The 50 Most Influential ranking has been published by Bloomberg Markets since 2011 and features 50 individuals with "the ability to move markets or shape ideas and policies." According to Bloomberg Markets, the list is composed on the basis of recommendations and assessments by Bloomberg News journalists in 150 bureaus around the globe.
The ranking has repeatedly been used as a reference or even as a news topic by news media other than Bloomberg, particularly in 2015 when political leaders were included.
The 2016 ranking abandoned the prior rankings' five or six categories, and was a straightforward ranking from most to least influential among the 50:
Theresa May (1), Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump (2), Xi Jinping (4), Jeff Bezos (5), Angela Merkel (6), Mario Draghi (7), Janet Yellen (8), Warren Buffett (9), Sérgio Moro (10), Elon Musk (11), Bill McNabb (12), Jamie Dimon (13), Zhou Xiaochuan (14), Lloyd Blankfein (15), Larry Fink (16), Jack Ma (17), Jay Y. Lee (18), Loretta Lynch (19), Carl Icahn (20), Sergio Ermotti (21), Jeffrey Gundlach (22), John Stumpf (23), Mary Erdoes (24), Masayoshi Son (25), Charlie Scharf (26), Paul Taubman (27), Mark Carney (28), Joseph Stiglitz (29), Vladimir Putin (30), Stephen Schwarzman (31), Paul Singer (32), Michael Pettis (33), Lael Brainard (34), Marc Benioff (35), Robert Gordon (36), Margrethe Vestager (37), Ruth Porat (38), Mark Zuckerberg (39), Travis Kalanick (40), Jorge Paulo Lemann (41), Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (42), Wang Jianlin (43), Raj Chetty (44), Ken Moelis (45), Blythe Masters (46), Mary Barra (47), Jim Coulter (48), Larry Summers (49), John Oliver (50)
The 2015 ranking was published in the November 2015 issue of Bloomberg Markets. Unlike previous rankings, it included heads of state and government, and ranked all individuals mentioned from 1 (Janet Yellen) to 50 (Ruchir Sharma). It also added a sixth category compared with previous rankings, focused on technological innovation and venture capital.
Corporate Power Builders: Tim Cook (3), Warren Buffett (5), Jeff Bezos (15), Jorge Paulo Lemann (17), Akio Toyoda (29), Ellen Kullman (32), Wang Jianlin (37), Jimmy Lai (40), Aliko Dangote (41), Richard Davis (22)
Bankers: Lloyd Blankfein (8), Jamie Dimon (11), Ana Botín (16), Elizabeth Warren (19), Tidjane Thiam (23), John Stumpf (36), Jiang Jianqing (39)
Policy Shapers: Janet Yellen (1), Xi Jinping (2), Barack Obama (6), Angela Merkel (9), Narendra Modi (13), Mario Draghi (14), Paul Krugman (30), Wang Qishan (33), John Taylor (43), George Osborne (45)
Tech Builders: Carl Icahn (7), Reid Hoffman (10), Fan Bao (22), Ruth Porat (24), Elon Musk (25), Marc Andreessen (27), Renaud Laplanche (28), Blythe Masters (44), Elizabeth Holmes (47), Jane Gladstone (49)
Money Managers: Larry Fink (4), Abigail Johnson (12), Ray Dalio (18), Jeffrey Gundlach (21), Paul Singer (26), Jonathan Gray (34), Ken Griffin (35), Michael Kim (42)
Thinkers: Thomas Piketty (20), Pope Francis (31), Christine Lagarde (38), Richard Thaler (46), Mo Ibrahim (48), Ruchir Sharma (50)
The 2014 ranking was published in the October 2014 issue of Bloomberg Markets.
Money Managers: Leon Cooperman, Mary Erdoes, Larry Fink, Carl Icahn, Helena Morrissey, Stephen Schwarzman, Paul Singer, Yngve Slyngstad, Byron Trott, Jeffrey Ubben.
Thinkers: Timothy Garton Ash, Jack Bogle, Lael Brainard, Satyajit Das, Charmian Gooch, Paul Graham, Charles Grant, Kathy Matsui, Jacqueline Novogratz, Thomas Piketty.
Corporate Power Brokers: Rinat Akhmetov, Mary Barra, Warren Buffett, Tim Cook, Guo Guangchang, Jeffrey Immelt, Jack Ma, Elon Musk, Xavier Niel, Igor Sechin.
