Musk tops Fortune list of most powerful in business

Fortune on Tuesday named billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk as the most powerful person in business of 2024.

Musk topped the outlet’s list of the 100 most powerful people in business, followed by Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Microsoft chairman and CEO Satya Nadella, Berkshire Hathaway chairman and CEO Warren Buffett and JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon.

Rounding out the top 10 are several more tech leaders, including Apple CEO Tim Cook, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Google CEO Sundar Pichai, as well as General Motors CEO Mary Barra.

“In the end, the people who earned places on the Most Powerful People list share a vital trait: Their words, deeds, and wealth shape what others around them think and do,” Fortune wrote.

Musk, who is also the world’s richest person, owns Tesla, SpaceX and the social platform X. He also owns several smaller tech firms, including the artificial intelligence (AI) company xAI and the neurotechnology company Neuralink.

The billionaire has added billions more to his wealth in recent days, as Tesla’s stock has surged on President-elect Trump’s win. The electric vehicle maker’s market capitalization crossed $1 trillion last week and continued its rally Monday.

Musk’s immense wealth, as well as his expansive reach on X, were key in boosting President-elect Trump in the final months of the race.

He contributed $118 million to America PAC, a pro-Trump super PAC he founded earlier this year that played a central role in the Trump campaign’s voter turnout efforts in swing states.

Musk also threw himself into campaigning for Trump, joining the Republican candidate at several rallies and hosting a series of town halls in Pennsylvania in the final weeks of the election.

Trump thanked the tech mogul in his victory speech last week, after squarely defeating Vice President Harris in both the Electoral College and the popular vote.

“We have a new star,” the president-elect said. “A star is born — Elon!”

Musk is expected to have some role in the new administration, although it remains to be seen what exactly that position will be. Trump has previously suggested that Musk could head up a panel focused on cutting government costs.