The Most Powerful Business Leaders in 2024 💪

What We’re Showing

This graphic shows the most powerful business people worldwide, based on rankings from Fortune.

Methodology

For the rankings, Fortune scored business leaders based on the following metrics:

Business size: Based on the market value, profitability, and revenue of the business run by each candidate.
Impact: Degree to which the person is having a positive impact on the world.
Innovation: Creating products and services that competitors are replicating.
Business health: Based on operating efficiency, liquidity, and business solvency.
Trajectory: The candidate’s stage in their career trajectory.

Elon Musk is the Most Powerful Person in Business

From Tesla and SpaceX to Neuralink and X, Elon Musk has his hands in many industries, with the newest being the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency.

The consequences of this political influence could lead to easing regulation for his companies. It could also have a significant impact on major government agencies. Musk has stated that he wants to cut $2 trillion from the federal budget annually at a time of record public debt.

Nvidia CEO, Jensen Huang, ranks in second, at the helm of one of the world’s most valuable companies. Huang sees a future where AI-enabled assistants, known as agents, will operate in every industry alongside the human workforce.