5th April 2020
09:30 A.M.
Kathmandu, Nepal
#1 Xi Jinping
General Secretary, Communist Party, China
The leader of the world’s most populated country and second-largest economy (GDP), Xi Jinping holds a firm grasp on China’s only political party.
In March, China’s parliament amended its constitution, broadening Xi’s power and scrapping term limits.
After ascending to the presidency in 2012, Xi was quick to see the benefits of privatization-friendly reform.
He is widely credited with the slogan Chinese Dream – a set of personal and national ideals for the advancement of Chinese society.
He has a surprisingly assertive public profile, even allowing the state media to publish a day-in-the-life account of his workday.
ON FORBES LISTS
#1
Powerful People 2018
STATS
AGE 66
RESIDENCE Beijing, China
CITIZENSHIP China
MARITAL STATUS Married
CHILDREN 1
EDUCATION Bachelor of Arts/Science, Tsinghua University; Doctor of Jurisprudence, Tsinghua University
DID YOU KNOW:
In 2016 Xi Jinping was elevated to a Communist Party “core” leader in 2016, an honor previously bestowed upon Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping.
Son of Xi Zhongxun, a deputy prime minister, Jinping is considered a “princeling” – descendant of prominent Communist Party officials.
#2 Vladimir Putin
President, Russia
Voted the world’s most powerful person four times between 2013 and 2016, Russia’s president has exerted his country’s influence around the world.
An FBI investigation is underway to determine whether Trump’s campaign had a relationship with high ranking Russian officials during the elections.
Trump and Putin have denied the allegations, though Facebook admitted that 126 million Americans saw political ads purchased by Russian organizations.
Born in 1952 in Saint Petersburg, Putin served as Prime Minister for one year during Yeltsin’s presidency and ascended to the highest office in 2000.
Putin’s international influence stems largely from Europe’s dependence on Russian oil and gas, state-owned Gazprom is one of the EU’s largest suppliers.
ON FORBES LISTS
#2
Powerful People 2018
STATS
AGE 67
RESIDENCE Moscow, Russia
CITIZENSHIP Russia
MARITAL STATUS Divorced
CHILDREN 2
EDUCATION Doctor of Jurisprudence, Saint Petersburg State University
DID YOU KNOW
Prior to getting into politics, from 1985 to 1990, Putin was a KGB agent in Dresden, East Germany, where he assumed the identity of a translator.
Often embodying the image of alpha masculinity by hunting, fishing, riding horses shirtless and flying helicopters, Putin also boasts a black belt in karate.
#3 Donald Trump
President, United States
REAL-TIME NET WORTH
$2.1 B
as of 4/4/20
Donald Trump became the first billionaire president of the United States in January 2017.
The core of his fortune is tied up in a half-dozen buildings in and around midtown Manhattan in New York City.
Trump also owns golf courses and a winery and has licensed his name to companies around the world.
He got his start working for his father, Fred, who developed low-cost housing in Brooklyn and Queens.
Trump tapped his two eldest sons, Don Jr. and Eric, to run the family business while he is in office.
ON FORBES LISTS
#275
Forbes 400 2019
#715
Billionaires 2019
#3
Powerful People 2018
#30
Celebrity 100 2013
Dropped off in 2014
STATS
AGE 73
SOURCE OF WEALTH real estate
SELF-MADE SCORE 4
PHILANTHROPY SCORE 1
RESIDENCE Washington, District of Columbia
CITIZENSHIP United States
MARITAL STATUS Married
CHILDREN 5
EDUCATION Bachelor of Arts/Science, University of Pennsylvania; Fordham University
DID YOU KNOW
Trump played basketball, football, soccer, and baseball while he attended the New York Military Academy in Cornwall-on-Hudson, New York.
Donald Trump appeared alongside his father Fred on the first-ever Forbes 400 list in 1982, with a combined net worth estimated at $200 million.
#4 Angela Merkel
Chancellor, Germany
Merkel became the first female Chancellor of Germany in 2005 and is serving her fourth term.
In November 2018, Merkel stepped down as leader of the Christian Democratic Union and announced she wouldn’t seek another term as chancellor in 2021.
