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The 50 Who Matter Now

In our second annual ranking, Business 2.0 has compiled an unabashedly subjective list of people, products, trends, and ideas that are transforming the world of business.

Katsuaki Watanabe
Katsuaki Watanabe
President, Toyota

Rank: 10

Why he matters: Toyota will become the world's biggest automaker on a volume basis this year, but that's not the statistic that counts. What counts is the fact that, while GM and Ford lost $2 billion and $12.6 billion last year, respectively, Toyota reaped a profit of $13.2 billion -- its seventh record-smashing year in a row.

A Toyota lifer, Watanabe rose to the top job in 2005 thanks to his talent for eliminating inefficiency, but he's also bolstered the company's reputation for innovative thinking. While the Prius remains a high-profile success, rumor has it that Toyota plans to release a next-generation hybrid that you can recharge by plugging it into your home's electrical system.

Adelson

Calacanis

Bianchini

Iacobucci, Raburn

Graham

You

Williams

Musk

Melton

O'Reilly

Edmond

Zell

Huffington

Fake Steve Jobs

Walsh

Draft

Zuckerberg

Branson

Nooyi

Ambani bros.

Phillips

Negroponte

Hundt

Friis, Zennstrom

Cogan

Rosedale

Fadell

Kao

Arrington

Stephenson

Miyamoto

Eberhard

Agile software

Li

Diller

Chizen

Hurd

Wales

Bezos

McAndrews

Watanabe

Chambers

Schwarzenegger

Decker

Murdoch

Jacobs

Moritz

Private equity

Jobs

Google trio
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