Top Ten Most Iconic Business People
Every once in a while there are companies that change the world. Running those companies, are some of the most influential, intelligent, and savvy individuals.It takes more than just a great product to make a business successful for the long haul. To keep the money rolling in you need to be an entrepreneur with the smarts to adapt to the market and consumer's needs.
Below are the most iconic business men and women who have not only made a lot of money, but also revolutionized their industry and stayed on top for the long haul.
William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American business magnate, software developer, investor, author, and philanthropist. He is a co-founder of Microsoft, along with his late childhood friend Paul Allen. During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions of chairman, chief executive... read more Bill Gates is the person who not only has a genius mind and a generous heart but also has a strong will. He does not care if others criticize or insult him. He bore all the insults and just does it right for the sake of good. He is one of the most important people who has built the IT industries and contributed significantly to other industries as well.
Not only a computer magnate, he has also diversified into charities and organizations. His name is synonymous with success and innovation.
Warren Edward Buffett (born August 30, 1930) is an American businessman, investor, and philanthropist who currently serves as the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. As a result of his investment success, Buffett is one of the best-known investors in the world. As of October 2024, he had a net worth... read more The man owns a little bit of everything. Real estate, energy, you name it.
Steven Paul Jobs (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011) was an American entrepreneur and business magnate. He was the chairman, chief executive officer (CEO), and a co-founder of Apple Inc., chairman and majority shareholder of Pixar, a member of The Walt Disney Company's board of directors following... read more Revolutionizing the computer industry in the face of a giant (Microsoft), he realized that it is often less important to be the best if you can be first.
Oprah Gail Winfrey is an American media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer, and philanthropist. Starting out as a talk show host - just one in a pack of daytime entertainers - she quickly turned into an icon of many different media outlets.
Henry Ford was an American industrialist, the founder of the Ford Motor Company, and the sponsor of the development of the assembly line technique of mass production. He is the reason Americans are not living in the wild west anymore. The car he made was reliable, cheap, and durable. If the car had brakes on all wheels and a fuel pump, it could have been produced until the 21st century.
Jeffrey Preston "Jeff" Bezos (born January 12, 1964) is an American entrepreneur, media proprietor, investor, computer engineer, and commercial astronaut who is best known for being the founder and executive chairman and former president and CEO of Amazon. Amazon started out as a lowly online bookstore and now deals in everything from groceries to diapers to, still, books. It became the most trusted company in America in 2013, pushing Apple off its perch.
Mark Elliot Zuckerberg is an American technology entrepreneur and philanthropist. He is known for co-founding and leading Facebook as its chairman and chief executive officer. Facebook began as just another social site aimed at college kids. Now, more than 1 in 7 people on earth have a Facebook account, and it has pushed every other social media site into the background.
Walter Elias Disney (December 5, 1901 – December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film producer, he holds the record for most Academy Awards earned... read more
Lawrence Edward Page (born March 26, 1973) is an American businessman, computer engineer, and computer scientist best known for co-founding Google with Sergey Brin. Everyone knows about Google. It started out as just another search engine but soon grew into the multifaceted company that revolutionized the internet.
Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson (born July 18, 1950) is an English business magnate who co-founded the Virgin Group in 1970. As of 2025, he oversees a diverse range of businesses under the Virgin brand, which includes over 400 companies across various industries such as music, airlines, telecommunications,... read more
The Newcomers
George Walton Lucas Jr. (born May 14, 1944) is an American filmmaker and philanthropist. He created the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises and founded Lucasfilm, LucasArts, Industrial Light & Magic, and THX. He served as chairman of Lucasfilm before selling it to The Walt Disney Company in 2012... read more
Thomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and businessman, who has been described as America's greatest inventor.
Elon Reeve Musk (born June 28, 1971) is a technology entrepreneur, investor, and engineer best known for being the CEO of companies such as Tesla, SpaceX, and X (formerly known as Twitter). He co-founded PayPal, which was acquired by eBay in 2002... read more
Let's just say that he basically owns the news. From the Wall Street Journal to Twentieth Century Fox, he controls media all around the globe and has continued to stay on top of the industry.
With so many sources of news on the internet, it takes a special individual to both remain a leader and win a Pulitzer Prize. She has continued to lead her company to ever-increasingly prestigious heights.
Alfred Bernhard Nobel was a Swedish chemist, engineer, inventor, businessman, and philanthropist. He held 355 different patents, dynamite being the most famous. He owned Bofors, which he redirected from its previous role as primarily an iron and steel producer to a major manufacturer of cannon and other... read more
John D. Rockefeller, in full John Davison Rockefeller, (1839-1937), was an American industrialist and the founder of the Standard Oil Company, which dominated the oil industry and was the first great U.S. business trust. He is widely considered the wealthiest American of all time and the richest person in modern history. He is regarded as the first billionaire in world history. By 1937, the Rockefeller fortune was 1.4 billion or 1.5% of the USA GDP of 92 billion. As of this, no other American, including Bill Gates or Sam Walton, would even come close.
Rockefeller had a long and controversial career in the oil industry followed by a long career in philanthropy. His image is an amalgam of all of these experiences and the many ways he was viewed by his contemporaries, many of whom were driven to ruin, but many others of whom sold out at a profit.
William Randolph Hearst Sr (April 29, 1863 - August 14, 1951) was an American newspaper publisher and politician who developed the nation's largest newspaper chain and media company, Hearst Communications.
Hugh Marston Hefner was an American businessman, magazine publisher, and playboy. He was the founder of Playboy and editor-in-chief of the magazine, which he founded in 1953.