Merkel remains the de facto leader of Europe, leading the region’s largest economy after steering Germany through financial crisis and back to growth.
Her leadership is marked by her steely reserve, from standing up to Donald Trump to allowing more than a million Syrian refugees into Germany.
For now, she leads a coalition government unpopular with voters, facing continuing storms from Brexit and growing anti-immigrant sentiment in Europe.
The big question that the public is now asking is who and what will come after Merkel’s time in office comes to an end.
ON FORBES LISTS
#1
Power Women 2019
#4
Powerful People 2018
STATS
AGE 65
RESIDENCE Berlin, Germany
CITIZENSHIP Germany
MARITAL STATUS Married
EDUCATION Master of Science, Leipzig University; Doctorate, Leipzig University
DID YOU KNOW
Merkel has a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry which she got from the Academy of Sciences in Berlin-Adlershof for her thesis on quantum chemistry.
Among her supporters, Merkel is often referred to as Mutti, which means “Mommy.”
#5 Jeff Bezos
CEO and Founder, Amazon.com
REAL-TIME NET WORTH
$117.2 B
as of 4/4/20
Jeff Bezos founded e-commerce colossus Amazon in 1994 out of his garage in Seattle. He remains CEO and owns a nearly 12% stake.
He divorced his wife MacKenzie in July 2019 after 25 years of marriage and transferred one-quarter of his Amazon stake to her.
MacKenzie Bezos’s 4% slice of Amazon makes her one of the world’s richest women.
In 2018, Amazon had $230 billion in revenues and a record $10 billion in net profit, up from $3 billion the prior year.
In February, Amazon announced it was canceling plans for a second headquarters in Long Island City, New York after local lawmakers opposed the plan.
Bezos owns The Washington Post and Blue Origin, an aerospace company that is developing a rocket for commercial use.
ON FORBES LISTS
#1
Forbes 400 2019
#1
Innovative Leaders 2019
The Richest Person In Every State 2019
#1
Billionaires 2019
#5
Powerful People 2018
#2
Richest In Tech 2017
Global Game Changers 2016
STATS
AGE 56
SOURCE OF WEALTH Amazon, Self Made
SELF-MADE SCORE 8
RESIDENCE Seattle, Washington
CITIZENSHIP United States
MARITAL STATUS Divorced
CHILDREN 4
EDUCATION Bachelor of Arts/Science, Princeton University
DID YOU KNOW
Growing up, Jeff Bezos worked summers on his grandfather’s ranch repairing Caterpillar tractors.
Bezos met Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin in 1998 and managed to become one of the company’s first angel investors, putting in $250,000.
#6 Pope Francis
Bishop of Rome, Roman Catholic Church
Pope Francis is the spiritual leader to more than one-sixth of the world’s population, 1.3 billion people.
He has made it his personal mission to transform the longstanding conservative image of the Catholic Church.
In November 2016 he gave priests the power to forgive women who undergo abortions.
He has continued to push for climate change reform, better treatment of refugees and greater attention to the persecution of religious minorities.
Still, Francis has kept some traditional aspects of the Church in place, including a ban on female clergy members.
ON FORBES LISTS
#6
Powerful People 2018
STATS
AGE 83
RESIDENCE Vatican City, Vatican City State
CITIZENSHIP Vatican City State
DID YOU KNOW
Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina as Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Pope Francis is the first Pope to come from South America.
Pope Francis took his name from Saint Francis of Assisi, an Italian priest born in the 12th century often remembered as the patron saint of animals.
#7 Bill Gates
Co-founder, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
REAL-TIME NET WORTH
$99.5 B
as of 4/5/20
Impact Investor
With his wife Melinda, Bill Gates chairs the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the world’s largest private charitable foundation.
The foundation works to improve global health and to create equal opportunities for people around the globe.
Gates has sold or given away much of his stake in Microsoft — he owns just over 1% of shares — and invested in a mix of stocks and other assets.
He remains a board member of Microsoft, the software firm he founded with Paul Allen (d. 2018) in 1975.
In early 2019, Gates responded to the public backlash against billionaires by reiterating his support for a higher estate tax.
