The TIME/CNN 25 Most Influential

Every CEO wields power within his company; only a few exert a broader, lasting influence--creating new industries and reshaping markets and leadership styles. At the end of this remarkable year in business, journalists at TIME and CNN have collaborated to name the 25 most influential global executives

1 CARLOS GHOSN They said a foreign CEO could never survive the insular culture of Japanese business. Then this quintessential global leader--born in Brazil of Lebanese parents and educated in France--was dispatched by Renault to rescue its stake in NISSAN. Ghosn, 47, briskly closed plants, shed workers, hired stylish new auto designers--and took the company from a $5.6 billion loss in 2000 to this year's $2.5 billion profit. Ghosn's methods are openly copied, the story of Nissan's revival is a best seller in Japan, and Ghosn was named that country's "Father of the Year."

2 BILL GATES is worth more than $30 billion, thanks to his 12.3% stake in a resurgent Microsoft, whose Windows operating system dominates the desktop on 90% of the world's PCs. Gates' empire extends to Internet access (MSN), television (MSNBC and a stake in cable giant Comcast), computer games (Xbox) and even philanthropy (the $24 billion Gates Foundation). Gates, 46, was slow to recognize the importance of the Internet. But with his ambitious .NET initiative--and diminished pressure from antitrust regulators--the world's richest man may end up dominating a whole new realm: cyberspace.

3 JERRY LEVIN AND STEVE CASE Given the big egos of CEOs, it's no surprise that when companies merge, one boss usually departs. But since the creation of AOL TIME WARNER in January 2000, chairman Steve Case, 43, and CEO Jerry Levin, 62, have shown a unity of purpose at odds with the B-school case studies. It helps that they share a vision: subscriptions. Add up AOL, cable TV and magazines, and they have 137 million people mailing in payments. This year the duo clung for too long to profit promises they couldn't keep. But as they direct Warner Bros., CNN and the Time Inc. magazines, Case and Levin wield unrivaled influence on global culture.

4 SIR JOHN BROWNE Energy executives and environmentalists were like oil and water until Browne, 53, changed the rules of engagement in a 1997 speech announcing a greener direction for BRITISH PETROLEUM. BP now limits its greenhouse-gas emissions and has invested $1 billion in solar-energy technology, becoming the world's largest photovoltaic manufacturer. At the same time, he has taken BP from near obscurity to the world's No. 3 oil company, buying competitors like Amoco and inspiring other execs to copy his formula for blending environmentalism and strong earnings.

5 BOB RUBIN His nameplate is gone from the office of the Treasury Secretary, but in some respects, Rubin, 63, never really left. Now a top executive at CITIGROUP, the man who steered President Clinton through financial crises to the nation's longest boom gets invited to private meetings of top congressional leaders from which the current Treasury Secretary is excluded. Since Sept. 11, Rubin has helped Congress shape a stimulus package. He even testified alongside Alan Greenspan when the Fed chief delivered his damage assessment to a closed session of the Finance Committee.

6 SANDY WEILL has a middle initial but no middle name--one of the few things in life that he has to do without. The consummate dealmaker shook the financial world in 1998, when his Travelers Corp..agreed to buy banking giant Citicorp for $72 billion. In one bold stroke, his financial-services empire, renamed CITIGROUP, went global, with about 100 million customers in 100 countries. To get the deal done, Weill, 68, persuaded Washington lawmakers to end restrictions that prevented U.S. firms from offering both insurance and commercial banking. That paved the way for U.S.-based global financial conglomerates, which as they evolve have Weill to thank--and Weill to chase.

7 MICHAEL DELL In 1984 he declared his intention to unseat IBM as the world's leading computer maker. It sounded outlandish at the time, but in pursuit of that goal DELL COMPUTER has revolutionized its industry. It bypasses retailers by selling made-to-order computers directly to consumers at low prices, and profits from hyperefficient, just-in-time inventory management. Those innovations helped make Dell the No. 1 computer seller in the world this year. Michael Dell, 36, is raising his sights from PCs to the powerful servers and storage devices that serve businesses. In Dell's cross hairs: IBM.

8 MEG WHITMAN When a headhunter begged her to interview at a fledgling dotcom, Whitman, then an executive at Hasbro's preschool division, at first declined. But she reconsidered and within a couple of years turned EBAY into the most successful pure Internet company while making herself the first woman Internet billionaire. Whitman, 44, has made eBay--with more merchandise than ever, including $1 billion a year in auto sales and 37 million users worldwide--a truly global marketplace.

