(Sept 9): Hedge-fund manager Paul Singer took a stand back in 2001, refusing to accept his losses on debt the Argentine government wanted to swap at a discount. Jump ahead to 2014. Singer, still fighting for full recovery on his bonds, has, with help from U.S. courts, pushed Argentina into a second default.
These actions have landed Singer on the fourth annual Bloomberg Markets 50 Most Influential list, which will appear in the magazine’s October special issue.
The people we’ve selected reach across borders and transcend obstacles. General Electric Co. Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Immelt has almost completed a $17 billion acquisition of Alstom SA’s power-generation business, having dealt personally with the French government to convince it that his bid was superior to a rival German-Japanese offer.
Ana Patricia Botin has turned around the U.K. operations of Banco Santander SA, adding customers and boosting profits, a level of success that could position her to run the parent company, as her father, grandfather and great-grandfather did before her.
To arrive at our 50, we start with a larger group of candidates assembled with the help of Bloomberg News journalists in bureaus across the globe. Rankings and profiles published in Bloomberg Markets throughout the year help guide the selection process, with the magazine’s editors narrowing the final list to 10 people in each of five categories: Money Managers, Thinkers, Corporate Power Brokers, Bankers and Policy Makers. We select individuals based on what they’re doing now, rather than past achievements, and almost three-fifths of this year’s list is made up of people who are appearing for the first time.
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THE 50 MOST INFLUENTIAL
MONEY MANAGERS
Leon Cooperman, 71
Founder
Omega Advisors Inc.
Was in top 20 of the Bloomberg Markets annual ranking of large
hedge funds. Grabs the attention of other investors whenever he
buys or sells.
Mary Callahan Erdoes, 47
CEO
JPMorgan Asset Management
Oversees about $1.7 trillion as of June, meaning hers is the
largest bank-owned money management business. Increased
quarterly operating profit 10 percent.
Larry Fink, 61
Co-Founder
BlackRock Inc.
Runs the world’s biggest money management firm. Is trying to
keep it from being labeled systemically important and subjected
to extra regulatory scrutiny.
Carl Icahn, 78
Chairman
Icahn Enterprises LP
Pushed Apple to do more buybacks and Family Dollar Stores Inc.
to sell itself, among other efforts. Sees an asset bubble caused
by Fed policy.
Helena Morrissey, 48
CEO
Newton Investment Management
Is bringing the 30% Club, which she founded to advocate for more
women on corporate boards, to the U.S. Chairs the Investment
Management Association in the U.K.
Stephen Schwarzman, 67
Co-founder
Blackstone Group LP
Oversees the largest private-equity firm, where assets under
management have reached $279 billion and activities include much
more than just buyouts these days.
Paul Singer, 70
CEO
Elliott Management Corp.
Pushed Argentina into default -- possibly changing how future
sovereign debt restructurings will be handled. Has delivered
about 14 percent annually for investors in his oldest fund.
Yngve Slyngstad, 51
CEO
Norges Bank Investment Management
Oversees $890 billion of Norwegian oil money. May adjust the
fund’s Russian holdings, which totaled $8 billion last year, if
the government directs him to do so.
Byron Trott, 55
Founder
BDT Capital Partners LLC
Helps wealthy families sell businesses -- or buy them through
the funds he manages. Brings deals to clients including Warren
Buffett, whom he worked with at Goldman Sachs.
Jeffrey Ubben, 53
CEO
ValueAct Capital Management LP
Avoids the public brawls other activists embrace. Has instigated
changes at companies ranging from Microsoft Corp. to Sara Lee
Corp.
THINKERS
Timothy Garton Ash, 59
Professor
University of Oxford
Brings historical perspective to the “Putin Doctrine.” Warns
of the danger inherent in Putin’s assertion that Russians
outside of Russia deserve his protection.
Jack Bogle, 85
Founder
Vanguard Group Inc.
