton vs Marriott \| Check-In \| 1 It’s 1919 and Conrad Hilton is among the fortune seekers in the oil-boom town of Cisco, Texas. But when his plan to buy a bank unravels, he turns to hotels and finds himself heading down the rocky road to business ...
08.02.2023 Subway vs Quiznos \| Putting Subs to the Test \| 5 We’ve spent this season telling the story of how Quiznos and Subway battled to create a sub sandwich that would lure the most customers. Now, we’re putting them to the test – a taste test, that is. Josh Scherer and ...
07.26.2023 Subway vs Quiznos \| Footlong Fiascos \| 4 It’s 2008 and as the Great Recession sinks in, Panera, Jersey Mike’s and Firehouse Subs amp up the competition. Quiznos tries to win back dwindling market share with an avalanche of coupons. But store managers refuse to honor them and ...
07.19.2023 Subway vs Quiznos \| One Ounce and You’re Out \| 3 It’s 2003 in Miami, Florida and a Subway franchisee comes up with a catchy promotion: the 5 Dollar Footlong. But Subway Corporate is preoccupied with a costly new innovation: special ovens to toast their subs. Robbed of their “toasty” advantage, ...
07.12.2023 Subway vs Quiznos \| Anywhere and Everywhere \| 2 It’s 1987 in Denver, Colorado, and a 22-year-old stockbroker named Rick Schaden invests a market windfall into a Quiznos franchise. Four years later, he and his wealthy father buy all 18 stores. Their outlandish dream: take on Subway. Meanwhile, a ...
07.06.2023 Best of Business Wars Daily \| Slicing Up the Sandwich King \| 6 Can old school fast food chains lure in hipper, younger diners with AI-powered features, EV charging stations and playgrounds? We'll consider what brands like Subway are doing to draw new customers and also whether the grain bowl trend has staying ...
07.05.2023 Subway vs Quiznos \| Subs Rising \| 1 It’s 1965 in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and 17-year-old Fred DeLuca needs money to pay for college. A family friend makes him a surprising offer and they become unlikely partners, opening a string of barely profitable restaurants called Pete’s Submarines. Their luck ...
06.28.2023 Target vs Walmart \| 'Target' Demographics \| 5 Is your house team Target or team Walmart? Depending on where you live, or what you’re trying to buy, the answer might be one, or both. Even though these stores sell a lot of the same merchandise, shoppers have very ...
06.21.2023 Target vs Walmart \| Bricks and Bytes \| 4 It’s 2013 and Target’s troubles are multiplying. The Minneapolis retailer’s big push into Canada is getting the cold shoulder and a gang of cybercriminals are about to bust open its network and stage a billion-dollar heist. But while Target firefights, ...
06.14.2023 Target vs Walmart \| Wardrobe Malfunction \| 3 It’s early 2005 and Walmart’s reeling from a dismal holiday season. It hoped to improve its image by playing nice with rivals only to watch Target snatch away its shoppers. So now it’s looking to hit back by muscling in ...
06.07.2023 Target vs Walmart \| The Beast from Bentonville \| 2 It’s the 1990s and Walmart’s replaced Kmart as America’s biggest retailer. But now that it’s on top, its business practices are under fire. And for Target, that’s an opportunity to paint itself as the friendly alternative to the Bentonville juggernaut. ...
06.05.2023 Wondery Presents: I Love My Kid, But… This is a safe place for parents to get away from it all. It’s a cliche that having kids is both the most rewarding and the hardest thing you’ll ever do. And it never ends: just when you’ve figured out ...
06.01.2023 Best of Business Wars Daily \| Add to Cart \| 7 What's old is new again. Second-hand shopping is taking off online and the big brands want a piece of the action. Meanwhile, fast-fashion companies are working to reinvent themselves in the eyes of Gen Z. To unzip these shifts in ...
05.31.2023 Target vs Walmart \| Retail Rumble \| 1 It’s 1962 and a new retail trend’s catching fire – big-box discount stores that reinvent shopping with out-of-town locations, huge product ranges, and low, low prices. And at opposite ends of the country, two hopefuls are jumping on the bandwagon. ...