Bankers: Arundhati Bhattacharya, Lloyd Blankfein, Ana Patricia Botin, James Gorman, Jiang Jianqing, Rose Lee, Kenneth Moelis, John Stumpf, Axel Weber.
Policy Makers: Preet Bharara, Mario Draghi, Jason Furman, Idris Jala, Benjamin Lawsky, George Osborne, Raghuram Rajan, Xiao Gang, Janet Yellen, Zhou Xiaochuan.
The 2013 ranking was published in the October 2013 issue of Bloomberg Markets.
Bankers: Paul Achleitner, Lloyd Blankfein, Ana Patricia Botin, Jamie Dimon, Isabelle Ealet, Sergio Ermotti, Jiang Jianqing, Gordon Nixon, Ruth Porat, John Stumpf
Policy Makers: Akira Amari, Preet Bharara, Mark Carney, Mario Draghi, Jacob J. Lew, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Raghuram Rajan, Mary Jo White, Xiao Gang, Janet Yellen.
Money Managers: Hamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Leon Black, Mary Erdoes, Larry Fink, Carl Icahn, Daniel Ivascyn, Daniel Loeb, Helena Morrissey, Stephen Schwarzman, Dominique Senequier.
Power Brokers: Jeff Bezos, Warren Buffett, Ivan Glasenberg, Lee Kun Hee, Jorge Paulo Lemann, Maurice Levy, Marissa Mayer, Dilip Shanghvi, Masayoshi Son, Alisher Usmanov.
Thinkers: Dan Ariely, Esther Duflo, Robert J. Gordon, Salman Khan, Paul Krugman, Michael Mann, Elon Musk, Sheryl Sandberg, Michael Woodford, Andy Xie.
The 2012 ranking was published in the October 2012 issue of Bloomberg Markets.
Corporate Power Brokers: Warren Buffett, Chung Mong Koo, Tim Cook, John Fredriksen, the Koch Brothers, Yuri Milner, Ginni Rometty, Carlos Slim, Tadashi Yanai, Mark Zuckerberg.
Money Managers: Cliff Asness, Hamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Chase Coleman, Leon Cooperman, Ray Dalio, Mary Erdoes, Larry Fink, Bill Gross, Jeffrey Gundlach, Michael Platt.
Policy Makers: Mamata Banerjee, Ben S. Bernanke, Preet Bharara, Mario Draghi, Timothy F. Geithner, Paul Ryan, Aung San Suu Kyi, Adair Turner, Janet Yellen, Zhou Xiaochuan.
Thinkers: Maury Harris, Glenn Hubbard, Daniel Kahneman, Paul Krugman, Carmen Reinhart, Alan Simpson, Hans-Werner Sinn, Joseph Stiglitz, John Taylor, Nicolas Veron.
Bankers: Lloyd Blankfein, Emilio Botin, Jamie Dimon, Isabelle Ealet, Andre Esteves, Anshu Jain, Jiang Jianqing, Gerald McCaughey, Ruth Porat, John Stumpf.
The 2011 ranking was published in the October 2011 issue of Bloomberg Markets.
Policy Makers: Ben S. Bernanke, Agustin Carstens, Mario Draghi, Timothy F. Geithner, Christine Lagarde, Ali Al-Naimi, Masaaki Shirakawa, Wang Qishan, Elizabeth Warren, Zhou Xiaochuan.
Bankers: Lloyd Blankfein, Robert Diamond, Jamie Dimon, James Gorman, Stuart Gulliver, Anshu Jain, Jiang Jianqing, Chanda Kochhar, Kenneth Moelis, Vikram Pandit.
Money Managers: Steven Cohen, Ray Dalio, Laurence Fink, Jeremy Grantham, William Gross, Ho Ching, Lou Jiwei, Mark Mobius, James Simons, George Soros.
Corporate Innovators: Mukesh Ambani, Eike Batista, Warren Buffett, Jeffrey Immelt, Steven Jobs, Mikhail Prokhorov, Wilbur Ross, David Rubenstein, Carlos Slim Helu, Ratan Tata,
Thinkers: Carson Block, Martin Feldstein, Jan Hatzius, Daniel Kahneman, Paul Krugman, Jim O'Neill, Carmen Reinhart, Robert Shiller, Joseph Stiglitz, Nassim Taleb.