Is the voice of reason on old topics, such as the foolishness of
high fees, and new, as when he defends high-frequency trading as
mostly positive.
Lael Brainard, 52
Governor
U.S. Federal Reserve
Praises the increased capital buffers of U.S. banks and the
Volcker Rule, opinions backed up by a Washington career that
dates back to the Asian financial crisis.
Satyajit Das, 57
Author
“Traders, Guns and Money”
Is gloomy about how global monetary stimulus gets withdrawn
without a crash and how China balances its economy. Keeps his
sense of humor anyway.
Charmian Gooch, 49
Co-Founder
Global Witness
Is fighting graft in the developing world and pushing for new
rules on shell companies, used to hide ownership.
Paul Graham, 49
Partner
Y Combinator
Has provided seed funding through his tech accelerator for some
700 startups now worth more than $30 billion total, including
Reddit Inc., Airbnb Inc. and Dropbox Inc.
Charles Grant, 55
Executive Director
Centre for European Reform
Defends the European Union against those who have forgotten why
it was created and promotes changes. Says David Cameron isn’t
helping matters.
Kathy Matsui, 49
Chief Japan Equity Strategist
Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
Coined the term womenomics in 1999 to describe the economic
advantages of more women in the workforce. Has now seen those
ideas embraced as a feature of Japan’s Abenomics.
Jacqueline Novogratz, 53
CEO
Acumen
Through her nonprofit, supplies what she calls patient capital
along with management expertise for small companies that provide
housing, energy, health care and more in poor nations.
Thomas Piketty, 43
Professor
Paris School of Economics
Became a cause célèbre after his “Capital in the Twenty-First
Century” was published in English in March, rallying left-
leaning economists with new data and ideas on income inequality.
CORPORATE POWER BROKERS
Rinat Akhmetov, 47
Founder
System Capital Management
Is trying to keep his workers from joining pro-Russian forces
and maintain his grip on the industrial empire that made him
Ukraine’s richest man.
Mary Barra, 52
CEO
General Motors Co.
With her reputation at stake, has testified to Congress four
times, walking a fine line between defense of the company and
promises that it will change.
Warren Buffett, 84
CEO
Berkshire Hathaway Inc.
Says Berkshire shares, above $200,000 for the first time, are
too rich for him. Has $55 billion in cash on hand for
acquisitions if he wants.
Tim Cook, 53
CEO
Apple Inc.
Has convinced investors that new products and better phones are
in the pipeline. Apple shares are near their all-time high.
Guo Guangchang, 47
Founder
Fosun Group
Seeks to emulate Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway while focusing on
the needs of the Chinese consumer.
Jeffrey Immelt, 58
CEO
General Electric Co.
Has kept the $16 billion purchase of Alstom SA’s power
generation assets on course, even gaining French government
approval. Continues to shrink financial services.
Jack Ma, 49
Founder
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.
Is marketing the largest-ever U.S. initial public offering,
positioning Alibaba as a global player -- not just China’s
biggest e-commerce company.
Elon Musk, 43
Founder
Tesla Motors Inc.
Is a darling of investors, with Tesla’s market capitalization
rapidly rising toward that of General Motors, which has more
than 50 times the sales.
Xavier Niel, 47
Founder
Iliad SA
Is the exception to the rule that France does not produce risk-
taking entrepreneurs. Is bidding for T-Mobile US Inc., which so
far has rejected the overture.
Igor Sechin, 54
CEO
OAO Rosneft
Runs the world’s biggest publicly traded oil company as measured
by output and reserves. Is close enough to Putin to merit U.S.
sanctions.
BANKERS
Arundhati Bhattacharya, 58
Chairman
State Bank of India
Runs India’s biggest bank. Is pushing politicians to abandon
their practice of forgiving loans, saying it corrupts the credit
culture.