9 LI KA-SHING, it's said, takes a cut from every dollar spent in Hong Kong--and that's not much of an exaggeration. The ubiquitous entrepreneur started in the plastic-toy business in 1950 and propelled himself into real estate, shipping and telecommunications. His secret? Keep dealing. Even before China took over Hong Kong, Li, 73, was investing on the mainland. HUTCHISON WHAMPOA has pushed into the Internet, low-income housing and commercial projects across China. Not surprisingly, Li has the ear of President Jiang Zemin.

10 RUPERT MURDOCH runs NEWS CORP., a $43 billion conglomerate that includes the Fox movie studio and TV network; satellite-TV services in Asia, Europe and Latin America; sports teams such as the Los Angeles Dodgers; and newspapers in Australia, Britain and the U.S. Born in Australia, Murdoch, 70, is equally at home in London and New York City and makes sure his conservative political views are reflected in his media properties. His latest bid for influence: expanding his satellite-TV service in China. Murdoch is also busy positioning his sons to succeed him at the helm of the family business.

11 WARREN BUFFETT has turned value investing into an art form, piling up the world's second largest individual fortune and persuading millions to mimic the low-tech, buy-and-hold style of stock picking he practices at BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY. When a financial firm needs a bailout, the "Oracle of Omaha" usually gets a call. His investment rescued bond-trading powerhouse Salomon Brothers in the early '90s. Buffett, 71, is now active in efforts to get federal backing for insurers exposed to losses in future terror attacks.

12 JEAN-MARIE MESSIER Put an ambitious, cosmopolitan French banker in charge of a 148-year-old French water company, and you get...a global-media megalith called VIVENDI UNIVERSAL, with telecom and cable assets in Europe; TV, movie and music studios on both sides of the Atlantic; and theme parks in the U.S. and Japan. Internet maven Messier, 44, may have racked up too much debt on his recent acquisition binge. But Vivendi posted a 30% jump in third-quarter cash flow, thanks much more to subscriptions than advertising. Just like in the water business.

13 KEIJI TACHIKAWA spent over 35 years at stodgy Nippon Telegraph & Telephone before his career went wild and wireless. As CEO of NTT DOCOMO, NTT's previously obscure mobile-phone wing, he has overseen the success of i-mode, the mobile Internet service that set nearly 30 million pairs of Japanese thumbs tap-tap-tapping on hand-held keypads. Tachikawa, 62, has set up partnerships with Europeans and recently bought a 16% stake in AT&T Wireless. Both moves should serve DoCoMo well in its bid to promote "3g," the ultra-speedy, new-generation service that seeks to make cell phones indispensable multimedia tools.

14 LIU CHUANZHI Making computers was not the first step on Liu Chuanzhi's long march to success, but it may well be the one that matters most. Liu, 57, survived China's brutal Cultural Revolution and rode the winds of reform to a government concession distributing IBM PCs in the late 1980s. Then he persuaded the government to let him build PCs. He's CEO of LEGEND COMPUTER, the most profitable PC maker in a market in which sales will grow 25% this year. Liu says he learned it all from Hewlett-Packard and IBM, but he aims to best them. Today, China; tomorrow, the world.

15 JEFFREY IMMELT Can GENERAL ELECTRIC, the world's most profitable industrial company, continue its stunning record of innovation and profit? That's up to Immelt, 45, handpicked successor to the most influential CEO ever, Jack Welch. Immelt made his name boosting the fortunes of GE's Medical Systems business, and barely three months into his new job, he is already casting a large shadow. Despite the sour global economy, a debilitating advertising slump at NBC and a serious downturn in his jet-engine business, Immelt paid $2 billion in October for Spanish-language TV network Telemundo.

16 WILLIAM HASELTINE, 57, combines a passion for scientific exploration and a talent for directing researchers toward practical and profitable products. By investigating the genes most relevant to pharmaceutical research, HUMAN GENOME SCIENCES is transforming itself into the world's first genomics-based pharmaceutical behemoth. It already has six drugs in clinical trials, for diseases including lupus, colitis and several chemotherapy- induced ailments. Haseltine's approach to decoding the genome promises to bring biotech's benefits more quickly to patients and shareholders alike.