05.24.2023 Encore: Crypto Wars \| Zuckerpunch \| 6 It’s 2017, and after months of sky-high price rises, the crypto bubble is about to burst. But as scammers and investor panic crash the market, the Winklevoss twins’ nemesis Mark Zuckerberg is making moves. He’s planning a push into crypto ...
05.24.2023 Encore: Crypto Wars \| New Kids on the Blockchain \| 5 It’s the mid-2010s and a new blockchain called Ethereum is shaking up crypto. It’s the creation of nineteen-year-old Vitalik Buterin, and it’s inspiring a flood of new digital coins and a gold rush for crypto. But as millions of investors ...
05.24.2023 Encore: Crypto Wars \| Block Busting \| 4 It’s 2015 and Coinbase is out to carve up the crypto scene with its new exchange. But it’s about to face strong headwinds in the form of state regulators, banks, and the Winklevoss twins’ new startup Gemini. And as Coinbase’s ...
05.17.2023 Encore: Crypto Wars \| The Great Slow Motion Swindle \| 3 It’s 2013 and bitcoin’s gaining traction at last. But just as crypto reaches for credibility, bitcoin is blindsided by high-profile arrests, corporate collapses and multi-million-dollar hacks. But as the leading lights of the bitcoin industry crash and burn, Coinbase senses ...
05.17.2023 Encore: Crypto Wars \| The Untouchables \| 2 It’s 2011, and Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss are trying to move on from their legal battle with Mark Zuckerberg over who created Facebook. And their nemesis is about to derail the twins’ dreams again. But then a chance encounter on ...
05.17.2023 Encore: Crypto Wars \| Generate Coins \| 1 It’s 2009 and in a modest suburban home, a monetary revolution is beginning. It’s called bitcoin and it arrives with a whimper. There’s just no compelling reason to swap dollars for this worthless digital token. But then, a wannabe crime ...
05.10.2023 Encore: Tesla vs Detroit \| Elon Musk...It's Complicated \| 5 Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter was… messy, to say the least, and now the multi-billionaire is the CEO of three different companies. That’s got investors wondering: can he handle it? And what’s the plan if he can’t? To dive into ...
05.03.2023 Encore: Tesla vs Detroit \| Appetite for Destruction \| 4 After weathering an investigation by the government for their EVs catching on fire, Tesla is hit by another probe after things get deadly. But the company is dedicated to Autopilot, its self-driving system. And once again, nearly every iconic brand ...
05.03.2023 Encore: Tesla vs Detroit \| Motor City Fights Back \| 3 The battle to dominate the EV market is on. Tesla’s market value is now around $20 billion. At this rate, Tesla could wipe the floor with GM in a decade. Ford, Toyota, Nissan, Honda and Chevrolet are taking notes. No ...
04.27.2023 Best of Business Wars Daily \| Chat Chat Revolution \| 6 The AI revolution is here and the tech behemoths are building and releasing their own chatbots. To talk about their victories and blunders, we're joined by Vox journalist Shirin Ghaffary and comedian and podcast host Jolenta Greenberg. Binge all episodes ...
04.26.2023 Encore: Tesla vs Detroit \| Survival Mode \| 2 In 2010, Tesla Motors has already experienced tremendous highs and devastating lows. Elon Musk is a polarizing figure whose goal is to change the way the traditional auto industry works. It’s been a struggle, but Detroit is finally bowing to ...
04.26.2023 Encore: Tesla vs Detroit \| Accelerate Faster \| 1 While the U.S. government pushed automakers to make low-emission vehicles in the 1990s, consumers loved their gas-guzzling trucks and SUVs. But in 2003, Elon Musk's Tesla Motors arrives with environmentally friendly, high-performance cars that people actually want. Motor City smirks ...
04.19.2023 Encore: Diet Wars \| Dieting 3.0 \| 5 First there was Weight Watchers, then there was Noom, and now there’s…Wegovy? Bloomberg health reporter Emma Court helps us understand the evolution of dieting programs and where they’re going next. Later, Matthew Schnier of New York Magazine and The Cut ...
