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New York: When it comes to
power, politics trumps business,
according to a new Forbes
ranking on Wednesday that
found heads of state occupying
six of the top 10 spots among
the world's most powerful
people, led by US President
Barack Obama. The annual list
selected what Forbes said were
the world's 71 most-powerful
people from among the roughly
7.1 billion global populace,
based on factors ranging from
wealth to global influence.
Obama was joined in the top 10
by German Chancellor Angela
Merkel, Russian President
Vladimir Putin, King Abdullah
bin Abdulaziz al Saud of Saudi
Arabia and British Prime
Minister David Cameron. The
list's highest-ranked
businessman was Microsoft co-
founder Bill Gates at No 4. US
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben
Bernanke and European Central
Bank President Mario Draghi,
both public officials, also made
the top 10.
"This year's list reflects the
changing of the guard in the
world's two most powerful
countries: the United States and
China," Michael Noer, Forbes'
executive editor, told Reuters in
an email. Noer noted that
China's President Hu Jintao, last
year's third most-powerful
person, fell off the list as he is
leaving power, and his
successor, Xi Jinping, ranked
ninth instead.
Both US Treasury Secretary
Timothy Geithner and Secretary
of State Hillary Clinton, who have
stated they will not be serving
in Obama's second term, were
not in this year's rankings.
While elected and appointed
officials and business people
made up the vast majority of
Forbes' most powerful, Pope
Benedict XVI placed fifth in the
rankings.
Among the oddities was
Joaquin Guzman Loera at No 63.
Loera, far from a household
name, is a billionaire nicknamed
'El Chapo' who as head of
Mexico's Sinaloa cartel is the
world's most powerful drug
trafficker, according to Forbes.
Age was also not a barrier, with
two of the youngest and oldest
of this year's most powerful -
28-year-old Facebook CEO Mark
Zuckerberg and 81-year-old
News Corp CEO Rupert Murdoch
- back-to-back at numbers 25
and 26, respectively.
Forbes noted that Zuckerberg
fell out of last year's top 10 after
Facebook's IPO disappointed. A
gainer, meanwhile, was
Brazilian President Dilma
Rousseff, who moved up four
spots to No 18 despite being
only halfway into her first term
of office. To create the rankings,
which Forbes readily concedes
bore a measure of subjectivity,
editors graded candidates on
four criteria for power and
averaged the four grades:
power over many people,
control over financial and other
valuable, resources, power in
multiple spheres or arenas and
active use of power.
Some measures, such as power
over many people, favored
leaders such as the Pope, while
the world's richest man -
Mexican telecom magnate Carlos
Slim Hula, worth a reported $72
billion - placed 11th on the
strength of his wealth. Others,
such as New York's billionaire
Mayor Michael Bloomberg,
scored high in all areas, placing
him at No 16.
Noer said that Elon Musk, one of
the co-founders of Paypal and
Tesla Motors, was "one of the
more interesting newcomers"
on the list due to his SpaceX
company, a private space
exploration venture. "With NASA
retiring the space shuttle fleet,
private companies like SpaceX
have been awarded huge
contracts to do things like
resupply the International Space
Station. The commercialization
of space is just beginning, but
we expect it to be big
business," Noer said.
Former President Bill Clinton
placed 50th, with editors noting
that by hitting the campaign
trail for Obama, Clinton
"cemented his status as a
kingmaker", along with his
nonpartisan Global Initiative
raising more than $71 billion in
commitments to fund charitable
action worldwide. Other high-
ranking heads of state included
French President Francois
Hollande at No 14, Indian Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh at No
19 and Iran's Grand Ayatollah
Ali Hoseini-Khamenei at No 21.
