Last updated: August 2026
| Launched | January 20, 2018 |
| Host | David Brown |
| Genre | Business history / rivalry narrative podcast |
| Network | Wondery |
Business Wars is a narrative podcast produced by Wondery that dramatizes real corporate rivalries — pitting brands and companies against each other across a multi-episode arc. Hosted by David Brown, it launched in January 2018 and has become one of Wondery’s flagship business-focused shows.
Early Life & Family
Business Wars was created as a Wondery original podcast, with David Brown, the former host of NPR’s Marketplace, brought on as narrator and host to bring a journalistic, radio-honed storytelling style to the format.
Rise to Fame
The podcast premiered on January 20, 2018, and quickly built an audience with its format of multi-part sagas following two competing companies or brands through their most intense periods of rivalry. By the end of its first year, it had been downloaded more than 15 million times.
Career History
Business Wars has grown to more than 150 episodes, covering rivalries across industries from fast food and retail to technology and finance. Each series-within-the-series follows a head-to-head battle — for example, one company against a direct competitor — told in a serialized, dramatized documentary style aimed at entrepreneurs, business leaders, and general listeners.
How They Built Their Wealth
As a Wondery-produced podcast, Business Wars generates revenue primarily through advertising and sponsorships sold against its episode downloads, along with any Wondery+ subscription revenue tied to ad-free or early access to episodes. Specific financial figures for the show are not publicly disclosed.
Business Wars remains one of the more established business-storytelling podcasts on the market, built on David Brown’s broadcast background and Wondery’s serialized, rivalry-driven format.