04.12.2023 Encore: Diet Wars \| Losing Streak \| 4 It's the 2010s and the weight-loss industry's battling intensifying headwinds. Calorie-counting smartphone apps are attracting millions of users and the diet backlash is getting louder by the day. As the pressure mounts, Weight Watchers realizes it needs to move with ...
04.05.2023 Encore: Diet Wars \| Reaching for the Stars \| 3 It's the early 1990s and the diet boom is over. Weight Watchers is now a millstone around Heinz's neck, Jenny Craig's advance has stalled, and Nutri/System's bankrupt and broken. Faced with tanking sales, the diet giants home need new tricks ...
03.29.2023 Encore: Diet Wars \| Up From Down Under \| 2 It's 1983 and civil war's broken out within Nutri/System. But while CEO Harold Katz fights his franchisees, his former colleague Jenny Craig has grand designs on Australia. Craig wants to use Australia as a staging post on the way to ...
03.23.2023 Business Wars \| 5th Anniversary Special \| 1 We're celebrating the five-year anniversary of Business Wars with a special episode that takes you behind the scenes. We'll delve into how we chose our host and how the first season got off the ground (time code: 1:19). Then we'll ...
03.22.2023 Encore: Diet Wars \| Scaling Up \| 1 It's 1961 and in a supermarket, housewife Jean Nidetch is about to get a shock that will send her on desperate quest to get thin. But when her new diet gets tough, she turns to friends for help and inadvertently ...
03.15.2023 Disney-Pixar vs Dreamworks \| 'To Infinity and Beyond' \| 5 We’re going behind the scenes of your favorite Disney animated movies with Andrew Millstein, former president of Disney Animation. He helped lead the company’s transition to 3D computer animation, working on some of Disney’s biggest hits of the 2010s — ...
03.08.2023 Disney-Pixar vs Dreamworks \| Onward and Upward \| 4 It’s 2006 and with Pixar part of Disney, Ed Catmull and John Lasseter now face the task of fixing Disney Animation Studios. And they need to fix it fast, because DreamWorks is winning at the box office. But while they ...
03.01.2023 Disney-Pixar vs Dreamworks \| Regime Change \| 3 It’s the 2000s and Disney and Pixar are locked in a high-stakes game of chicken. Disney’s deal with Pixar is about to end and renewal talks are snarled up. The dream team that introduced the world to computer animated movies ...
02.22.2023 Disney-Pixar vs Dreamworks \| Battle of the Bugs \| 2 It’s 1995 and Pixar’s Toy Story is just months away from release. But as the premiere of the first computer-animated feature nears, all-out war breaks out between Disney and DreamWorks. Jeffrey Katzenberg raids Disney’s talent to build DreamWorks’ animation studio. ...
02.16.2023 Best of Business Wars Daily \| The Disney Dilemma \| 6 We're talking about Disney's pivot to streaming and the hurdles ahead for the legacy media company as new rivals emerge. We're joined by Parrot Analytics strategist Julia Alexander and comedian Chase O'Donnell. Binge all episodes early and ad-free with Wondery+. ...
02.15.2023 Disney-Pixar vs Dreamworks \| The Outcasts \| 1 It’s 1985 and Steve Jobs is fuming after being fired from Apple. He wants a second act, and he thinks he’s found one in Lucasfilm’s unwanted computer division. But when Jobs buys it and founds Pixar, it soon becomes clear ...
02.08.2023 Apple vs Microsoft \| Life After Laptops \| 5 The personal computer is no longer the talk of the town. Between new AI tools, sleek smartphones and web-based apps, your laptop is just one small slice of the technology pie. But where does that leave Apple and Microsoft? Are ...
02.01.2023 Apple vs Microsoft \| The Gamble \| 4 The government sues Microsoft for allegedly violating antitrust laws, providing just the distraction Apple needs to launch a comeback. But Jobs is already planning another war – on a battlefield that doesn’t even exist yet. Binge all episodes early and ...

