They might not be the richest people in the world, but these billionaires have tremendous sway over the world's markets, workers--and, in some cases, armies.
The authority and influence Michael Bloomberg wields is staggering.
As mayor of New York City--America's largest and most complex metropolis--he lords over more than 8 million people speaking 40 different languages within 305 square miles. He commands 311,000 city employees and an annual budget of $60 billion.
Since being elected in 2001, Bloomberg has resurrected New York from the wreckage of the 9/11 attacks, seized control of the city's schools, enforced a ban on smoking in bars and restaurants, and taken serious strides to make the city a leader in energy efficiency.
On any given day, he might negotiate a workers strike, coordinate various law-enforcement agencies' efforts to combat terrorist threats or handle another crisis (like, say, a commercial airplane crashing into the Hudson River).
And he paid for this job. Bloomberg left his massive media and financial information company, Bloomberg LP, in 2001 to effectively buy City Hall when he chipped in $74 million of his own cash to run for mayor. (He threw in another $85 million to keep the gig four years later and recently convinced New York's City Council to allow him to run for a third term this year.)
While he's been mayor, Bloomberg LP has grown. Today, the firm has 10,000 employees in 126 global offices, providing most of the world's trading floors with financial data. Bloomberg's 88% stake in the company helped push his net worth to $20 billion last fall, making him one of America's richest men.
This combination of wealth, media influence and political prowess lofted Bloomberg atop the annual Forbes list of the most powerful billionaires in the world.
Last March, there were 1,125 billionaires in the world, each wielding tremendous wealth and weight over the markets and industries in which they operate. But few plutocrats possess the money, economic dominance and political clout to touch--or the potential to touch--all of us.
To compile the list, Forbes reporters created a formula based on the size and scope of the industries billionaires control, the political influence they exert and the fortunes they hold.
Behind Bloomberg is Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who heads a nation of 58 million people, a diversified industrial economy with a gross domestic product of $2.4 trillion and a military budget of roughly $43 billion.
Berlusconi's company Fininvest is a player in life insurance, movie production and sports teams. It also controls much of the Italian television market.
As the worldwide recession deepens and industries look to governments for help, a prime minister can have serious sway over the stock market. Shares of Italian automaker Fiat (nyse: FIA - news - people ) soared 6% earlier this month after Berlusconi pledged aid to the Italian auto industry.
Billionaires with political power are rivaled by those who control portions of the commodities markets. Indian industrialist Lakshimi Mittal controls 10% of the world's steel production through his company ArcelorMittal ; despite his fortune falling $24.5 billion between March and November 2008, he ranks third on our list.
Other moguls lord over portfolios of companies. Warren Buffett, through holding company Berkshire Hathaway (nyse: BRK - news - people ), controls more than 50 companies that had a combined $118 billion in sales in 2008. He ranks fifth.
Throughout the credit crisis, Buffett injected much-needed capital into ailing companies. His $5 billion investment in Goldman Sachs (nyse: GS - news - people ) last September caused shares to leap 6%. He pumped billions more into General Electric (nyse: GE - news - people ) and Swiss Re. Even President Obama has turned to Buffett for economic advice.
Perhaps no billionaire has more control over how America spends its disposable cash than Oprah Winfrey. Her daily talk show airs in 141 countries and reaches more than 46 million viewers. With Oprah's approval, an unknown book instantly turns into a bestseller, and getting a product endorsed on Oprah's Favorite Things show can be the crowning achievement of a marketer's career.
According to research compiled by two University of Maryland economics professors, Oprah's endorsement of Barack Obama lent the candidate an estimated additional one million votes in the 2008 Democratic presidential primary.
1. Michael Bloomberg
Source of power: mayor, New York City; Bloomberg LP
New York City's chief executive. Former Salomon Brothers trader founded financial information and services firm Innovative Market Systems; renamed Bloomberg LP in 1987. Firm now has news service, cable TV stations, radio and magazine. Today, he owns 88% of company after buying cash-strapped Merrill Lynch's 20% stake last summer. Spent $74 million becoming New York City mayor in 2001 and $85 million in 2005. Law passed in October letting Bloomberg run for third term.
