The people who defined global business in 2022

Dec. 14, 2022

This is our sixth annual look at those in business, politics, science and technology, finance and entertainment whose accomplishments deserve recognition. There are familiar names doing new things (Serena Williams), new names doing historic things (Ketanji Brown Jackson) and inanimate objects doing mind-blowing things (the James Webb Space Telescope). One name, with the initials SBF, also did some mind-blowing things, which helped land his successor (John Ray III) on the list.

Bloomberg Businessweek cover, Dec. 26, 2022 — Featured in *Bloomberg Businessweek*, Dec. 26, 2022. Subscribe now. Photographer: Joanna McClure for Bloomberg Businessweek. Prop Stylist: Anna Surbatovich. Source Photos: Getty Images (20); Bloomberg (2); AP (1). Photographs by Adam Golfer, Julia Johnson, Kelsey McClellan, Akilah Townsend, and Max Hemphill (2) for Bloomberg Businessweek

No one story dominates the Bloomberg 50 this year as does the war in Ukraine: Volodymyr Zelenskiy is on the list, and so, among others, are Daleep Singh, architect of the sanctions regime against Vladimir Putin, and Todd Boehly, who bought the Chelsea Football Club after Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich was pressured to sell it.

If you don’t know why Bad Bunny, Scarlett Lewis or Tom Oxley are big deals, well, keep reading. Browse past alums whose 2022 contributions also merited a nod, and check Ones to Watch for a glimpse of who might appear on next year’s Bloomberg 50.

Business

Finance

Politics

Science & Technology

Entertainment

Gautam Adani

Randy Nonnenberg

Chris Smalls & Michelle Eisen

Greg Solano & Wylie Aronow

Liz Cheney & Bennie Thompson

Ketanji Brown Jackson

James Webb Space Telescope

Chancellor of the exchequer, UK

Jeremy Hunt

Within a week of Hunt’s appointment in October, his maneuvering brought the cost of long-term borrowing below 4%, from about 4.8%, halting a drop in the value of the pound and saving taxpayers from enormous interest payments in the coming years.

Chairman, Adani Group

Gautam Adani

The Indian tycoon’s wealth has surged more than anyone else’s this year, making him the world’s third-richest person behind Bernard Arnault and Elon Musk.

President, Ukraine

Volodymyr Zelenskiy

For 10 months, defiant in the face of what’s seemed like overwhelming odds, Zelenskiy has led the resistance to Russia’s invasion.

Co-founder and CEO, Bring a Trailer Media LLC

Randy Nonnenberg

His live online auction platform for classic and other collectible cars is expected to do $1.3 billion in sales this year, up about 57% from 2021.

Associate justice, US Supreme Court

Ketanji Brown Jackson

Sworn in as the 116th justice in June, she became the first Black woman to serve on the high court.

CEO, FTX Group

John Ray III

Since taking over the job from disgraced cryptocurrency mogul Sam Bankman-Fried, Ray has helped locate more than $2 billion of assets that will eventually be given back to customers of the bankrupt exchange.

Co-founder and CEO, Figma Inc.

Dylan Field

Adobe spent $20 billion to buy design-tool maker Figma in September, the highest price tag for a private software company.

Chief Investment Officer, Haidar Capital Management

Said Haidar

Returns generated by the Haidar Jupiter hedge fund soared almost 267% through October, while peers averaged only 3% in the same period.

US Representatives

Liz Cheney & Bennie Thompson

Unlikely co-stars of the most momentous congressional hearings in American politics in decades, the pair led a committee that interviewed more than 1,000 witnesses about the insurrection and Donald Trump’s role in encouraging it.

Interim president, Amazon Labor Union; Barista and organizing committee member, Starbucks Workers United

Chris Smalls & Michelle Eisen

Eisen played a key role in unionizing about 200 stores across the US, while Smalls led the first successful unionization effort at Amazon.com in April, when he organized 8,000 employees at a warehouse in New York City.

Founder, Serena Ventures LLC

Serena Williams

Serena Ventures raised $111 million in March for an early-stage VC fund dedicated to backing diverse founders in technology.

President and CEO, Swatch Group AG

Nick Hayek

The company is expected to sell as many as half a million Omega MoonSwatches this year, according to industry analyst LuxeConsult, in a highly successful collaboration that made the moribund Swatch brand hot again.

Chair, California Air Resources Board

Liane Randolph

California mandated in August that 100% of new cars sold in the state must be emissions-free as of 2035.