17 MORRIS CHANG Born in mainland China and edu-cated in the U.S., Chang, 70, is credited with creating Taiwan's semiconductor industry. The firm he founded in 1987, TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING, has become a global leader, building microchips for everything from PCs to cell phones while leaving the design to others. This approach has freed small chip designers from having to build their own factories, resulting in more competition and innovation. Despite the global tech slump, Chang just announced a $20 billion expansion.

18 PRINCE AL-WALEED BIN TALAL BIN AB AL-SAUD parlayed a 1979 inheritance of $15,000--and a house that he mortgaged for $400,000--into a $20 billion empire. A Saudi royal and the world's sixth wealthiest individual, al-Waleed, 46, is a global investor whose moves are followed closely by CEOs and money managers. His interests range from his own construction, hotel and oil firms to the stocks of troubled brand-name firms, including Compaq, Disney and Kodak. The prince, who follows the markets by satellite from his yacht, scored his first big win in 1991: $790 million of depressed Citicorp stock that has grown to an $8 billion stake in what is now Citigroup. And he's looking for similar opportunities in today's market.

19 OPRAH WINFREY Like Cher and Tiger, she is one of a handful of people whose first name alone guarantees recognition. Winfrey, 47, has ruled as the queen of daytime talk television since the mid-1980s. Her show now airs in 112 countries. Her seal of approval for a book guarantees skyrocketing sales. And last year she pulled off the most successful magazine launch in history. Winfrey's company, HARPO ENTERTAINMENT, includes Internet ventures, rounding out her TV, film and publishing deals. Reigning as the nation's top tastemaker, she is worth an estimated $800 million, with a fan base whose loyalty and buying power are unrivaled.

20 HENRY MCKINNELL, 58, has run marathons and triathlons. Now he runs PFIZER, the world's largest prescription drug maker, and serves as chairman of Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, a powerful trade group.The new threat of bioterrorism, the developing world's demands for less expensive medicines and the CEO's usual fight to stay ahead of the competition make up the legs of McKinnell's professional triathlon. With eight drugs that each earn more than $1 billion a year, McKinnell's Pfizer will be ahead of the pack for quite a while.

21 N. R. MURTHY A former socialist who in the 1970s gave away all his money, Murthy, 55, is now among India's richest men, and Infosys, the company he co-founded in 1981, was the first Indian firm to be listed on the NASDAQ. Based in Bangalore, INFOSYS creates e-commerce software used by big companies around the globe. Murthy has not sold his soul for material success. One of his country's most admired men, he is vigilant about his employees' well-being--granting stock options, building exercise facilities and spreading values as much as wealth.

22 JORMA OLLILA Not since the sauna have the Finns produced anything as popular as the NOKIA mobile phone. That's mostly thanks to the charming, bookish CEO, who holds master's degrees in economics, engineering and politics. Ollila, 51, has transformed the 136-year-old firm from a faceless conglomerate to a tech wunderkind. He is now leading an industry-wide movement to create an open standard for Internet services delivered by wireless phones.

23 CARLOS SLIM built a business empire and the largest fortune in Latin America by turning around railroads, restaurant chains and retail outlets, mostly in his native Mexico. He also controls TELEFONOS DE MEXICO, the country's leading telecom, which last year spun off a wireless subsidiary. Slim, 61, rescued the sinking Internet service provider Prodigy in 1997, adding a Spanish interface and helping boost membership past 3 million from fewer than 200,000. Not bad for a guy who says he is afraid of his PC.

24 ANDREA JUNG When AVON needed a makeover two years ago, Jung practically reinvented the company. She united its disconnected international operations into what she called a global "company for women." For the first time in its 115-year history, she placed in stores products that were competitive with other big brands. She enlisted as an Avon lady, listening to customers and developing incentive and recruiting programs that revitalized the sales force. And as China opens wider to trade, Jung, 42, has a big advantage: though born in Toronto, she learned Mandarin from her parents.

25 STANLEY O'NEAL He grew up poor in rural Alabama. Now he is president of MERRILL LYNCH and within three years is expected to become the first African-American CEO of a major Wall Street firm. O'Neal, 50, is already leading a culture change at Merrill by putting profits ahead of old relationships. He has scaled back in Japan (a move others have copied) and is shifting brokers' focus from Main Street to clients with at least $1 million to invest.