Older episodes

09.27.2023 The Rise of AI \| Battle Bots \| 3 With the popularity of ChatBots exploding, Microsoft invests billions of dollars into AI-assisted internet search,trying to strike at Google’s core business. Google answers back with its own ChatBot “Bard”. And Facebook makes a surprising move to stay in the race. ...
09.20.2023 The Rise of AI \| No Reservations \| 2 Google is the undisputed leader in the race to dominate AI, in part because of its reputation as a company with strong corporate ethics. But as questions about the morality and efficacy of AI become more pronounced, Google finds itself ...
09.14.2023 Best of Business Wars Daily \| AI Disruptors \| 6 You've heard about how AI is poised (and already) revolutionizing just about everything. We're digging deeper into that and taking a look at the way AI has altered three industries — climate change management, fast food and advertising. We're joined ...
09.13.2023 The Rise of AI \| The Next Big Thing \| 1 For decades, AI stagnated with only a few dedicated scientists working on it. But in 2012, a researcher at the University of Toronto made a breakthrough — and every major tech company wanted in on it. They were convinced that ...
09.06.2023 Hilton vs Marriott \| Pretty Cool Hotels \| 5 Grab your suitcase, because we’re taking a vacation! Today, we’re joined by Allison Pohle, travel reporter for the Wall Street Journal. She’s zooming in on the hotel industry — the post-pandemic bounceback, labor strikes, and Airbnb’s continued impact — and ...
08.30.2023 Hilton vs Marriott \| The Inn Crowd \| 4 It’s 2001 and the hotel industry is reeling from 9/11. But terror attacks are only the one of the new challenges closing in on Marriott and Hilton. The uniform hotels of the 20th century no longer cut it with young ...
08.28.2023 Listen Now: Sports Explains the World Sports Explains the World unveils some of the wildest and most surprising sports stories you’ve never heard - And they’re all true. From the teenager who wrote a Wikipedia page that got a young athlete signed to a million-dollar deal ...
08.23.2023 Hilton vs Marriott \| Wake-Up Call \| 3 It’s the early 1990s and Marriott’s a financial wreck heading for the rocks, and running out of time to find a way to remedy its debts. But as Marriott crumbles, the sleeping giant that is Hilton is waking up. And ...
08.16.2023 Hilton vs Marriott \| Bad Heir Day \| 2 It’s the late 1960s and succession is top of mind at both Hilton and Marriott. Conrad Hilton’s almost 80 and about to hand his business over to his sons, Nicky and Barron. But their rivalry will push Hilton into making ...
08.10.2023 Best of Business Wars Daily \| Room Service \| 6 We'll take a look at the hotel industry landscape this summer, including the "Taylor Swift effect," and the amped up fight against rental companies like AirBnB. Travel industry journalist Sean O'Neill and comedian Liz Barrett join us for this journey. ...
08.09.2023 Hilton vs Marriott \| Check-In \| 1 It’s 1919 and Conrad Hilton is among the fortune seekers in the oil-boom town of Cisco, Texas. But when his plan to buy a bank unravels, he turns to hotels and finds himself heading down the rocky road to business ...
08.02.2023 Subway vs Quiznos \| Putting Subs to the Test \| 5 We’ve spent this season telling the story of how Quiznos and Subway battled to create a sub sandwich that would lure the most customers. Now, we’re putting them to the test – a taste test, that is. Josh Scherer and ...
07.26.2023 Subway vs Quiznos \| Footlong Fiascos \| 4 It’s 2008 and as the Great Recession sinks in, Panera, Jersey Mike’s and Firehouse Subs amp up the competition. Quiznos tries to win back dwindling market share with an avalanche of coupons. But store managers refuse to honor them and ...
07.19.2023 Subway vs Quiznos \| One Ounce and You’re Out \| 3 It’s 2003 in Miami, Florida and a Subway franchisee comes up with a catchy promotion: the 5 Dollar Footlong. But Subway Corporate is preoccupied with a costly new innovation: special ovens to toast their subs. Robbed of their “toasty” advantage, ...
