In more than a century of hand-to-hand combat in shops, supermarket aisles, restaurants and bars around the world, Coca-Cola has nearly always been in the lead and Pepsi in second place. When Warren Buffett, Coke's long-time investor, told the board that he had visited a pizza parlour in Omaha, Nebraska, with his grandson only to discover it served nothing but Pepsi, Coke's bosses acted swiftly to remove their arch-rival from the menu and replace it with Coke. If only the Atlanta-based company had moved as determinedly in response to changing consumer tastes, it might have avoided a humiliating reversal in fortunes. On December 12th PepsiCo overtook Coca-Cola in market capitalisation for the first time. With PepsiCo's share price having risen by 14% this year, its stock market value reached $98.4 billion, compared with $97.9 billion for Coca-Cola, which has seen its shares decline by 1.2% in the same period. Pepsi is powered not by its traditional fizzy drinks—sales of those are flat—but such products as Gatorade, a sports drink that has seen sales grow by more than 30%. Gatorade also represents a broader diversification by PepsiCo away from a reliance on sugary colas and into other products. PepsiCo now reportedly gets around 20% of its revenue from soft drinks, unlike Coca-Cola, where they account for some 80%. Many of the brands that PepsiCo has been acquiring and promoting appeal to consumers' concerns a bout their health. PepsiCo's latest advertising programme promotes a new 'Smart Spot' symbol, which al lows people to identify healthier products. The spots are being attached to Gatorade and other PepsiCo brands such as Tropicana orange juice, Aquafina water, baked lay's crisps and Quaker Granola Bars. Coca-Cola will now try to regain the crown. Having endured various troubles and two chief executives since the death in 1997 of Roberto Goizueta, a much-admired boss, Coke brought a veteran, Neville Isdell, out of retirement last year to reinvigorate the company. Mr. Isdell knows a thing or two about being in second place. In the 1980s he took Coke from the number two spot in the Philip pines to move ahead of Pepsi. Mr. Isdell has Coke's own sports drink, Powerade, in his portfolio—but he could have had Gatorade. Five years ago another fizzy drink (champagne) was on ice, to celebrate Coca-Cola's $15.8 billion takeover of Quaker Oats, then owner of Gatorade. This takeover was supposed to lead Coke into what looked to be a hot new market for health drinks. But the 'Sage of Omaha', as Mr. Buffett is known, blocked the deal, in part because it would have diluted the value of Coke's shares. Pepsi took over Quaker Oats instead—a memory that must leave Mr. Buffett and other Coke shareholders with a bitter taste in their mouths. The story of Mr. Buffett is noted to suggest that