Lee Jae-yong ranks 85th as 'Most Influential Entrepreneur' by Pocheon, U.S.

ⓒYonhap News Agency

Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong ranked 85th on the "100 Most Influential Entrepreneurs" list by Fortune, a leading U.S. economic magazine. Chairman Lee is the only Korean leader to be included in the 100-member list.

Pocheon selected 100 leaders in 40 industries by comprehensively evaluating management performance, business soundness, innovation, and social influence, including mid-term sales and profit growth.

Pocheon said of Chairman Lee, "He is the chairman of Samsung Electronics and the richest man in Korea, and he has been educated and trained for a long time to succeed his father, Lee Kun-hee, the late president of Samsung, founded by his grandfather," adding, "He has been a practical leader of the group since 2014, when his father was in a coma due to a heart attack."

"Samsung is the world's best memory chip maker, but it has lagged behind its competitors in the hottest market (HBM)," he said. "It has also given way to its rival TSMC in the foundry business." "The stock price has fallen this year, but Samsung Electronics' stock price has doubled since 2017," he added.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk, a close ally of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, took the top spot. "Musk's broad vision and engineering intuition have made him a recognized leader in many industries," Fortune said, adding, "He has spent more time on politics, becoming one of Trump's most visible and most contributing supporters."

It was followed by global big tech CEOs such as Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang (2nd), Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella (3rd), Apple CEO Tim Cook (6th), Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg (7th), Open AI CEO Sam Altman (8th), and Google CEO Sundar Pichai (10th), the largest beneficiary of the artificial intelligence era.

Berkshire Hathaway Chairman Warren Buffett (4th), JPMorgan Chase Chairman Jamie Dimon (5th), and General Motors Chairman Mary Barra (9th) were also listed in the top 10.