Facebook founder Zuckerberg is world's most powerful media figure
by Steven Mostyn - Jul 27 2011, 11:08
You wouldn't know it to look at him. Image: Robert Scoble/Flickr.
Here’s a nugget of news you won’t find in the least bit surprising: Billionaire Facebook founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has been labelled the most powerful person in the media industry.
This is according to the latest MediaGuardian100 list, which is released every year by UK broadsheet The Guardian in order to spotlight the media’s influential figures.
Zuckerberg, who placed at number seven in 2010’s list, has risen to top slot due to Facebook’s continued positioning as the world’s leading social network, projected 2011 revenue of $4 billion USD (double that of 2010), and a public offering that’s expected to arrive early next year with an accompanying valuation of more than $100 billion USD.
“Zuckerberg has been transformed from an awkward and unpromising geek into the world’s richest and most famous twentysomething, listened to by world leaders,” outlines The Guardian’s description of the Facebook creator.
Other notable industry figures in the MediaGuardian100 list include the likes of Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey (2), Google CEO Larry Page (3), Apple CEO Steve Jobs (5), Rupert Murdoch (6), Simon Cowell (9), and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos (12).
In explaining that the web “is a fickle friend” where positioning is concerned, The Guardian report posits that Google boss Larry Page could likely be boosted higher on next year’s list due to the imminent arrival (and predicted success) of the Google+ social network.
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