Obama leads Forbes power list, Manmohan Singh on 19

When it comes to power, trumps politics business, according to a new Forbes ranking. Reuters

The list of top ranked businessman was Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates on number 4. U.s. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and the President of the European Central Bank Mario Draghi, both public officials also came in the top 10.

"List this year reflects the changing of the guard in the world two most powerful countries: the United States and China," Michael Noer, Forbes Executive Editor, told Reuters in an e-mail.

Noer noted that China's President Hu Jintao, third most powerful person last year, fell off the list as he is leaving his successor, Xi Jinping, power, and ninth ranked instead.

U.s. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who have declared that they will not serve on the Obama second term, were not in the rankings this year.

While elected and appointed officials and business people the vast majority of Forbes most powerful, Pope Benedict XVI placed fifth in the standings.

One of the oddities was Joaquin Guzman Loera on nr. 63.

Loera, is far from a household name, a billionaire nicknamed "El Chapo" who as head of Mexico's Sinaloa cartel drug trader is the world's most powerful people, according to Forbes.

Age was not a barrier, with two of the youngest and oldest of this year is the most powerful — 28-year-old Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and 81-year-old News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch — back-to-back at numbers 25 and 26, respectively.

Forbes noted that Zuckerberg fell out last year after top 10 Facebook IPO disappointed. Meanwhile, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff was a gainer, those four spots to no. 18 despite the fact that moved only halfway into her first term.

You create the rank list, which Forbes recognises easily wore a certain degree of subjectivity, editors classified candidates on four criteria for power and average four ranks:

-Power over many people

-Control over financial and other valuable resources

-Power in multiple areas or arenas

-Active use of power

Some measures, such as power over many people, favored leaders as the Pope, terwijl's world's richest man — Mexican telecom magnate Carlos Slim Hula, worth a reported $ 72 billion — placed 11th on the strength of his wealth.

Others, such as New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, billionaire scored high in all areas, placing him at no. 16.

Noer said that Elon Musk, one of the co-founders of Paypal and Tesla Motors, was "one of the more interesting newcomers" on the list because of his SpaceX company, a private space-exploration venture.

"With the NASA space shuttle fleet, retire the private companies like SpaceX have large contracts awarded to do things such as resupply the International Space Station. The commercialisation of space has just begun, but we expect that big business, "Noer said.

Former President Bill Clinton placed 50th, with editors noting that by hitting the campaign trail for Obama, Clinton "cemented his status as a pivotal figure", along with his nonpartisan Global Initiative attracting more than 71 billion dollars in commitments for the financing of charitable action worldwide.

Other high-ranking government leaders included French President François Hollande on nr. 14, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on nr. Iran's Grand Ayatollah Ali Hoseini-Khamenei 19 and number 21.

Among entrepreneurs in the top 20 were Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett at no. 15, Wal-Mart CEO Michael Duke at no. 17 and Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin on nr. 20.

Reuters

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