07.12.2023 Subway vs Quiznos \| Anywhere and Everywhere \| 2 It’s 1987 in Denver, Colorado, and a 22-year-old stockbroker named Rick Schaden invests a market windfall into a Quiznos franchise. Four years later, he and his wealthy father buy all 18 stores. Their outlandish dream: take on Subway. Meanwhile, a ...
07.06.2023 Best of Business Wars Daily \| Slicing Up the Sandwich King \| 6 Can old school fast food chains lure in hipper, younger diners with AI-powered features, EV charging stations and playgrounds? We'll consider what brands like Subway are doing to draw new customers and also whether the grain bowl trend has staying ...
07.05.2023 Subway vs Quiznos \| Subs Rising \| 1 It’s 1965 in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and 17-year-old Fred DeLuca needs money to pay for college. A family friend makes him a surprising offer and they become unlikely partners, opening a string of barely profitable restaurants called Pete’s Submarines. Their luck ...
06.28.2023 Target vs Walmart \| 'Target' Demographics \| 5 Is your house team Target or team Walmart? Depending on where you live, or what you’re trying to buy, the answer might be one, or both. Even though these stores sell a lot of the same merchandise, shoppers have very ...
06.21.2023 Target vs Walmart \| Bricks and Bytes \| 4 It’s 2013 and Target’s troubles are multiplying. The Minneapolis retailer’s big push into Canada is getting the cold shoulder and a gang of cybercriminals are about to bust open its network and stage a billion-dollar heist. But while Target firefights, ...
06.14.2023 Target vs Walmart \| Wardrobe Malfunction \| 3 It’s early 2005 and Walmart’s reeling from a dismal holiday season. It hoped to improve its image by playing nice with rivals only to watch Target snatch away its shoppers. So now it’s looking to hit back by muscling in ...
06.07.2023 Target vs Walmart \| The Beast from Bentonville \| 2 It’s the 1990s and Walmart’s replaced Kmart as America’s biggest retailer. But now that it’s on top, its business practices are under fire. And for Target, that’s an opportunity to paint itself as the friendly alternative to the Bentonville juggernaut. ...
06.05.2023 Wondery Presents: I Love My Kid, But… This is a safe place for parents to get away from it all. It’s a cliche that having kids is both the most rewarding and the hardest thing you’ll ever do. And it never ends: just when you’ve figured out ...
06.01.2023 Best of Business Wars Daily \| Add to Cart \| 7 What's old is new again. Second-hand shopping is taking off online and the big brands want a piece of the action. Meanwhile, fast-fashion companies are working to reinvent themselves in the eyes of Gen Z. To unzip these shifts in ...
05.31.2023 Target vs Walmart \| Retail Rumble \| 1 It’s 1962 and a new retail trend’s catching fire – big-box discount stores that reinvent shopping with out-of-town locations, huge product ranges, and low, low prices. And at opposite ends of the country, two hopefuls are jumping on the bandwagon. ...
05.24.2023 Encore: Crypto Wars \| Zuckerpunch \| 6 It’s 2017, and after months of sky-high price rises, the crypto bubble is about to burst. But as scammers and investor panic crash the market, the Winklevoss twins’ nemesis Mark Zuckerberg is making moves. He’s planning a push into crypto ...
05.24.2023 Encore: Crypto Wars \| New Kids on the Blockchain \| 5 It’s the mid-2010s and a new blockchain called Ethereum is shaking up crypto. It’s the creation of nineteen-year-old Vitalik Buterin, and it’s inspiring a flood of new digital coins and a gold rush for crypto. But as millions of investors ...
05.24.2023 Encore: Crypto Wars \| Block Busting \| 4 It’s 2015 and Coinbase is out to carve up the crypto scene with its new exchange. But it’s about to face strong headwinds in the form of state regulators, banks, and the Winklevoss twins’ new startup Gemini. And as Coinbase’s ...