Commissioner, Big Ten Conference

Kevin Warren

In August the Big Ten reached a seven-year contract with CBS, Fox and NBC that will pay the conference about $1.1 billion annually, the largest media deal for college athletics.

Member, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System

Lisa Cook

In May, Cook became the first Black woman on the Federal Reserve Board in its 108-year history.

CEO, TikTok Inc.

Shou Chew

The company’s annual revenue is expected to hit $10 billion, according to Bloomberg reporting, more than twice what it was a year ago.

Co-founder, Skims Body Inc.

Kim Kardashian

Her apparel label was valued at $3.2 billion in January, double the figure from nine months earlier.

James Webb Space Telescope

In July, NASA released the first images from the telescope, revealing nebulae and galaxies in unprecedented detail, including the deepest and sharpest infrared picture ever taken of the universe.

President, Finland

Sauli Niinisto

He was the architect behind Finland’s and Sweden’s applications to join NATO following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, putting the defense alliance on a path to welcoming its 31st and 32nd members.

Founder, Patagonia

Yvon Chouinard

In September he donated almost all of his apparel and equipment company, taking a pioneering approach to megaphilanthropy that will pour about $100 million annually into the fight against climate change.

Co-founders, Yuga Labs Inc.

Greg Solano & Wylie Aronow

In March the Yuga Labs co-founders raised $450 million for their startup, giving it a value of $4 billion.

Director of politics and government affairs, Gen-Z for Change

Olivia Julianna

The 20-year-old rallied her social media followers to raise more than $2 million to defend reproductive rights in one week this summer.

Professor of economics, Stanford University

Nicholas Bloom

He’s emerged as a go-to academic for insight into remote work, meeting this year to share research with more than 100 institutions, including the International Monetary Fund, Wall Street banks and tech startups.

Actor and screenwriter

Quinta Brunson

The creator and star of Abbott Elementary is the first Black woman nominated for Emmys in acting, writing and outstanding comedy in the same year.

Co-CEO, Salesforce Inc.

Bret Taylor

As Twitter’s board chair, Taylor led the effort to force Elon Musk to honor his agreement to buy the company for $44 billion—first negotiating with him, then suing him, then pushing the deal across the finish line in October.

Actor

Tom Cruise

Top Gun: Maverick, the sequel to the 1986 fighter pilot saga, has taken in $1.49 billion at the box office, making it the highest-grossing film of the year—and of Cruise’s career.

Founder and CEO, Slutty Vegan

Aisha “Pinky” Cole

Her irreverent burger chain raised $25 million in May in a funding round that valued Slutty Vegan at $100 million.

Head of Climate, Stripe Inc.

Nan Ransohoff

In April, Ransohoff and her team announced a $925 million commitment from Big Tech and other companies to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Federal minister for economic affairs and climate action, Germany

Robert Habeck

Under Habeck’s watch, Germany dramatically reduced its reliance on energy from Russia after the invasion of Ukraine: Through August, natural gas imports dropped to 25% from 55%, oil to 12% from 35%, and coal to zero from half.

President and CEO, Yves Saint Laurent

Francesca Bellettini

Bellettini and her team increased Saint Laurent’s sales in the first nine months of the year by a third from 2021, a result of smart planning and the popularity of designer Anthony Vaccarello’s collections.

CEO and founder, Haun Ventures

Katie Haun

In March the former Andreessen Horowitz partner raised $1.5 billion for investments in crypto startups, marking one of the biggest solo debuts for a venture capitalist.

Vice chairman and CEO, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.

C.C. Wei

TSMC is spending about $36 billion in 2022 to expand manufacturing, including investments in new international plants to mitigate concerns that chip production is too centralized on an island with an uncertain future.

CEO, JetBlue Airways Corp.

Robin Hayes

He disrupted the planned merger between deep discounters Spirit Airlines and Frontier Group Holdings, wooing Spirit in a $3.8 billion cash deal in July.

Deputy prime minister and minister for finance, Singapore

Lawrence Wong

A leader of the city-state’s aggressive reopening, he’s helping turn Singapore into Asia’s No. 1 hub for business.

Chief global economist, PGIM Fixed Income

Daleep Singh

In February, as a top national security adviser to the White House, he was central to US and European efforts to cut off Russia from the global financial system after President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine, freezing more than half of his $640 billion war chest.

Entertainer

Jennifer Hudson

In June, Hudson, then 40, became the youngest female performer to earn EGOT status—meaning she’s won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and, now, a Tony.

