Fortune’s 2013 editorial ranking of the 50 greatest business rivalries put Coca-Cola versus Pepsi at No. 1, followed by Ford versus General Motors and Edison versus Tesla. The rest of its top ten range from sneaker and computer competition to a medieval trade contest and the race to build a transcontinental railroad. “Greatest” is a judgment, not a measurable business category, so this list is best read as Fortune’s historical selection—not a universal or current ranking.
Fortune’s historical top ten
The table follows Fortune’s 2013 order. The rivalries differ in what they involved: some were direct contests for customers, while others concerned technology, infrastructure, or competing ways of doing business.
| Rank | Rivalry | Main arena |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Coca-Cola vs. Pepsi | Soft drinks, sales, advertising, and brand loyalty |
| 2 | Ford vs. General Motors | Automobiles, dealerships, and motorsports |
| 3 | Thomas Edison vs. Nikola Tesla | Electric-current systems and the companies behind them |
| 4 | AT&T vs. MCI | Long-distance telecommunications |
| 5 | Nike vs. Reebok | Athletic footwear, endorsements, and sports marketing |
| 6 | Bill Gates vs. Steve Jobs | Personal computing and later consumer technology |
| 7 | Venice vs. Genoa | Maritime trade and commercial practices |
| 8 | Hewlett-Packard vs. IBM | Technology businesses and contrasting management cultures |
| 9 | Airbus vs. Boeing | Commercial aircraft and government-support disputes |
| 10 | Union Pacific vs. Central Pacific | Construction of the transcontinental railroad |
Why each rivalry made the list
1. Coca-Cola vs. Pepsi
The Cola Wars combine product positioning, supermarket sales, advertising, and brand attachment. Fortune dates Coca-Cola’s introduction to 1886 and Pepsi-Cola’s arrival seven years later. It says Pepsi first surpassed Coke in supermarket sales in 1979, though that lead did not last. The rivalry’s most famous product gamble was Coca-Cola’s 1985 formula change: the company’s own account says taste tests favored the new formula but did not capture consumers’ emotional attachment to the original. HISTORY’s account says the launch initially appeared to set Coca-Cola back, but the company had retained its sales position by year’s end. Those accounts make the episode more complicated than a simple commercial disaster.
Fortune wrote in 2013 that it had declared the Cola Wars over by 1996. A later HISTORY article, originally published in 2019 and updated September 15, 2026, quotes Cola Wars historian David Greising calling the contest a “blood feud” and describes its continuation. The two descriptions emphasize different periods and frames; neither establishes a definitive end date.
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2. Ford vs. General Motors
Fortune presents Ford and GM as a century-long contest fought on dealer lots as well as in motorsports. Its 2013 article gives Ford’s founding as 1903 and GM’s as 1912. The rivalry is a reminder that competition between automakers is not only about the vehicles themselves: the companies also vie for customers through their retail presence and public identity.
3. Thomas Edison vs. Nikola Tesla
The familiar Edison-versus-Tesla shorthand points to a broader struggle over direct-current and alternating-current electrical systems, tied to the corporate contest between General Electric and Westinghouse. Fortune includes it as a major technological and business rivalry, but the story was not simply two individuals facing off: inventors, companies, and competing systems all played a part.
Rank #2
4. AT&T vs. MCI
Fortune casts this as a challenger-versus-incumbent conflict in long-distance telecommunications. It links the competition to the breakup of the Bell System, giving the rivalry significance beyond the fortunes of two companies: it was part of a wider transformation in the structure of U.S. telecommunications.
5. Nike vs. Reebok
The competition turned on shifting customer segments, athlete endorsements, and sports marketing as well as shoes. Fortune says Reebok overtook Nike in 1987 and that Adidas bought Reebok in 2005. Those dates describe a particular moment in the rivalry; they do not, by themselves, measure either company’s performance across the full period.
Rank #3
6. Bill Gates vs. Steve Jobs
Fortune frames Gates and Jobs as symbols of competing business and product visions in personal computing, with the contest later extending to music players, smartphones, and tablets. Their names make a memorable shorthand, but the competition involved companies, colleagues, and product ecosystems—not only the two founders.
7. Venice vs. Genoa
Fortune’s medieval example shifts the scale from modern corporations to maritime trading powers. Its account associates their competition with practices including marine insurance, share-based financing, shipbuilding, and double-entry bookkeeping. Those are broad historical claims, so the list is useful as an illustration of commercial rivalry across eras rather than as a detailed account of how each practice originated.
8. Hewlett-Packard vs. IBM
Fortune contrasts HP and IBM through their management cultures and approaches to business. Because the ranking was published in 2013, it is a historical perspective on how the rivalry was understood then; it does not establish the companies’ present-day comparative performance.
9. Airbus vs. Boeing
Fortune describes the aircraft makers’ competition as closely connected to national economic interests and disputes over public support. That makes this rivalry different from a straightforward contest between consumer brands: commercial aircraft competition also has a public-policy dimension. Fortune’s 2013 framing should not be mistaken for a current account of market leadership or trade disputes.
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10. Union Pacific vs. Central Pacific
The two railroads raced to build a transcontinental connection, and Fortune says their lines met in Utah in 1869. The achievement is often told as a contest between companies, but the construction depended on laborers as well, including Chinese immigrant workers whom Fortune notes. A fuller history needs to give those workers more attention than a simple race narrative can.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How to read a “greatest” rivalry ranking
There is no single shared score that makes these ten directly comparable. A brand-sales contest, a dispute over electrical systems, and a railroad-building race have different kinds of impact and evidence. Fortune’s editors said they debated the order; a different ranking could reasonably emphasize other criteria.
- Duration: Did the competition persist across generations, or center on a defining episode?
- Reach: How broadly did it affect customers, workers, society, or national economies?
- Change: Did it help reshape technology, business models, or an industry?
- Visibility: Did the contest enter popular culture as well as business history?
- Outcome: Was there a clear winner, or did the rivalry change shape without a definitive end?
These are useful ways to compare unlike cases, not a quantitative formula used by Fortune. The 2013 list also does not establish which rivalries are most active or economically important in 2026.
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