2. Silvio Berlusconi
Source of power: prime minister, Italy; Fininvest
Currently serving his third term as prime minister of Italy. Leads a nation of 58 million people, an industrial economy with a GDP of $2.4 trillion and a military budget of roughly $43 billion. As prime minister, he lords over Italy's public TV; his diversified conglomerate Fininvest dominates Italy's private TV channels.
3. Lakshmi Mittal
Source of power: ArcelorMittal
Controls world's largest steelmaker ArcelorMittal; company accounts for 10% of crude steel production. Born in India but lives in London, where his political clout often incites controversy. In 2002, then British Prime Minister Tony Blair reportedly wrote a letter to the Romanian prime minister hinting a sale of the country's steel company to Mittal would facilitate its entrance into the European Union.
4. Warren Buffett
Source of power: Berkshire Hathaway
Even the faintest hint of interest from Buffett can send a stock soaring. When Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway injected billions into Goldman Sachs in September, the investment bank's shares jumped by nearly 6%. Backed Barack Obama with advice and money during last year's campaign; Obama often touted the endorsement in a campaign where the economy eventually took center stage.
5. Vagit Alekperov
Source of power: Lukoil
Former Caspian Sea oil rig worker, now president of Lukoil, Russia's largest independent energy company. The firm's reserves are second only to ExxonMobil. Alekperov owns more than 19% of the company. Friend of Vladimir Putin who lobbies Kremlin for tax breaks for Russian oil companies.
6. Carlos Slim Helu
Source of power: America Movil, Telefonos de Mexico
Son of Lebanese immigrant was world's second richest man in 2008. His Telmex controls 90% of telephone landlines in Mexico; cellphone operator America Movil has more than 173 million customers in Latin America. Baseball fan and art collector also invests in construction, retail, banking, railroads, mining and media; bought 6.9% stake in The New York Times last year and loaned the newspaper $250 million in January.
7. Mukesh Ambani
Source of power: Reliance Industries
Heads petrochemicals giant Reliance Industries, Indian's largest company by market cap. Produces oil, gas, petrochemicals and textiles. Personally funding construction of a 27-story home in Mumbai that could cost $2 billion. With brother Anil, inherited their fortune from their late father, renowned industrialist Dhirubhai Ambani. But they couldn't get along, and in 2005, their mother brokered a peace settlement breaking up the family's assets.
8. Charles and David Koch
Source of power: Koch Industries
MIT-trained brothers turned family oil refining firm into America's second largest private company. Koch Industries has stakes in pipelines, refineries, fertilizer, fibers and polymers, forest and consumer products, chemical technology. Sales in 2008: $110 billion. Brothers each own 42% of company. Employs 80,000 people and operates in 60 countries. Charles co-founder of conservative think tank Cato Institute. David gave $100 million to alma mater for cancer research in 2007. Pledged another $100 million to New York's Lincoln Center last July.
9. Bill Gates
Source of power: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Microsoft
World's richest man founded software giant Microsoft in 1975. Stepped down from day-to-day duties at Microsoft last year to devote his talents and riches to philanthropy. The $36 billion Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation donates to causes such as fighting hunger in developing countries, improving education in America's high schools and developing vaccines against malaria, tuberculosis and AIDS.
10. Edward and Abigail Johnson
Source of power: Fidelity
Father and daughter run Fidelity Investments, America's largest mutual fund company. Family owns 49% of the company, which managed $1.2 trillion in assets at the end of 2008. "Ned" serves as chairman; "Abby" runs Personal & Workplace Investing division.