05.17.2023 Encore: Crypto Wars \| The Great Slow Motion Swindle \| 3 It’s 2013 and bitcoin’s gaining traction at last. But just as crypto reaches for credibility, bitcoin is blindsided by high-profile arrests, corporate collapses and multi-million-dollar hacks. But as the leading lights of the bitcoin industry crash and burn, Coinbase senses ...
05.17.2023 Encore: Crypto Wars \| The Untouchables \| 2 It’s 2011, and Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss are trying to move on from their legal battle with Mark Zuckerberg over who created Facebook. And their nemesis is about to derail the twins’ dreams again. But then a chance encounter on ...
05.17.2023 Encore: Crypto Wars \| Generate Coins \| 1 It’s 2009 and in a modest suburban home, a monetary revolution is beginning. It’s called bitcoin and it arrives with a whimper. There’s just no compelling reason to swap dollars for this worthless digital token. But then, a wannabe crime ...
05.10.2023 Encore: Tesla vs Detroit \| Elon Musk...It's Complicated \| 5 Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter was… messy, to say the least, and now the multi-billionaire is the CEO of three different companies. That’s got investors wondering: can he handle it? And what’s the plan if he can’t? To dive into ...
05.03.2023 Encore: Tesla vs Detroit \| Appetite for Destruction \| 4 After weathering an investigation by the government for their EVs catching on fire, Tesla is hit by another probe after things get deadly. But the company is dedicated to Autopilot, its self-driving system. And once again, nearly every iconic brand ...
05.03.2023 Encore: Tesla vs Detroit \| Motor City Fights Back \| 3 The battle to dominate the EV market is on. Tesla’s market value is now around $20 billion. At this rate, Tesla could wipe the floor with GM in a decade. Ford, Toyota, Nissan, Honda and Chevrolet are taking notes. No ...
04.27.2023 Best of Business Wars Daily \| Chat Chat Revolution \| 6 The AI revolution is here and the tech behemoths are building and releasing their own chatbots. To talk about their victories and blunders, we're joined by Vox journalist Shirin Ghaffary and comedian and podcast host Jolenta Greenberg. Binge all episodes ...
04.26.2023 Encore: Tesla vs Detroit \| Survival Mode \| 2 In 2010, Tesla Motors has already experienced tremendous highs and devastating lows. Elon Musk is a polarizing figure whose goal is to change the way the traditional auto industry works. It’s been a struggle, but Detroit is finally bowing to ...
04.26.2023 Encore: Tesla vs Detroit \| Accelerate Faster \| 1 While the U.S. government pushed automakers to make low-emission vehicles in the 1990s, consumers loved their gas-guzzling trucks and SUVs. But in 2003, Elon Musk's Tesla Motors arrives with environmentally friendly, high-performance cars that people actually want. Motor City smirks ...
04.19.2023 Encore: Diet Wars \| Dieting 3.0 \| 5 First there was Weight Watchers, then there was Noom, and now there’s…Wegovy? Bloomberg health reporter Emma Court helps us understand the evolution of dieting programs and where they’re going next. Later, Matthew Schnier of New York Magazine and The Cut ...
04.12.2023 Encore: Diet Wars \| Losing Streak \| 4 It's the 2010s and the weight-loss industry's battling intensifying headwinds. Calorie-counting smartphone apps are attracting millions of users and the diet backlash is getting louder by the day. As the pressure mounts, Weight Watchers realizes it needs to move with ...
04.05.2023 Encore: Diet Wars \| Reaching for the Stars \| 3 It's the early 1990s and the diet boom is over. Weight Watchers is now a millstone around Heinz's neck, Jenny Craig's advance has stalled, and Nutri/System's bankrupt and broken. Faced with tanking sales, the diet giants home need new tricks ...
03.29.2023 Encore: Diet Wars \| Up From Down Under \| 2 It's 1983 and civil war's broken out within Nutri/System. But while CEO Harold Katz fights his franchisees, his former colleague Jenny Craig has grand designs on Australia. Craig wants to use Australia as a staging post on the way to ...
