20 most influential people in the world

The ability to move markets or shape ideas and policies. The clout to affect the price of a security or the structure of a deal. These are the attributes that define the people who hold sway in the world of finance - those who make up Bloomberg Markets' second annual Most Influential list.

Let's take a look at the most influential people in the world.

Source: Bloomberg

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Warren Buffett

CEO, Berkshire Hathaway Inc

Warren Edward Buffett is an American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. He is widely considered the most successful investor of the 20th century. He is the primary shareholder, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. He is consistently ranked among the world's wealthiest people.

He was ranked as the world's wealthiest person in 2008 and is the third-wealthiest person in the world as of 2011. In 2012, American magazine Time named Buffett one of the most influential people in the world.

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Chung Mong Koo

Chairman, Hyundai Motor Co

Chung Mong Koo is the chairman of Hyundai Motor Group, the largest carmaker in South Korea. The Hyundai Motor Group is consist of 42 subsidiaries and it is the second-largest Chaebol in South Korea.

Chung succeeded his father, Chung Ju-yung, founder of what would become the Hyundai Conglomerate (in Korean,"Chaebol") When the conglomerate split into several parts in 1999, Chung Monk Koo took over the Hyundai Motor business.

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Tim Cook

CEO, Apple Inc

Timothy D 'Tim' Cook is the CEO of Apple. Cook joined Apple in March 1998 as SVP of Worldwide Operations and also served as EVP of Worldwide Sales and Operations and was COO until he was named the CEO of Apple on August 24, 2011, succeeding Steve Jobs.

Cook had previously served as acting CEO of Apple after Jobs began a medical leave in January 2011.

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John Fredriksen

Chairman, Seadrill Ltd

John Fredriksen is a Norwegian-born Cypriot oil tanker and shipping tycoon, owner of the world's largest oil tanker fleet, and was Norway's richest man until he chose to abandon his Norwegian citizenship and take up a Cypriot passport.

Norwegian magazine E24 listed Fredriksen in 2011 with a net worth of $10.7 billion. Through his investment companies Hemen Holdings and Meisha, Fredriksen controls the companies Frontline and Golar LNG from London.

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Yuri Milner

Co-founder, Mail.ru Group Ltd

Yuri Borisovich Milner is a Russian entrepreneur and venture capitalist. He founded investment firms Digital Sky Technologies, now called Mail.ru Group and DST Global.

Through Mail.ru Group and DST Global, Milner is an investor in Facebook, Zynga, Twitter, Spotify, ZocDoc, 360Buy.com and Groupon.

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Ginni Rometty

CEO, International Business Machines Corp

Virginia Marie 'Ginni' Rometty is an American business executive; the president and CEO of IBM. She is the first woman to head IBM.

Prior to becoming president and CEO in January 2012 she held the position of Senior Vice-President and Group Executive for Sales, Marketing, and Strategy at IBM.

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Carlos Slim

Chairman Emeritus, America Movil SAB

Carlos Slim Helu is a Mexican business magnate and philanthropist. He is currently ranked as the richest person in the world in 2012. Slim has been ranked the richest person in the world since 2010.

His 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. Presently he is the chairman and chief executive of telecommunications companies Telmex and America Movil.

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Tadashi Yanai

Founder, Fast Retailing Co

Tadashi Yanai is founder and president of Fast Retailing, of which Uniqlo is a subsidiary. He is routinely ranked as one of the richest men in Japan, and in 2009 was ranked 76th richest man in the world according to Forbes, making him the richest man in Japan with an estimated net worth of $6.0 billion.

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Mark Zuckerberg

Founder, Facebook Inc

Mark Elliot Zuckerberg is an American computer programmer and Internet entrepreneur. He is best known as one of five co-founders of the social networking site Facebook. Zuckerberg is the chairman and chief executive of Facebook, Inc.

Born and raised in New York state, he took up writing software programs as a hobby in middle school, beginning with BASIC, with help from his father and a tutor. In high school, he excelled in classic literature and fencing while studying at Phillips Exeter Academy.

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Leon Cooperman

Founder, Omega Advisors Inc

Cooperman was born April 25, 1943 to Jewish parents in the South Bronx. His father worked as a plumber. He attended Hunter College. After graduating, Cooperman became a Xerox quality control engineer in 1965. He then obtained an MBA from Columbia Business School, graduating on January 31, 1967.

The day after graduating, Cooperman joined Goldman Sachs in the company's asset management arm, conducting investment research. He worked at Goldman Sachs for 25 years, becoming a general partner and Chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs Asset Management. In 1991, Cooperman left the firm and founded Omega Advisors.

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Larry Fink

CEO, BlackRock Inc

Laurence D 'Larry' Fink is the chairman and chief executive officer of BlackRock, an American multinational investment management corporation. BlackRock is the largest money-management firm in the world.

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Bill Gross

Co-Chief Investment Officer, Pacific Investment Management Co

William Hunt 'Bill' Gross is an American financial manager and author. He co-founded Pacific Investment Management. Gross also runs Pimco'ss $252.2 billion Total Return Fund.

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Jeffrey Gundlach

Founder, DoubleLine Capital LP

Jeffrey Gundlach is the founder of Doubleline Capital, an investment firm. He was formerly the head of the $12 billion TCW Total Return Bond Fund, where he finished in the top two per cent of all funds invested in intermediate-term bonds for the 10 years that ended prior to his departure.

Barrons in a February 2011 cover story called him the 'King of Bonds'. He is a graduate of Dartmouth College.

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Mamata Banerjee

Chief Minister, West Bengal

Mamata Banerjee is the 11th and current Chief Minister of West Bengal. She is the first woman to hold the office. Banerjee founded the party All India Trinamool Congress in 1997 and became its chairperson, after separating from the Indian National Congress.

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Ben Bernanke

Chairman, US Federal Reserve

Ben Shalom Bernanke is an American economist and currently chairman of the Federal Reserve, the central bank of the United States. During his tenure as chairman, Bernanke has overseen the Federal Reserve's response to the late-2000s financial crisis.

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Preet Bharara

Prosecuter, US Department of Justice

Preetinder Singh 'Preet' Bharara is the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York. In 2012, Bharara was named by Time magazine as one of 'The 100 Most Influential People in the World,' and by India Abroad as its 2011 Person of the Year.

Bharara was also featured on a cover of Time Magazine entitled "This Man is Busting Wall Street" for his office's prosecutions of insider trading and other financial fraud on Wall Street.

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Mario Draghi

President, European Central Bank

Mario Draghi is an Italian banker and economist who succeeded Jean-Claude Trichet as President of the European Central Bank on November 1, 2011. He was previously the governor of the Bank of Italy from January 2006 until October 2011.

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Timothy F Geithner

Secretary, US Treasury

Timothy Franz Geithner is an American economist, central banker and civil servant. He is the 75th and current United States Secretary of the Treasury, serving under President Barack Obama. He was previously the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

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Paul Ryan

Republican Party's nominee for Vice-President

Paul Davis Ryan is the United States Representative for Wisconsin's 1st congressional district and the nominee of the Republican Party for Vice-President of the United States in the 2012 election.

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Aung San Suu Kyi

Chairperson, National League for Democracy

Aung San Suu Kyi is a Burmese opposition politician and chairperson of the National League for Democracy in Burma.