11. Li Ka-Shing
Source of power: Cheung Kong and Hutchinson Whampoa
Grew up poor; sold plastic flowers in Hong Kong in the 1950s. Now Hong Kong's richest person. Empire built on conglomerates Cheung Kong and Hutchison Whampoa. Controls world's largest operator of container terminals, world's largest health and beauty retailer, a major supplier of electricity to Hong Kong and a real estate developer. Also owns a large stake in Canadian oil company Husky Energy. Plans to donate one-third of wealth over time.
12. Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud
Source of power: Kingdom Holdings
The most active and successful investor in the Middle East took his investment vehicle, Kingdom Holdings, public on the Saudi stock exchange in July 2007. Kingdom Holdings contains his investments in well-known companies such as Citigroup and News Corp., as well as Four Seasons Hotels and Fairmont Hotel management companies, among many others.
13. Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair
Source of power: Mashreq
Emirates patriarch helps finance and feed the Middle East. Head of Mashreq, a leading United Arab Emirates commercial bank founded by his father during the Gulf's first oil boom in the 1960s. Family's diverse business interests also include investments in cement, petrochemicals, insurance and Masafi, the region's leading mineral-water brand. Foods division operates one of the largest flour mills in the Middle East. In 2007, Al Ghurair was elected speaker and president of the U.A.E. Parliament.
14. Rupert Murdoch
Source of power: News Corp.
Media king's fortune may be falling on hard times, but he still controls a dizzying array of TV stations and print publications around the globe via News Corp. His empire includes the Fox family of TV channels and more than 100 newspapers. Added Dow Jones (and its crown jewel, The Wall Street Journal) in 2007 for $5.6 billion in cash.
15. Serge Dassault
Source of power: Groupe Dassault
French senator is honorary chairman of software and media conglomerate Groupe Dassault. Owns Le Figaro, French daily newspaper founded in 1826, plus a 50% stake in Dassault Aviation, maker of Mirage and Rafale jets. Son Olivier is a member of French National Assembly.
16. Saad Hariri
Source of power: engineering and construction
Son of slain Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri; heads a group of legislators intent on carrying out father's legacy. Earlier this year, successfully lobbied France to monitor upcoming Lebanese elections. Takes cover in Riyadh when security gets shaky in Beirut. Also serves as general manager of Saudi Oger, his family's $9 billion (revenues) construction and telecom company.
17. Roman Abramovich
Source of power: commodities
Made fortune in a series of controversial oil export deals in early 1990s. Teamed up with Boris Berezovsky to take over oil giant Sibneft at a fraction of its market value. In 2003 to 2004, sold stake in Russian Aluminum to Oleg Deripaska. Sold 73% stake in Sibneft to gas titan Gazprom for $13 billion in 2005. Later bought stake in the country's largest steelmaker, Evraz Group and a piece of Highland Gold, a U.K. mining company with operations in Russia. Former governor of far-flung Chukotka province.
18. Sergey Brin and Larry Page
Source of power: Google
When people look for information, they're likely to turn to Page and Brin's creation: Google. Research agency Millward Brown called Google the most valuable brand in the world in 2008. Brin and Page met in computer science Ph.D. program at Stanford. Dropped out in 1998 to work on a search engine from a friend's garage. Took company public in 2004.
19. David Rubenstein, William Conway Jr., Daniel D'Aniello
Source of power: Carlyle Group
Rubenstein, D'Aniello and Conway lead leveraged buyout outfit Carlyle Group. Initially used politically connected advisers including ex-president George H. W. Bush and Clinton's former chief of staff Mack McLarty to buy defense-oriented companies, turn them around and sell for a profit. Today, Carlyle has over $90 billion in assets under management. At end of 2007, the firm owned 224 companies employing more than 350,000 people. Made infamous in Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 for investing bin Laden family money.
20. Oprah Winfrey
Source of power: Oprah
Millions of people turn to Oprah everyday for advice, knowledge and gossip. All that adds up to plenty of influence. Two University of Maryland economics professors estimated that Oprah's endorsement of Barrack Obama netted him an extra million votes in the 2008 Democratic presidential primary. Her nod can turn an unknown book into an overnight bestseller.
