Software czar Bill Gates, legendary investor Warren Buffett and Apple's Steve Jobs, all known for their business acumen, have been named among the 20 best American CEOs of all time.

The list of '20 Best CEOs' complied by US publication Conde Nast Portfolio is topped by auto maker Ford Motor's Henry Ford, while financial services major J P Morgan's J P Morgan has cornered the second place.

Jobs, Gates and Buffett are placed at 7th, 10th and 16th positions, respectively.

"... we put together a panel of business-school professors to help us come up with a list of the 20 best American CEOs of all time. Ford came out on top," the publication said.

The co-founder of Microsoft, Gates, is "said to be cranky and impatient manager -- an approach that helped Microsoft earn $60 billion last year", the magazine noted.

"He is also known to be somewhat unfriendly to competition. In 2001, to settle a massive antitrust suit brought against Microsoft, Gates agreed to share technical information with other software makers," Conde Nast Portfolio said.

Writing on Buffett, the publication said that when the Oracle of Omaha bought a piece of Goldman Sachs last year, not only did he receive better terms than the government, he got better returns.

"As of February, Buffett's $5 billion investment had appreciated 12 per cent, while the Treasury's $10 billion stake had fallen 25 per cent," it added.

Wal-Mart's Sam Walton is ranked third, followed by car maker General Motors' Alfred Solan at the fourth and Lou Gerstner of IBM at the fifth spot.

Other names include iron and steel baron Andrew Carnegie (9th), New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg (11th), Walt Disney (14th) and Washington Post's Katharine Graham (17th) and famous Oprah Winfrey Show's Oprah Winfrey at the 20th place.