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This article was first published 10 years ago

The 20 most powerful people in the corporate world

Last updated on: November 01, 2013 13:29 IST


Photographs: Reuters

Two businesspersons from India, Mukesh Ambani and Lakshmi Mittal, are among the most powerful people in the world according to Forbes.

If you look at business personalities exclusively, Ambani ranks 20 and Mittal ranks 28.

Globally, Ambani is the 38th most powerful person and Mittal ranks 51.

Let’s look at the businesspersons featured in the Forbes list of the ‘Most Power People’ in the world.

Source: Forbes

Mukesh Ambani

Who is he: Reliance Industries Chairman

Age: 56

Country: India

Mukesh Ambani is the 38 most powerful person in the world ranked behind Mexico’s President Enrique Pena Nieto. He is also the richest India with net worth of $21 billion.

He started his career in Reliance at a young age of 24, heading a slew of new initiatives.

Living up to the expectations of his father, Dhirubhai Ambani, he played a key role in Reliance's rapid expansion from textiles to polyester fibres, petrochemicals, petroleum refining and oil exploration.

He also led the creation of the world’s largest grassroots petroleum refinery at Jamnagar in Gujarat.

With a net worth of $21.5 billion, Mukesh Ambani is the world’s richest Indian.

Mukesh Ambani, Lakshmi Mittal among most powerful people


Photographs: Reuters

Xuedong Ding

Who is he: China Investment Corp Chairman

Age: 53

Country: China

Ding is the 36th most powerful person behind Khalifa bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, United Arab Emirates President and IMF’s managing director Christine Lagarde.

Ding was appointed Chairman as one of the largest sovereign wealth fund this year. The fund has over $500 billion corpus.

Mukesh Ambani, Lakshmi Mittal among most powerful people


Photographs: Reuters

Rupert Murdoch & family

Who is he: Chairman and CEO of News Corp

Age: 82

Country: US

Ranked right behind United Nation’s Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Rupert Murdoch is the 33rd most powerful person.

The media baron got into the business after inheriting News Limited. He expanded the business over years and now his company is the world's second-largest media conglomerate.

Mukesh Ambani, Lakshmi Mittal among most powerful people

Image: David Koch, executive vice president of Koch Industries, applauds during an Economic Club of New York event in New York.
Photographs: Brendan McDermid/Reuters

David Koch

Who is he: Executive Vice President at Koch Industries

Age: 73

Country: US

He holds the same rank as his brother, and is 31st most power person. Koch is the fourth richest person in America as of 2012, and the wealthiest resident of New York City as of 2013.

Mukesh Ambani, Lakshmi Mittal among most powerful people


Photographs: Courtesy, Koch Industries

Charles Koch

Who is he: Koch Industries CEO

Age: 77

Country: US

Charles Koch is 31st most powerful person in the world. He is co-owner, chairman of the board, and chief executive officer of Koch Industries.

Charles Koch and his brother David Koch owns most shares of Koch Industries. They inherited the business from their father Fred Koch, and have since expanded the business to 2,600 times.

Mukesh Ambani, Lakshmi Mittal among most powerful people


Photographs: Victor Fraile/Reuters

Li Ka-shing

Who is he: Hutchison Whampoa Chairman

Age: 85

Country: Hong Kong

Li Ka-shing is 30th most powerful person and also the richest person in Asia. He started his career by manufacturing plastics and turned his company into a leading realty player. He later expanded his company futher by acquiring Hutchison Whampoa and Hongkong Electric Holdings Limited in 1979 and 1985 respectively.

Li is often referred to as "Superman" in Hong Kong because of his business prowess, according to Wikipedia.

Mukesh Ambani, Lakshmi Mittal among most powerful people


Photographs: Brendan McDermid/Reuters

Michael Bloomberg

Who is he: Mayor of New York City and founder of Bloomberg

Age: 71

Country: US

Michael Bloomberg is ranked as the 29th most powerful person behind India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Bloomberg began his career at the securities brokerage Salomon Brothers before forming his company (Bloomberg) in 1981 and spending the next twenty years as its Chairman and CEO.

Mukesh Ambani, Lakshmi Mittal among most powerful people


Photographs: Pascal Lauener/Reuters

Lloyd Blankfein

Who is he: Goldman Sachs Group CEO

Age: 59

Country: US

Lloyd Blankfein is the 27th most powerful person in the world ranked after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He was selected as the CEO in 2006. He has also been featured as the Person of the Year by the Financial Times.

Mukesh Ambani, Lakshmi Mittal among most powerful people


Photographs: Keith Bedford/Reuters

Jeffrey Immelt

Who is he: General Electric CEO

Age: 57

Country: US

Jeffrey Immelt is ranked as the 25th among the most powerful people globally. He became the CEO and chairman in 2000 after Jack Welch retired. He has been with the company since 1962.