The authority and influence Michael Bloomberg wields is staggering.
As mayor of New York City--America's largest and most complex metropolis--he lords over more than 8 million people speaking 40 different languages within 305 square miles. He commands 311,000 city employees and an annual budget of $60 billion.
Since being elected in 2001, Bloomberg has resurrected New York from the wreckage of the 9/11 attacks, seized control of the city's schools, enforced a ban on smoking in bars and restaurants, and taken serious strides to make the city a leader in energy efficiency.
On any given day, he might negotiate a workers strike, coordinate various law-enforcement agencies' efforts to combat terrorist threats or handle another crisis (like, say, a commercial airplane crashing into the Hudson River).
And he paid for this job. Bloomberg left his massive media and financial information company, Bloomberg LP, in 2001 to effectively buy City Hall when he chipped in $74 million of his own cash to run for mayor. (He threw in another $85 million to keep the gig four years later and recently convinced New York's City Council to allow him to run for a third term this year.)
While he's been mayor, Bloomberg LP has grown. Today, the firm has 10,000 employees in 126 global offices, providing most of the world's trading floors with financial data. Bloomberg's 88% stake in the company helped push his net worth to $20 billion last fall, making him one of America's richest men.
This combination of wealth, media influence and political prowess lofted Bloomberg atop the annual Forbes list of the most powerful billionaires in the world.
Last March, there were 1,125 billionaires in the world, each wielding tremendous wealth and weight over the markets and industries in which they operate. But few plutocrats possess the money, economic dominance and political clout to touch--or the potential to touch--all of us.
To compile the list, Forbes reporters created a formula based on the size and scope of the industries billionaires control, the political influence they exert and the fortunes they hold.
Behind Bloomberg is Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who heads a nation of 58 million people, a diversified industrial economy with a gross domestic product of $2.4 trillion and a military budget of roughly $43 billion.
Berlusconi's company Fininvest is a player in life insurance, movie production and sports teams. It also controls much of the Italian television market.
As the worldwide recession deepens and industries look to governments for help, a prime minister can have serious sway over the stock market. Shares of Italian automaker Fiat (nyse: FIA - news - people ) soared 6% earlier this month after Berlusconi pledged aid to the Italian auto industry.
Billionaires with political power are rivaled by those who control portions of the commodities markets. Indian industrialist Lakshimi Mittal controls 10% of the world's steel production through his company ArcelorMittal ; despite his fortune falling $24.5 billion between March and November 2008, he ranks third on our list.
Other moguls lord over portfolios of companies. Warren Buffett, through holding company Berkshire Hathaway (nyse: BRK - news - people ), controls more than 50 companies that had a combined $118 billion in sales in 2008. He ranks fifth.
Throughout the credit crisis, Buffett injected much-needed capital into ailing companies. His $5 billion investment in Goldman Sachs (nyse: GS - news - people ) last September caused shares to leap 6%. He pumped billions more into General Electric (nyse: GE - news - people ) and Swiss Re. Even President Obama has turned to Buffett for economic advice.
Perhaps no billionaire has more control over how America spends its disposable cash than Oprah Winfrey. Her daily talk show airs in 141 countries and reaches more than 46 million viewers. With Oprah's approval, an unknown book instantly turns into a bestseller, and getting a product endorsed on Oprah's Favorite Things show can be the crowning achievement of a marketer's career.
According to research compiled by two University of Maryland economics professors, Oprah's endorsement of Barack Obama lent the candidate an estimated additional one million votes in the 2008 Democratic presidential primary.
1. Michael Bloomberg
Source of power: mayor, New York City; Bloomberg LP
New York City's chief executive. Former Salomon Brothers trader founded financial information and services firm Innovative Market Systems; renamed Bloomberg LP in 1987. Firm now has news service, cable TV stations, radio and magazine. Today, he owns 88% of company after buying cash-strapped Merrill Lynch's 20% stake last summer. Spent $74 million becoming New York City mayor in 2001 and $85 million in 2005. Law passed in October letting Bloomberg run for third term.
