Here is our ranked list of the 25 people we judge to have had the most profound impact on business and finance since 1989, the year CNBC went live. They have disrupted industries, sparked change and exercised an influence far beyond their own companies.
As CNBC embarks on its second quarter-century, it faces a world completely altered from when it started. Then, the Dow was below 2,400, Wal-Mart didn't make the list of America's 500 largest companies and there was no World Wide Web. Only four U.S. companies had annual revenue of more than $50 billion. Today there are more than 50, including upstarts such as Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and Google. No dictionary contained the words "e-commerce" or "app." A blog was still archaic slang for a servant boy.
The 25 men and women listed below—from different parts of the world and across different industries—have, for better or worse, been the rebels, icons and leaders in the vanguard of that change.
Curious as to how we chose the 25? Tyler Mathisen explains the (difficult!) process.
| 1 | [[image#101576653#101576663]] | [[link#101576663#Steve Jobs]] | Apple's iVisionary |
| 2 | [[image#101576932#101576926]] | [[link#101576926#Bill Gates]] | Microsoft founder and philanthropist |
| 3 | [[image#101588461#101576945]] | [[link#101576945#Ben Bernanke & Alan Greenspan]] | Former U.S. Fed chairs |
| 4 | [[image#101588446#101581010]] | [[link#101581010#Sergey Brin‚ Larry Page & Eric Schmidt]] | Google's internet and media disruptors |
| 5 | [[image#101585584#101581025]] | [[link#101581025#Jeff Bezos]] | Amazon's retail revolutionary |
| 6 | [[image#101572798#101573765]] | [[link#101573765#Warren Buffett]] | Legendary American investor |
| 7 | [[image#101585590#101581105]] | [[link#101581105#Oprah Winfrey]] | Billionaire talk-show entrepreneur |
| 8 | [[image#101589360#101581111]] | [[link#101581111#Mark Zuckerberg]] | Facebook founder |
| 9 | [[image#101588449#101581152]] | [[link#101581152#Jack Bogle]] | Index mutual fund pioneer |
| 10 | [[image#101576601#101576617]] | [[link#101576617#Larry Ellison]] | Oracle co-founder |
| 11 | [[image#101572730#101576543 ]] | [[link#101576543#Rupert Murdoch]] | Global media mogul |
| 12 | [[image#101607604#101581184]] | [[link#101581184#Jack Welch]] | 20-year chairman and CEO of GE |
| 13 | [[image#101585604#101581238]] | [[link#101581238#NR Narayana Murthy]] | Infosys founder; father of Indian IT |
| 14 | [[image#101585558#101581246]] | [[link#101581246#Howard Schultz]] | Starbucks CEO |
| 15 | [[image#101572670#101576592]] | [[link#101576592#Bernard Arnault]] | Luxury baron of LVMH |
| 16 | [[image#101572722#101576481]] | [[link#101576481#Li Ka-shing]] | Hong Kong tycoon; Asia's richest man |
| 17 | [[image#101588448#101581256]] | [[link#101581256#Carl Icahn]] | American activist investor |
| 18 | [[image#101607596#101581282]] | [[link#101581282#Meg Whitman]] | Hewlett-Packard and former eBay CEO |
| 19 | [[image#101607617#101589756]] | [[link#101589756#Amancio Ortega]] | Founder of Zara fashion stores |
| 20 | [[image#101589222#101581283]] | [[link#101581283#Michael Bloomberg]] | Wall Street data pioneer and ex-NYC mayor |
| 21 | [[image#101576641#101576647]] | [[link#101576647#Sandy Weill]] | Banker and Wall Street dealmaker |
| 22 | [[image#101572600#101576450]] | [[link#101576450#Cher Wang]] | Founder of Taiwan smartphone maker HTC |
| 23 | [[image#101585598#101581305]] | [[link#101581305#Aliko Dangote]] | Billionaire African entrepreneur |
| 24 | [[image#101576692#101576706]] | [[link#101576706#Martha Stewart]] | Founder of home-making media empire |
| 25 | [[image#101561593#101573457]] | [[link#101573457#Carlos Slim]] | Billionaire Mexican business magnate |