To date, Gates has donated $35.8 billion worth of Microsoft stock to the Gates Foundation.
ON FORBES LISTS
#2
Forbes 400 2019
#2
Billionaires 2019
#7
Powerful People 2018
#1
Richest In Tech 2017
The Richest Person In Every State 2017Dropped off in 2018
The Richest Person In America’s 50 Largest Cities 2016
STATS
AGE 64
SOURCE OF WEALTH Microsoft, Self Made
SELF-MADE SCORE 8
PHILANTHROPY SCORE 5
LIFETIME GIVING $35.8B
GIVING AS A PERCENTAGE OF NET WORTH 25%
RESIDENCE Medina, Washington
CITIZENSHIP United States
MARITAL STATUS Married
CHILDREN 3
EDUCATION Drop Out, Harvard University
DID YOU KNOW
When Gates was a kid, he spent so much time reading that his parents finally forbade him from bringing books to the dinner table.
Gates took a break from classes his senior year in high school to do programming with his friend Paul Allen at a power plant in North Bonneville, Washington.
#8 Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud
Crown Prince, Saudi Arabia
His father remains the king of Saudi Arabia, but the crown prince has consolidated power beyond any doubt and taken control of the country.
In November 2017, Al Saud led an ‘anti-corruption campaign’ that caused many prominent Saudis to be arrested and forced to turn over their fortunes.
As a result of the campaign, ten Saudi billionaires were dropped from Forbes’ annual list of the world’s billionaires.
The crown prince will be the fulcrum around which the Middle Eastern geopolitics moves for the next generation.
ON FORBES LISTS
#8
Powerful People 2018
Global Game Changers 2017
STATS
AGE 34
CITIZENSHIP Saudi Arabia
#9 Narendra Modi
Prime Minister, India
India’s populist prime minister remains hugely popular in the second-most populous country on earth, with a population of 1.3 billion people.
In November 2016 he unexpectedly announced plans to eliminate India’s two largest banknotes in a bid to reduce money laundering and corruption.
Modi has raised his profile as a global leader in recent years during official visits with Donald Trump and Xi Jinping.
He has also emerged as a key figure in the international effort to tackle climate change, as warming affects millions of his country’s rural citizens.
ON FORBES LISTS
#9
Powerful People 2018
STATS
AGE 69
RESIDENCE New Delhi, India
CITIZENSHIP India
MARITAL STATUS Separated
EDUCATION Master of Arts, Gujarat University; Bachelor of Arts/Science, Delhi University
DID YOU KNOW
Modi is a vegetarian.
With 43m followers, he is the second most followed world leader on Twitter, behind Donald Trump (52m).
#10 Larry Page
Co-founder and board member, Alphabet
REAL-TIME NET WORTH
$51 B
as of 4/5/20
Larry Page stepped down as CEO of Alphabet, the parent of Google, in December 2019 but continues as a board member and a controlling shareholder.
He cofounded Google in 1998 with fellow Stanford Ph.D. student Sergey Brin.
With Brin, Page invented Google’s PageRank algorithm, which powers the search engine.
Page was CEO until 2001, when Eric Schmidt took over, and then from 2011 until 2015 when he became CEO Google’s new parent company Alphabet.
He is a founding investor in space exploration company Planetary Resources and is also funding “flying car” startups Kitty Hawk and Opener.
ON FORBES LISTS
#6
Forbes 400 2019
#10
Billionaires 2019
#10
Powerful People 2018
#5
Richest In Tech 2017
Global Game Changers 2016
STATS
AGE 47
SOURCE OF WEALTH Google, Self Made
SELF-MADE SCORE 8
PHILANTHROPY SCORE 4
RESIDENCE Palo Alto, California
CITIZENSHIP United States
MARITAL STATUS Married
CHILDREN 1
EDUCATION Bachelor of Arts/Science, University of Michigan; Master of Science, Stanford University
DID YOU KNOW
Page has avoided public appearances since Sundar Pichai became Google’s CEO, including Alphabet’s 2019 shareholders meeting – much to investors’ chagrin.
Page is a clean energy advocate; his Palo Alto home uses fuel cells and geothermal energy.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/powerful-people/list/#tab:overall