2. Silvio Berlusconi
Source of power: prime minister, Italy; Fininvest
Currently serving his third term as prime minister of Italy. Leads a nation of 58 million people, an industrial economy with a GDP of $2.4 trillion and a military budget of roughly $43 billion. As prime minister, he lords over Italy's public TV; his diversified conglomerate Fininvest dominates Italy's private TV channels.
3. Lakshmi Mittal
Source of power: ArcelorMittal
Controls world's largest steelmaker ArcelorMittal; company accounts for 10% of crude steel production. Born in India but lives in London, where his political clout often incites controversy. In 2002, then British Prime Minister Tony Blair reportedly wrote a letter to the Romanian prime minister hinting a sale of the country's steel company to Mittal would facilitate its entrance into the European Union.
4. Warren Buffett
Source of power: Berkshire Hathaway
Even the faintest hint of interest from Buffett can send a stock soaring. When Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway injected billions into Goldman Sachs in September, the investment bank's shares jumped by nearly 6%. Backed Barack Obama with advice and money during last year's campaign; Obama often touted the endorsement in a campaign where the economy eventually took center stage.
5. Vagit Alekperov
Source of power: Lukoil
Former Caspian Sea oil rig worker, now president of Lukoil, Russia's largest independent energy company. The firm's reserves are second only to ExxonMobil. Alekperov owns more than 19% of the company. Friend of Vladimir Putin who lobbies Kremlin for tax breaks for Russian oil companies.
6. Carlos Slim Helu
Source of power: America Movil, Telefonos de Mexico
Son of Lebanese immigrant was world's second richest man in 2008. His Telmex controls 90% of telephone landlines in Mexico; cellphone operator America Movil has more than 173 million customers in Latin America. Baseball fan and art collector also invests in construction, retail, banking, railroads, mining and media; bought 6.9% stake in The New York Times last year and loaned the newspaper $250 million in January.
7. Mukesh Ambani
Source of power: Reliance Industries
Heads petrochemicals giant Reliance Industries, Indian's largest company by market cap. Produces oil, gas, petrochemicals and textiles. Personally funding construction of a 27-story home in Mumbai that could cost $2 billion. With brother Anil, inherited their fortune from their late father, renowned industrialist Dhirubhai Ambani. But they couldn't get along, and in 2005, their mother brokered a peace settlement breaking up the family's assets.
8. Charles and David Koch
Source of power: Koch Industries
MIT-trained brothers turned family oil refining firm into America's second largest private company. Koch Industries has stakes in pipelines, refineries, fertilizer, fibers and polymers, forest and consumer products, chemical technology. Sales in 2008: $110 billion. Brothers each own 42% of company. Employs 80,000 people and operates in 60 countries. Charles co-founder of conservative think tank Cato Institute. David gave $100 million to alma mater for cancer research in 2007. Pledged another $100 million to New York's Lincoln Center last July.
9. Bill Gates
Source of power: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Microsoft
World's richest man founded software giant Microsoft in 1975. Stepped down from day-to-day duties at Microsoft last year to devote his talents and riches to philanthropy. The $36 billion Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation donates to causes such as fighting hunger in developing countries, improving education in America's high schools and developing vaccines against malaria, tuberculosis and AIDS.
10. Edward and Abigail Johnson
Source of power: Fidelity
Father and daughter run Fidelity Investments, America's largest mutual fund company. Family owns 49% of the company, which managed $1.2 trillion in assets at the end of 2008. "Ned" serves as chairman; "Abby" runs Personal & Workplace Investing division.