Co-founder and CEO, Synchron

Tom Oxley

In July his company put one of its brain-computer interface devices in a human after the US Food and Drug Administration granted its first approval for a trial of the potentially revolutionary surgery, which aims to help people communicate via their thoughts.

Founder, Aid Access

Rebecca Gomperts

Her telehealth service, which prescribes abortion pills, saw an almost 120% increase in online orders from overseas in the two months after the June ruling that ended Roe v. Wade, according to a November study in the medical journal JAMA.

Olympic skier and spokeswoman

Eileen Gu

At February’s Winter Olympics in Beijing, she became the first athlete to medal in three freestyle skiing disciplines at a single games, doing so while sparking geopolitical debate as a US-born athlete competing for China.

Founder, Jesse Lewis Choose Love Movement

Scarlett Lewis

In August a Texas jury ordered Infowars.com host Alex Jones to pay Lewis and Neil Heslin, whose child was killed at Sandy Hook, almost $50 million in damages for defamation.

Prime minister, Australia

Anthony Albanese

Albanese has committed to Australia’s first legally binding climate target, a 43% reduction in carbon emissions from 2005 levels by the end of the decade.

Founder, Citadel and Citadel Securities

Ken Griffin

The billionaire announced in June that he was moving his headquarters from Chicago to Florida, making Citadel, with $60 billion under management, the largest hedge fund thus far to decamp to Wall Street South.

Senior defensive assistant and linebackers coach, Pittsburgh Steelers

Brian Flores

In the wake of his discrimination lawsuit against the league, four teams hired Black or biracial head coaches at a time when the NFL was down to only one.

President, Chile

Gabriel Boric

The 36-year-old is the world’s youngest national leader.

Writer and activist

Park Ji-hyun

An advocate for women’s rights in South Korea, a nation rife with sexism and harassment, Park helped attract 11,000 new members—80% of them female—in Seoul alone to the center-left Democratic Party of Korea in the two days after the March presidential elections.

CEO, Eldridge

Todd Boehly

In May he led a group that agreed to invest $5.4 billion to buy the Chelsea Football Club, a record price for any team.

Outfielder, New York Yankees

Aaron Judge

The Yankees slugger hit 62 homers in the regular season, a new American League record.

CEO, Microsoft Gaming

Phil Spencer

In January he negotiated the biggest deal in company and video game history, the $69 billion takeover of Activision Blizzard.

CEO and founder, Checkout.com

Guillaume Pousaz

His electronic-payments company raised $1 billion in January, giving it a $40 billion valuation on paper and making it Europe’s most valuable startup.

Pop star

Bad Bunny

The reggaeton singer grossed more than $230 million on tour in 2022, exceeding all other acts, and had the year’s bestselling album despite competition from Beyoncé, BTS, Drake and Harry Styles.

The Usual Suspects

There are always some “no duh” people who are too obvious to put on the Bloomberg 50. So we give them their own list.

Bernard Arnault, Chairman and CEO, LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE

Jeff Bezos, Executive chair, Amazon.com Inc.

Joe Biden, President, US

Warren Buffett, Chairman and CEO, Berkshire Hathaway Inc.

Tim Cook, CEO, Apple Inc.

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, President-elect, Brazil

Pope Francis

Emmanuel Macron, President, France

Narendra Modi, Prime minister, India

Elon Musk, CEO, Tesla, Twitter and SpaceX

Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime minister-designate, Israel

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Member, US House of Representatives

Nancy Pelosi, Speaker, US House of Representatives

Masayoshi Son, CEO, SoftBank Group Corp.

Peter Thiel, Founder, Thiel Capital, and partner, Founders Fund

Donald Trump, Former president, US

Tsai Ing-Wen, President, Taiwan

Ursula von der Leyen, President, European Commission

Oprah Winfrey, Chairman and CEO, Oprah Winfrey Network LLC

Xi Jinping, President, People’s Republic of China

Mark Zuckerberg, Chairman and CEO, Meta Platforms Inc.

Let’s Hear It for Some Alums

We don’t include people on the Bloomberg 50 more than once, but we still applaud these past honorees who made notable contributions in 2022.

Byron Allen, CEO, Entertainment Studios Inc.

The media mogul, whose empire includes a free sports streaming service called HBCU GO, signed a nationwide licensing deal with CBS in August that expanded college football games played by historically Black colleges and universities to 60% of US television households and 70% of Black TV households for the 2022 season. In November, Bloomberg News reported that Allen was preparing a bid for the NFL’s Washington Commanders.

