Murdoch in Top Ten on Forbes’ Powerful People List

NEW YORK: News Corporation’s chairman and CEO, Rupert Murdoch, is ranked seventh on Forbes’ list of the world’s most powerful people, behind Google’s Sergey Brin and Larry Page in fifth place and Mexican telecommunications tycoon Carlos Slim in sixth. Other media executives in the list include the BBC’s Mark Thompson and Al Jazeera’s Wadah Khanfar.

Forbes ranked U.S President Barack Obama as the most powerful person in the world, followed by China’s President Hu Jintao and Russian PM Vladimir Putin. Federal Reserve chairman Ben S. Bernanke was fourth. 

Bill Gates was ranked tenth on the list, with Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi 12th, just ahead of GE chief Jeffrey Immelt. New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg was listed in the 20th position, and Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing was ranked 23rd. Oprah Winfrey is at 45 on the list, and Al Jazeera’s director general Wadah Khanfar at 54. Forbes placed the BBC chief Mark Thompson in the 65th position on the list.