03.23.2023 Business Wars \| 5th Anniversary Special \| 1 We're celebrating the five-year anniversary of Business Wars with a special episode that takes you behind the scenes. We'll delve into how we chose our host and how the first season got off the ground (time code: 1:19). Then we'll ...
03.22.2023 Encore: Diet Wars \| Scaling Up \| 1 It's 1961 and in a supermarket, housewife Jean Nidetch is about to get a shock that will send her on desperate quest to get thin. But when her new diet gets tough, she turns to friends for help and inadvertently ...
03.15.2023 Disney-Pixar vs Dreamworks \| 'To Infinity and Beyond' \| 5 We’re going behind the scenes of your favorite Disney animated movies with Andrew Millstein, former president of Disney Animation. He helped lead the company’s transition to 3D computer animation, working on some of Disney’s biggest hits of the 2010s — ...
03.08.2023 Disney-Pixar vs Dreamworks \| Onward and Upward \| 4 It’s 2006 and with Pixar part of Disney, Ed Catmull and John Lasseter now face the task of fixing Disney Animation Studios. And they need to fix it fast, because DreamWorks is winning at the box office. But while they ...
03.01.2023 Disney-Pixar vs Dreamworks \| Regime Change \| 3 It’s the 2000s and Disney and Pixar are locked in a high-stakes game of chicken. Disney’s deal with Pixar is about to end and renewal talks are snarled up. The dream team that introduced the world to computer animated movies ...
02.22.2023 Disney-Pixar vs Dreamworks \| Battle of the Bugs \| 2 It’s 1995 and Pixar’s Toy Story is just months away from release. But as the premiere of the first computer-animated feature nears, all-out war breaks out between Disney and DreamWorks. Jeffrey Katzenberg raids Disney’s talent to build DreamWorks’ animation studio. ...
02.16.2023 Best of Business Wars Daily \| The Disney Dilemma \| 6 We're talking about Disney's pivot to streaming and the hurdles ahead for the legacy media company as new rivals emerge. We're joined by Parrot Analytics strategist Julia Alexander and comedian Chase O'Donnell. Binge all episodes early and ad-free with Wondery+. ...
02.15.2023 Disney-Pixar vs Dreamworks \| The Outcasts \| 1 It’s 1985 and Steve Jobs is fuming after being fired from Apple. He wants a second act, and he thinks he’s found one in Lucasfilm’s unwanted computer division. But when Jobs buys it and founds Pixar, it soon becomes clear ...
02.08.2023 Apple vs Microsoft \| Life After Laptops \| 5 The personal computer is no longer the talk of the town. Between new AI tools, sleek smartphones and web-based apps, your laptop is just one small slice of the technology pie. But where does that leave Apple and Microsoft? Are ...
02.01.2023 Apple vs Microsoft \| The Gamble \| 4 The government sues Microsoft for allegedly violating antitrust laws, providing just the distraction Apple needs to launch a comeback. But Jobs is already planning another war – on a battlefield that doesn’t even exist yet. Binge all episodes early and ...

Business Wars

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Business Wars episodes:

The Rise of AI | Battle Bots | 3

The Rise of AI | No Reservations | 2

Best of Business Wars Daily | AI Disruptors | 6

The Rise of AI | The Next Big Thing | 1

Hilton vs Marriott | Pretty Cool Hotels | 5

Hilton vs Marriott | The Inn Crowd | 4

Listen Now: Sports Explains the World

Hilton vs Marriott | Wake-Up Call | 3

Hilton vs Marriott | Bad Heir Day | 2

Best of Business Wars Daily | Room Service | 6

Hilton vs Marriott | Check-In | 1

Subway vs Quiznos | Putting Subs to the Test | 5

Subway vs Quiznos | Footlong Fiascos | 4

Subway vs Quiznos | One Ounce and You’re Out | 3

Subway vs Quiznos | Anywhere and Everywhere | 2

Best of Business Wars Daily | Slicing Up the Sandwich King | 6

Subway vs Quiznos | Subs Rising | 1

Target vs Walmart | 'Target' Demographics | 5

Target vs Walmart | Bricks and Bytes | 4

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