José Andrés, founder, World Central Kitchen

Within hours of Russia’s February invasion of Ukraine, World Central Kitchen, which provides meals in the wake of humanitarian and natural disasters, started feeding Ukrainians displaced by the fighting. Today, WCK has served Ukrainians affected by the war (and people helping them) more than 170 million meals inside the country, in those neighboring it and as far away as Spain.

Vitalik Buterin, co-founder, Ethereum

In September, after years of delays, Ethereum completed a key revamp of its blockchain network, in the crypto world’s most ambitious software upgrade to date. Known as the Merge, it aimed to make the network more energy-efficient and pave the way for it to be faster and cheaper to use.

MacKenzie Scott, philanthropist

Girl Scouts of the USA announced in October that Scott had gifted $84.5 million to the organization and 29 local branches, the biggest donation from a single benefactor in its 110-year history. The money will help the Scouts recover from the impact of the pandemic, which caused a drop in membership. Scott, who’s worth more than $20 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, also gave $275 million to Planned Parenthood Federation of America in March.

Jon Stewart, activist, comedian

On social media and the steps of the US Capitol, Stewart blasted Republican lawmakers who were blocking a bill that intended to give expanded health benefits to more than 3 million veterans exposed to toxic burn pits while serving overseas. The outcry from veterans and Stewart led the Senate to pass the bill, the Honoring Our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act, ultimately drawing support from 37 GOP senators.

Rishi Sunak, Prime Minister, UK

In October the 42-year-old Sunak—who was on our Ones to Watch list—became the UK’s youngest prime minister in more than two centuries and the first person of color to hold the office.

Emma Walmsley, CEO, GSK Plc

Walmsley weathered questions about the company’s direction from activist shareholder Elliott Investment Management LP after producing few blockbuster drugs recently and being late to offer a Covid‑19 vaccine. In July she completed the spinoff of GSK’s consumer-health arm to focus on more profitable drugs—and in September she appointed Julie Brown as chief financial officer, the same position Brown held at Burberry Group Plc, making GSK the first major drugmaker to be run by two women.

Changpeng Zhao, CEO, Binance Holdings Ltd.

Zhao, who runs the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange, triggered the implosion of rival exchange FTX in November when a tweet of his helped start a bank run on FTX. The collapse is pushing regulators and legislators to reevaluate their views on crypto.

—Angela Moon, with Sophie Alexander, Deirdre Hipwell, Olga Kharif, Kate Krader, Kamaron Leach, David Rocks and Ben Sills

Ones to Watch

Keep an eye on these people. They could be on next year’s Bloomberg 50.

Jonathon Heyward, music director-designate, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra

Heyward, 30, will be the first person of color to lead the orchestra in its 106-year history when he takes over for the 2023-24 season. The American-born Heyward has been serving as chief conductor of the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie in Herford, Germany, since January 2021.

Rachel Sweet, abortion-rights organizer

Sweet was the campaign manager for two successful efforts to protect women’s reproductive rights: She helped defeat proposed anti-abortion amendments in Kansas in August and in Kentucky in November.

Xinyi Cheng, artist

Her moody oil paintings of strangers and friends “are about different aspects of desire and human relationships,” according to a biography from the Matthew Marks Gallery, which signed her. Cheng’s first US solo show opened at the New York gallery in November, after high-profile exhibitions in Europe.

Carolina Gelen, food writer and recipe developer

Gelen immigrated from Romania to the US in 2021 to pursue a passion for food. She now has 1.3 million combined followers on Instagram and TikTok, where she displays creations such as crunchy maple feta sweet potatoes.

Isabella Weber, economics professor, University of Massachusetts at Amherst

Weber was among the first economists to call for government price controls on energy and other commodities as a more effective way than raising interest rates to fight inflation. Many in her profession argued that these controls can lead to shortages, but the German government embraced some of her ideas, including a plan to cap natural gas prices after Russia cut supplies.

Shabazz Stuart, founder and CEO, Oonee, Brooklyn, New York

Oonee’s pods are designed to store bicycles safely—some hold 8 bikes, others 80. Stuart helped start the company in 2017 to address bike theft; an original pod in downtown Manhattan has led to others in and around the city.

Shani Tran, psychologist and influencer

Tran, whose Shani Project has more than 473,000 TikTok followers, talks about mental health and therapy and shares her experiences with suicidal ideation. She hosted a YouTube series, released in September, that explored the latest research into suicide crisis and prevention strategies.