Among businessmen in the top
20 were Berkshire Hathaway
CEO Warren Buffett at No 15,
Wal-Mart CEO Michael Duke at No
17 and Google co-founders
Larry Page and Sergey Brin at
No 20. The entire list can be
found at Information for the World's Business Leaders - Forbes.com
power as well as the December
24 issue of the magazine.
power, politics trumps business,
according to a new Forbes
ranking on Wednesday that
found heads of state occupying
six of the top 10 spots among
the world's most powerful
people, led by US President
Barack Obama. The annual list
selected what Forbes said were
the world's 71 most-powerful
people from among the roughly
7.1 billion global populace,
based on factors ranging from
wealth to global influence.
Obama was joined in the top 10
by German Chancellor Angela
Merkel, Russian President
Vladimir Putin, King Abdullah
bin Abdulaziz al Saud of Saudi
Arabia and British Prime
Minister David Cameron. The
list's highest-ranked
businessman was Microsoft co-
founder Bill Gates at No 4. US
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben
Bernanke and European Central
Bank President Mario Draghi,
both public officials, also made
the top 10.
"This year's list reflects the
changing of the guard in the
world's two most powerful
countries: the United States and
China," Michael Noer, Forbes'
executive editor, told Reuters in
an email. Noer noted that
China's President Hu Jintao, last
year's third most-powerful
person, fell off the list as he is
leaving power, and his
successor, Xi Jinping, ranked
ninth instead.
Both US Treasury Secretary
Timothy Geithner and Secretary
of State Hillary Clinton, who have
stated they will not be serving
in Obama's second term, were
not in this year's rankings.
While elected and appointed
officials and business people
made up the vast majority of
Forbes' most powerful, Pope
Benedict XVI placed fifth in the
rankings.
Among the oddities was
Joaquin Guzman Loera at No 63.
Loera, far from a household
name, is a billionaire nicknamed
'El Chapo' who as head of
Mexico's Sinaloa cartel is the
world's most powerful drug
trafficker, according to Forbes.
Age was also not a barrier, with
two of the youngest and oldest
of this year's most powerful -
28-year-old Facebook CEO Mark
Zuckerberg and 81-year-old
News Corp CEO Rupert Murdoch
- back-to-back at numbers 25
and 26, respectively.
Forbes noted that Zuckerberg
fell out of last year's top 10 after
Facebook's IPO disappointed. A
gainer, meanwhile, was
Brazilian President Dilma
Rousseff, who moved up four
spots to No 18 despite being
only halfway into her first term
of office. To create the rankings,
which Forbes readily concedes
bore a measure of subjectivity,
editors graded candidates on
four criteria for power and
averaged the four grades:
power over many people,
control over financial and other
valuable, resources, power in
multiple spheres or arenas and
active use of power.
Some measures, such as power
over many people, favored
leaders such as the Pope, while
the world's richest man -
Mexican telecom magnate Carlos
Slim Hula, worth a reported $72
billion - placed 11th on the
strength of his wealth. Others,
such as New York's billionaire
Mayor Michael Bloomberg,
scored high in all areas, placing
him at No 16.
Noer said that Elon Musk, one of
the co-founders of Paypal and
Tesla Motors, was "one of the
more interesting newcomers"
on the list due to his SpaceX
company, a private space
exploration venture. "With NASA
retiring the space shuttle fleet,
private companies like SpaceX
have been awarded huge
contracts to do things like
resupply the International Space
Station. The commercialization
of space is just beginning, but
we expect it to be big
business," Noer said.
Former President Bill Clinton
placed 50th, with editors noting
that by hitting the campaign
trail for Obama, Clinton
"cemented his status as a
kingmaker", along with his
nonpartisan Global Initiative
raising more than $71 billion in
commitments to fund charitable
action worldwide. Other high-
ranking heads of state included
French President Francois
Hollande at No 14, Indian Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh at No
19 and Iran's Grand Ayatollah
Ali Hoseini-Khamenei at No 21.
Among businessmen in the top
20 were Berkshire Hathaway
CEO Warren Buffett at No 15,
Wal-Mart CEO Michael Duke at No
17 and Google co-founders
Larry Page and Sergey Brin at
No 20. The entire list can be
found at Information for the World's Business Leaders - Forbes.com
power as well as the December
24 issue of the magazine.