11. Li Ka-Shing
Source of power: Cheung Kong and Hutchinson Whampoa
Grew up poor; sold plastic flowers in Hong Kong in the 1950s. Now Hong Kong's richest person. Empire built on conglomerates Cheung Kong and Hutchison Whampoa. Controls world's largest operator of container terminals, world's largest health and beauty retailer, a major supplier of electricity to Hong Kong and a real estate developer. Also owns a large stake in Canadian oil company Husky Energy. Plans to donate one-third of wealth over time.
12. Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud
Source of power: Kingdom Holdings
The most active and successful investor in the Middle East took his investment vehicle, Kingdom Holdings, public on the Saudi stock exchange in July 2007. Kingdom Holdings contains his investments in well-known companies such as Citigroup and News Corp., as well as Four Seasons Hotels and Fairmont Hotel management companies, among many others.
13. Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair
Source of power: Mashreq
Emirates patriarch helps finance and feed the Middle East. Head of Mashreq, a leading United Arab Emirates commercial bank founded by his father during the Gulf's first oil boom in the 1960s. Family's diverse business interests also include investments in cement, petrochemicals, insurance and Masafi, the region's leading mineral-water brand. Foods division operates one of the largest flour mills in the Middle East. In 2007, Al Ghurair was elected speaker and president of the U.A.E. Parliament.
14. Rupert Murdoch
Source of power: News Corp.
Media king's fortune may be falling on hard times, but he still controls a dizzying array of TV stations and print publications around the globe via News Corp. His empire includes the Fox family of TV channels and more than 100 newspapers. Added Dow Jones (and its crown jewel, The Wall Street Journal) in 2007 for $5.6 billion in cash.
15. Serge Dassault
Source of power: Groupe Dassault
French senator is honorary chairman of software and media conglomerate Groupe Dassault. Owns Le Figaro, French daily newspaper founded in 1826, plus a 50% stake in Dassault Aviation, maker of Mirage and Rafale jets. Son Olivier is a member of French National Assembly.
16. Saad Hariri
Source of power: engineering and construction
Son of slain Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri; heads a group of legislators intent on carrying out father's legacy. Earlier this year, successfully lobbied France to monitor upcoming Lebanese elections. Takes cover in Riyadh when security gets shaky in Beirut. Also serves as general manager of Saudi Oger, his family's $9 billion (revenues) construction and telecom company.
17. Roman Abramovich
Source of power: commodities
Made fortune in a series of controversial oil export deals in early 1990s. Teamed up with Boris Berezovsky to take over oil giant Sibneft at a fraction of its market value. In 2003 to 2004, sold stake in Russian Aluminum to Oleg Deripaska. Sold 73% stake in Sibneft to gas titan Gazprom for $13 billion in 2005. Later bought stake in the country's largest steelmaker, Evraz Group and a piece of Highland Gold, a U.K. mining company with operations in Russia. Former governor of far-flung Chukotka province.
18. Sergey Brin and Larry Page
Source of power: Google
When people look for information, they're likely to turn to Page and Brin's creation: Google. Research agency Millward Brown called Google the most valuable brand in the world in 2008. Brin and Page met in computer science Ph.D. program at Stanford. Dropped out in 1998 to work on a search engine from a friend's garage. Took company public in 2004.
19. David Rubenstein, William Conway Jr., Daniel D'Aniello
Source of power: Carlyle Group
Rubenstein, D'Aniello and Conway lead leveraged buyout outfit Carlyle Group. Initially used politically connected advisers including ex-president George H. W. Bush and Clinton's former chief of staff Mack McLarty to buy defense-oriented companies, turn them around and sell for a profit. Today, Carlyle has over $90 billion in assets under management. At end of 2007, the firm owned 224 companies employing more than 350,000 people. Made infamous in Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 for investing bin Laden family money.
20. Oprah Winfrey
Source of power: Oprah
Millions of people turn to Oprah everyday for advice, knowledge and gossip. All that adds up to plenty of influence. Two University of Maryland economics professors estimated that Oprah's endorsement of Barrack Obama netted him an extra million votes in the 2008 Democratic presidential primary. Her nod can turn an unknown book into an overnight bestseller.
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