TIME 100: What’s the Most Influential Business in America?

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Larry Page of Google is on the TIME 100 list (Rick Wilking/Reuters)
Our annual TIME 100 list of the most influential people in the world is out this week. Sadly, TIME is not just a business magazine. So the list encompasses all manner of influence that has been attained in various fields. There are actors and scientists and politicians and freedom fighters and athletes. Thrown in the mix are also some business people and an economist. Here they are in no particular order:

What does the list say about the state of business in America?

It’s intellectually dangerous to comment on a list that you were in part a part of picking. But since I was an extremely small part of selecting the list, I think I am on fair ground to make an observation about what it says about the state of business in America, and what is now driving our mind economy if not the actual thing yet. A large part of that shift in influence has to be the financial crisis. This year’s list of business people has four from the tech field. And just one Wall Street/money type. Back in 2007 , we had four Wall Street-type people – including a banker (Ken Lewis), a hedge funder (Steve Cohen), a venture capitalist (Michael Moritz) and a financier (Stephen Schwarzman) – and one tech-type (Steve Jobs). Indra Nooyi from Pepsi was also on the list.

So it is interesting to see where influence has shifted. To tech, and not old tech either. Google, Facebook, Netflix. It says something that we think Arianna Huffington is more influential than Rupert Murdoch. And right now that makes sense to me.

To see the whole TIME 100 list, click here.