Felipe Chávez Cortés, CEO and co-founder, Kiwibot, Miami

Kiwibot’s 600-plus four-wheeled robots have completed 200,000 deliveries of pizzas, burgers and other essential sustenance to college campuses across the US. The startup is on track to have 1,200 robots operating by the end of 2023, part of a $20 million partnership with food-services giant Sodexo. Kiwibot also just struck a delivery deal with Grubhub.

Amir Nizar Zuabi, playwright and artist

Zuabi created Little Amal, a 12-foot-tall puppet depicting a 10-year-old Syrian refugee girl. In July 2021, Amal embarked on The Walk, a public art project meant to shed light on the challenges refugee children face. Since then she and her puppeteers have traveled 5,500 miles across 13 countries. (Amal’s New York visit received backing from Bloomberg Philanthropies.)

Luis Fernandez & Isabel Lee, founders, Forsyth Fire Escape, New York

Their burrito, a scallion pancake wrapped around roast pork, might be the most buzzed-about delicacy in Manhattan. After lowering the burritos from their Chinatown fire escape to customers who ordered online during the first waves of Covid, the duo now cooks up batches at a local food hall. The menu will expand in the new year (with chicken and vegetarian options, plus tacos), and the food will be sold at a downtown bodega.

Leah Ellis, co-founder, Sublime Systems, Somerville, Massachusetts

Ellis is working on a way to manufacture cement that cuts carbon emissions by 50% to 100%. (The current method accounts for 8% of global CO₂ emissions.) Her idea is to break down limestone, or other calcium-bearing rocks, using electric current instead of heat.

Rohan Murty, founder and chief technology officer, Soroco India Pvt Ltd., Boston and Bengaluru, India

Murty is trying to streamline office work via artificial intelligence. Soroco collects and analyzes data on how workers use software across teams and then suggests changes to boost productivity and reduce costs.

Jimmy O’Brien, founder, Jomboy Media Corp., New York

Known for meticulous breakdowns of sports plays on social media, the company raised $5 million in funding in 2022 and reached a content deal with the YES Network, which broadcasts the New York Yankees. Its YouTube channel has almost 1.7 million subscribers, and its podcasts rank among the top baseball shows on Apple’s charts.

—Mark Bergen, Ben Holland, Dimitra Kessenides, Saritha Rai, Gerry Smith and James Tarmy

Bloomberg 50: Photo illustrations by 731. Photos: Adani: Sam Panthaky/Afp/Getty Images. Albanese: Matt Jelonek/Getty Images. Aranow, Solano: Matteo Prandoni/Bfa. Bad Bunny: Kevin Winter/Getty Images. Bellettini: Sipa/Ap Photo. Boehly: Chris Brunskill/Fantasista/Getty Images; Boric Font. Martin Bernetti/Afp/Getty Images; Bloom: Courtesy Subject; Brunson: Ringo Chiu/Reuters; Cheney, Thompson: Olivier Douliery/Afp/Getty Images; Chew: Christopher Goodney/Bloomberg; Chouinard: Al Seib/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images. Cole: Photograph By Melissa Alexander For Bloomberg Businessweek. Cook: Ting Shen/Bloomberg. Cruise: The Chosunilbo Jns/Imazins/Getty Images . Field: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg. Flores: Keith Srakocic/Ap Photo. Griffin: Heidi Gutman/Cnbc/Nbcu Photo Bank/Nbc Universal/Getty Images. Gomperts: Taylor Hill/Getty Images. Gu: Kevin Frayer/Getty Images. Eisen: Photograph By Brandon Watson For Bloomberg Businessweek. Habeck: Andreas Gora/Pool/Getty Images. Haidar: Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg. Haun: Photograph By Christie Hemm Klok For Bloomberg Businessweek. Hayek: Fabrice Coffrini/Afp/Getty Images. Hayes: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg. Hudson: Evan Agostini/Invision/Ap Photo. Hunt: Photo Illustration By 731. Photo: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images. Jackson Amanda Andrade-Rhoades/Bloomberg. Ji-Hyun: Woohae Cho/Bloomberg. Judge: Matthew Pearce/Icon Sportswire/Ap Photo. Julianna: Photograph By Julia Johnson For Bloomberg Businessweek. Kardashian:Stefanie Keenan/Vf22/Wireimage For Vanity Fair/Getty Images. Lewis: Photograph By Adam Golfer For Bloomberg Businessweek. Niiinisto: Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images. Nonnenberg: Photograph By Kelsey Mcclellan For Bloomberg Businessweek. Oxley: Photograph By Max Hemphill For Bloomberg Businessweek. Pousaz: Harry Murphy/Sportsfile For Web Summit/Getty Images. Randolph: California Air Sources Board. