Vladimir Putin tops Forbes’ list of the most powerful people in the world again, beating the Pope, Barack Obama, Xi Jinping, David Cameron and Bill Gates
Russia's president Vladimr Putin has done it again, and topped Forbes' Most Powerful People List for 2015. It's his third year at the top of the table.
He's ahead of Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor who's second (and one of only nine women on the list), having jumped three places, while Obama has fallen from number two to third place.
David Cameron is Britain's only entrant, languishing in eight place, behind the Pope.
|
Rank |
Name |
Change |
Bio |
|
1 |
Vladimir Putin |
– |
President, Russia |
|
2 |
Angela Merkel |
+3 |
Chancellor, Germany |
|
3 |
Barack Obama |
-1 |
President, US |
|
4 |
Pope Francis |
– |
Pope, Roman Catholic Church |
|
5 |
Xi Jinping |
-2 |
General secretary, Communist Party of China |
|
6 |
Bill Gates |
+1 |
Chair, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation |
|
7 |
Janet Yellen |
-1 |
Chair, Federal Reserve |
|
8 |
David Cameron |
+2 |
Prime Minister, UK |
|
9 |
Narendra Modi |
+6 |
Prime Minister, India |
|
10 |
Larry Page |
-1 |
Cofounder and CEO, Google |
Source: Forbes
There are plenty of business representatives on the list, Bill Gates (who founded Microsoft in case you've been a hermit for the last 20 years, and now runs the charitable trust the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation) is highest, climbing one place to number six.
Larry Page, co-founder and chief executive of Google is number 10; Amazon's CEO Jess Bezos is 17; Mark Zuckerberg climbs three places to 19 and Dell's chief executive Michael Dell makes the list at number 59, after Dell's $67bn acquisition of EMC.
There's an embarrassment of riches when it comes to chief executive officers. The bosses of Walmart, GE, ExxonMobil, Alibaba, Samsung and Toyota are just a few on the list, along with Apple CEO Tim Cook.
Tim Cook looks pretty pleased to be at number 27 (Source: Getty)
Some say money makes the world go round, and there are a hefty number of bankers on the list to attest to it:
In at number 20, chief executive of JPMorgan Chase Jamie Dimon beats Goldman Sachs' Lloyd Blankfein (26) and Larry Fink of Blackrock, up five places to 34.
New Entrant Carl Icahn, one of Forbes' richest Americans and founder of Icahn Capital Management is at 70, just behind the chief executive of Blackstone Group Stephen Schwarzman (number 62) but ahead of Donald Trump who scrapes in at 72.
Unsurprisingly, Volkswagen's former chief executive Martin Winterkorn, who stood down in September over the emissions scandal, has fallen off the list, as has FIFA's Joseph "Sepp" Blatter.
(More) sad times for Martin Winterkorn (Source: Getty)
Mark Zuckerberg and Kim Jong-Un (at number 46) are the youngest on the list, aged 31 and 32, respectively.