Forbes has released a list of the 68 most powerful people in the world, with Bill Gates being the only tech head making the top 10.
The former Microsoft head made the list for his acts of philanthropy, convincing 40 of the world’s wealthiest people to sign his “Giving Pledge,” having them promise to donate the majority of their wealth to charity during their lifetimes.
Bill Gates, while no longer the world’s richest man thanks to his charitable donations, is still the richest man in America.
The next tech head on the list was Steve Jobs of Apple, for his landmark creations, such as the iPad, iPhone and iTunes. He rose from being the 57th most powerful person last year.
Larry Page and Sergey Brin, founders of Google, were joint 22nd, down from No 5 last year.
Mark Zuckerberg came in at No 40 and Robin Li, CEO of Baidu, China’s most popular search engine once Google left, came in at 46.
In the media, Rupert Murdoch, head of News Corp came 13th and Bill Keller, executive editor of the New York Times, reached No 50.
Julian Assange, editor-in-chief of Wikileaks came in at No 68, thanks to his leaks of highly confidential and controversial government documents.
Hu Jintao, president of the People’s Republic of China, hit the top spot, followed by US President Barack Obama, who was No 1 last year. This drop was attributed to the recent US midterm elections, where the Democrats lost a lot of support in the House of Representatives.
