Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg tops the Guardian’s list of the 100 most powerful people in UK Media, replacing Steve Jobs, as the Apple CEO drops to number five.
Published each year the MediaGuardian 100 2011 is a guide to the most influential people in digital media, TV, radio, public relations, broadcasting and newspapers.
Social networking continues to grow in importance as Twitter executive chairman Jack Dorsey is a new entry at number two, while Google chief-exec Larry Page is number three, meaning that four of the top five places belong to the digital media industry, with director general of the BBC Mark Thompson coming in at number four.
Zuckerberg has made a leap of seven spaces, which marks a remarkable rise considering he first appeared in the list (at number 100) just four years ago. At just 27 he’s created a social network with 750 million members and amassed a personal fortune of around $13.5 billion.
With the exception of surprise appearances at the iPad 2 and iCloud launches, Steve Jobs has kept a low profile this year due to illness, so it’s no surprise he has dropped a few spaces, but his position is still very high as his influence is clearly felt. Jobs is still the chief-executive and chairman of a company that has just posted results showing an 82% increase in revenue and profits up 25%.
Elsewhere Amazon founder and chief exec Jeff Bezoz is a new entry at number 12, Spotify founder Daniel Ek is at number 40 and Android-founder Andy Rubin at 44.
Other new entries include Arianna Huffington at 80 and ‘The only way is my big fat Gypsy Wedding’ at 100, a spot reserved for ‘phenomena who don’t quite fit in anywhere else on the list.’ Twitter-advocate Steven Fry drops off the list.
Judges include Google’s director of external relations Peter Barron and the Guardian’s head of media and technology Dan Sabbnagh.
Source: Guardian
Leave a Reply