Mukesh Ambani, Lakshmi Mittal among most powerful people


Photographs: Reuters

Mark Zuckerberg

Who is he: Cofounder, Chairman and CEO of Facebook

Age: 29

Country: US

Mark Zuckerberg is ranked below Ali Hoseini-Khamenei of Iran. He is the 24th most powerful person in the world.

Together with his college roommates and fellow HarvardUniversity students Zuckerberg launched Facebook from Harvard's dormitory rooms.

The social networking website is now one of the most visited website in the world.

Mukesh Ambani, Lakshmi Mittal among most powerful people


Photographs: Jason Reed/Reuters

Jamie Dimon

Who is he: JPMorgan Chase CEO

Age: 57

Country: US

Jamie Dimon is ranked as the 22nd most power person after Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff and Sonia Gandhi (President of Indian National Congress). He is also regularly featured as the most influential person in the world.

Dimon was the CEO of Bank One, US’ fifth largest bank. When JPMorgan Chase purchased Bank One in July 2004, Dimon became president and chief operating officer of the combined entity. He was named CEO in 2006.

Mukesh Ambani, Lakshmi Mittal among most powerful people


Photographs: Valery Marchive/Wikimedia Commons

Timothy Cook

Who is he: Apple CEO

Age: 52

Country: US

Timothy Cook is ranked as the 19 most powerful person, below France’s president Francois Hollande.

He succeeded Steve Jobs as Apple’s CEO in 2011. Earlier, he was the Senior Vice President and COO at the company and was in charge of the worldwide sales and operations.

Mukesh Ambani, Lakshmi Mittal among most powerful people


Photographs: Chip East/Reuters

Larry Page

Who is he: Google CEO

Age: 40

Country: US

Larry Page shares the rank with Sergey Brin, and is the 17th most powerful person in the world. Page succeeded Eric Schmidt as the CEO in 2011.

Page is the inventor of PageRank, the foundation of Google's search ranking algorithm, and he and Brin own approximately 16 per cent of Google's stock.

Mukesh Ambani, Lakshmi Mittal among most powerful people


Photographs: Andrew Kelly/Reuters

Sergey Brin

Who is he: Cofounder and Director of Special Projects, Google

Age: 40

Country: US

The internet entrepreneur is the 17th most powerful person in the world. He co-founded Google along with Larry Page. According to Forbes his net worth is $24.4 billion.

Mukesh Ambani, Lakshmi Mittal among most powerful people


Photographs: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

Rex Tillerson

Who is he: Exxon Mobil CEO

Age: 61

Country: US

Following Jeff Bezos is the global ranking of the most power people on the earth is Rex Tillerson.

Tillerson joined The Exxon Company, US, in 1975 as an engineer. He became the CEO in 2006 after holding various positions with the company domestically and internationally.

Mukesh Ambani, Lakshmi Mittal among most powerful people


Photographs: Richard Brian/Reuters

Jeff Bezos

Who is he: Amazon.com CEO

Age: 49

Country: US

The technology entrepreneur who started Amazon is the 15th most powerful person in the world. He is ranked right below Li Keqiang, Chinese Premier.

Mukesh Ambani, Lakshmi Mittal among most powerful people


Photographs: Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters

Warren Buffett

Who is he: He is Berkshire Hathaway CEO

Age: 83

Country: US

The most successful investor of the 20th century, Warren Buffett is ranked as the 13th most powerful person in the world right after Carlos Slim.

He holds investment in many companies through his holding firm Berkshire Hathaway. Some of the companies include GEICO, General Re, National Indemnity Company, H. J. Heinz Company, American Express, The Coca-Cola Company, Procter & Gamble, IBM, and Goldman Sachs.

Mukesh Ambani, Lakshmi Mittal among most powerful people


Photographs: Chip East/Reuters

Carlos Slim Helu & family

Who is he: Honorary Chairman of America Movil

Age: 73

Country: Mexico

Carlos Slim is 12th most powerful person in the world right after David Cameron (UK’s Prime Minister). He is also ranked as the richest person in the world.

Slim’s extensive holdings in a considerable number of Mexican companies through his conglomerate, Grupo Carso, SA de CV, have amassed interests in the fields of communications, technology, retailing, and finance, according to Wikipedia.

Mukesh Ambani, Lakshmi Mittal among most powerful people


Photographs: Lucas Jackson/Reuters

Michael Duke

Who is he: Wal-Mart Stores CEO

Age: 63

Country: US

Michael Duke ranks 10th as the most powerful person on earth below Ben Bernanke (US Fed Chairman) and Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud (King of Saudi Arabia).

Duke joined Wal-Mart in 1995 and became the CEO of Wal-Mart in February 2009.

Mukesh Ambani, Lakshmi Mittal among most powerful people


Photographs: Yuri Gripas/Reuters

Bill Gates

Who is he: Co-Chair at Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and is also Chairman of Microsoft

Age: 58

Country: US

Bill Gates is the sixth most powerful person in the world after personalities such as Angela Markel (Germany’s Chancellor), Pope Francis and Barack Obama. He co-founded Microsoft with Paul Allen.