Lloyd Blankfein, 59
CEO
Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
Has joked about keeping his job until he dies at his desk. Is
committed to Goldman’s trading business, hoping to benefit as
rivals pull back.
Ana Patricia Botin, 53
CEO
Santander U.K. Plc
Runs the unit setting the pace for earnings growth for parent
Banco Santander SA of Spain. Would be the fourth Botin
generation to run Santander if she rises to the top job.
James Gorman, 56
CEO
Morgan Stanley
Has brought investors around to his strategy, which relies on
retail brokerage for consistent profits. Shares are up 30
percent in 12 months.
Jiang Jianqing, 61
Chairman
Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd.
In charge for 13 years, has transformed a firm that was nearly
insolvent into the world’s most profitable bank. Is expanding
outside of China.
Rose Lee, 61
CEO
Hang Seng Bank Ltd.
Runs world’s strongest bank, according to the annual Bloomberg
Markets ranking, benefiting from the Hong Kong Monetary
Authority’s near-zero benchmark rate.
Kenneth Moelis, 56
CEO
Moelis & Co.
Completed the initial share sale of his firm, the first
investment bank to go public since 2007. Has ridden an M&A surge
to a valuation of $1.9 billion.
John Stumpf, 60
CEO
Wells Fargo & Co.
Oversees the most valuable bank by market capitalization in the
world. Has been seven years in the top job, during which time
Wells Fargo has outperformed its rivals.
Paul Taubman, 53
Principal
PJT Capital LLC
Even without the heft of Morgan Stanley, which he left in 2013,
will get big advisory fees on the pending Comcast Corp.
acquisition of Time Warner Cable Inc.
Axel Weber, 57
Chairman
UBS AG
Understands the regulatory trends and is shaping the Swiss
giant’s business strategy accordingly. Remains an important
monetary hawk as a former German central banker.
POLICY MAKERS
Preet Bharara, 45
U.S. Attorney
Justice Department
Ran his insider-trading investigation all the way up to Steven
Cohen’s firm, if not Cohen himself. Is tangling with New York
Governor Andrew Cuomo over an anti-corruption commission.
Mario Draghi, 67
President
European Central Bank
Unveiled a package of measures to fight slow growth and avoid
deflation. Updated his whatever-it-takes pledge with a simple
promise: that he’s not finished.
Jason Furman, 44
Chairman
White House Council of Economic Advisers
Has worked for Obama since before he was president and is now
his top economic adviser. Says the economy would do better if
Congress would boost infrastructure spending.
Idris Jala, 56
CEO of Pemandu
Malaysian Prime Minister’s Office
Is making it easier to invest and do business in Malaysia as he
shapes economic policy meant to help the country catch up to its
more-developed neighbors.
Benjamin Lawsky, 44
Superintendent
New York Department of Financial Services
Has shown how a state regulator can trump bigger agencies, as
when he pushed a tougher settlement on France’s BNP Paribas SA.
George Osborne, 43
Chancellor of the Exchequer
United Kingdom
Is claiming bragging rights as the U.K. grows faster than the
euro zone and the U.S. following the period of austerity his
government imposed.
Raghuram Rajan, 51
Governor
Reserve Bank of India
Has stabilized the rupee and put up a more-credible fight
against inflation. Wants to change government aid to the poor to
cut out corrupt middlemen and politicians.
Xiao Gang, 56
Chairman
China Securities Regulatory Commission
Has pushed banks and companies to set new share offerings at
attractive prices to shield retail investors from losses, and
China’s IPOs have outperformed as a result.
Janet Yellen, 68
Chair
U.S. Federal Reserve
Got a 67 percent favorable rating in the most-recent Bloomberg
Markets Global Investor Poll. Insists the Fed must keep focused
on boosting employment.
Zhou Xiaochuan, 66
Governor
People’s Bank of China
Is the longest-serving central bank chief since the
establishment of the People’s Republic, in the job since 2002.
Is cracking down on shadow banking.
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