With the S&P 500 poised to see its best year this century, company values are soaring. From Nvidia’s Jensen Huang to Microsoft’s Satya Nadella, a handful of CEOs are overseeing companies with multi-trillion dollar market caps.
This graphic shows the most powerful business people worldwide, based on rankings from Fortune.
Methodology
For the rankings, Fortune scored business leaders based on the following metrics:
- Business size: Assessed by the market value, profitability, and revenue of each candidate’s company.
- Impact: Degree to which the person is having a positive impact on the world.
- Innovation: Creating products and services that competitors are replicating.
- Business health: Based on operating efficiency, liquidity, and business solvency.
- Trajectory: The candidate’s stage in their career trajectory.
The Most Powerful People in the Corporate World
Here are the most influential business leaders in 2024 according to Fortune’s rankings:
| Rank | Name | Associated Companies |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Elon Musk | Tesla, SpaceX, X (formerly Twitter), xAI |
| 2 | Jensen Huang | Nvidia |
| 3 | Satya Nadella | Microsoft |
| 4 | Warren Buffett | Berkshire Hathaway |
| 5 | Jamie Dimon | JPMorgan Chase |
| 6 | Tim Cook | Apple |
| 7 | Mark Zuckerberg | Meta |
| 8 | Sam Altman | OpenAI |
| 9 | Mary Barra | GeneralMotors |
| 10 | Sundar Pichai | Alphabet (Google) |
| 11 | Jeff Bezos | Amazon, Blue Origin |
| 12 | Mukesh Ambani | Reliance Industries |
| 13 | Brian Moynihan | Bank of America |
| 14 | Ren Zhengfei | Huawei |
| 15 | Jane Fraser | Citigroup |
Elon Musk, ranking first overall, has his hands in many industries, with the newest being the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency.
The consequences of this political influence could lead to easing regulation for his companies. It could also have a significant impact on major government agencies. Musk has stated that he wants to cut $2 trillion from the federal budget annually at a time of record public debt.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang ranks in second, at the helm of one of the world’s most valuable companies. As of October, revenues have surged 94% annually amid strong demand. Despite concerns that AI scaling laws may reach their limits as capabilities plateau, Huang asserted that this is not the case.
As Nvidia unveils its next-generation Blackwell chips, Huang sees a future where AI-enabled assistants, known as agents, will operate in every industry alongside the human workforce.
Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, ranks seventh on the list. Today, OpenAI’s products are utilized by 92% of Fortune 500 companies, with overall monthly users doubling to 200 million since 2023. Like Altman, many of the most powerful people in business are driving advancements in AI, as these technologies promise to reshape a wide range of industries in the years to come.
Credit: Visual Capitalist
