Most Powerful

• #1 Rupert Murdoch
  AustraliaUnited KingdomUnited States IndustrialIndustrial Capital ControlPolitical Cold War and Globalization Industrial CapitalState Power Power: 100
  Keith Rupert Murdoch (born 1931) is an Australian-born American media proprietor whose companies assembled one of the most influential privately controlled media systems of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Beginning with the inheritance of a small Australian newspaper group in the early 1950s, he expanded through aggressive acquisitions, cost-driven operational modernization, and a preference for mass-market outlets that combined simple political cues with high-volume distribution. Over time his holdings spanned tabloid and broadsheet newspapers, book publishing, film and television production, broadcast networks, subscription television, and cable news. The result was a platform capable of reaching large audiences across several countries while recycling stories, themes, and political frames across multiple formats.Murdoch’s influence has often been understood less as a single editorial position than as a system of industrial capacity. His companies controlled the means of producing and distributing news and entertainment at scale: printing, newsrooms, studios, distribution agreements, channel lineups, and advertising sales. That capacity allowed rapid expansion, cross-promotion, and the consolidation of audiences into a small number of outlets whose tone and priorities could be set from the top through leadership selection and corporate structure. Because the outlets were embedded in political and regulatory environments, his business decisions also intersected with questions about media concentration, lobbying, and the relationship between private ownership and public discourse.His legacy includes the transformation of the tabloid press in the United Kingdom, the construction of a U.S. broadcast network from a once smaller set of stations, and the rise of modern cable news as a central arena for political identity. It also includes recurring controversies over newsroom culture, alleged intrusion into private lives in pursuit of stories, and the consequences of partisan media ecosystems for democratic politics.
• #2 Clive Palmer
  AustraliaQueenslandWestern Australia PoliticalResource Extraction ControlResources 21st Century State Power Power: 77
  Clive Palmer (born 1954) is an Australian businessman and political figure known for combining resource-asset control with highly visible campaigning and litigation. His business interests have included iron ore, nickel, and coal projects, along with resort and shipping ventures. Palmer’s political career has included service as a member of parliament and leadership of several party vehicles, most prominently the Palmer United Party and the United Australia Party, with later attempts to establish new political branding. He became one of Australia’s most recognizable examples of a resource magnate who seeks influence not only through industrial ownership but through elections, advertising, and public controversy.
• #3 Andrew Forrest
  Asia-PacificAustraliaChina (iron ore demand)Global commodities marketsWestern Australia IndustrialResource Extraction ControlResources 21st Century Finance and Wealth Power: 47
  Andrew Forrest (born 1961) is an Australian mining executive and philanthropist associated with Fortescue Metals Group, the iron ore producer he helped found and scale into one of Australia’s largest resource companies. His public profile combines the high-stakes mechanics of commodity extraction with an unusually prominent philanthropic and advocacy platform, including initiatives on modern slavery, Indigenous engagement, disaster relief, and global health. Forrest’s business career is often presented as a case study in how a late entrant can break into a market dominated by entrenched incumbents by assembling rights to deposits, building export logistics, and securing demand through aggressive commercial positioning.
• #4 Gina Rinehart
  AustraliaWestern Australia AgriculturePoliticalResource Extraction ControlResources 21st Century State Power Power: 47
  Gina Rinehart (born 1954) is an Australian mining magnate whose fortune and influence were built on the transformation of Hancock Prospecting from a stressed family company into one of the country’s most powerful private resource groups. Best known for iron ore, and especially for Roy Hill and legacy royalty streams associated with Pilbara development, Rinehart has spent decades turning mineral rights, joint ventures, and patient capital into industrial dominance. She has also become a prominent voice in Australian political and regulatory debates, making her influence extend beyond the mine gate.
• #5 Marius Kloppers
  AustraliaSouth Africa Resource Extraction ControlResources Cold War and Globalization Finance and Wealth Power: 23
  Marius Kloppers (born 1962) is a mining executive associated with South Africa and Australia. Marius Kloppers is best known for leading large-scale diversified mining operations tied to global steel, energy, and infrastructure demand. This profile belongs to the site’s study of resource extraction control and finance and wealth, where influence depends on controlling systems rather than possessing money alone. In the modern and globalized world, concentrated influence is often exercised through finance, media, regulation, infrastructure, corporate governance, and cross-border market access.