100 MOST POWERFUL PEOPLE

Our inaugural, authoritative ranking of the leaders whose innovation and impact have elevated them to the top of the business world.

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IN 1929, when a young publisher named Henry Luce was looking to expand his magazine empire and launch a gloriously high-end magazine about business, he considered several names for his new venture, among them Power. Though that was ultimately rejected (along with Tycoon), the point is that his creationwhich was so painstakingly crafted that each issue arrived by mail in a protective box-has been chronicling power at the highest levels of business since the very beginning. A quarter-century after Luce launched Fortune, we debuted the Fortune 500, the definitive ranking of the largest U.S. companies, using annual revenue as a proxy for potency. Forty-three years after that followed our Most Powerful Women in business list, which has remained the gold standard for assessing women who wield authority in the C-suite.

Now in 2024, Fortune is launching the 100 Most Powerful People in Business. But how do you measure power, exactly? Revenue alone doesn't define it, nor does seniority. Who is more powerful: the CEO who oversees a $20 billion enterprise? Or the AI genius who leaves that bureaucratic behemoth to found a nimble, paradigm-shifting startup? The farsighted venture capitalist who inks a term sheet to fund said startup? Or the feared short-seller who bets against the aging tech giant and forces out the CEO? The answer varies from day to day. Power is nuanced. It's hard-won and easily lost. It's never static.

That we all know. The question then becomes, how do you distill the vague notions of influence and charisma and sway into something that can be measured? Fortune's editors scored each candidate on the following metrics:

• SIZE OF THE BUSINESS the person runs, based on our screen that factors in mid-term (three-year) and short-term (past 12 months) revenue and profit growth, profitability, and market value.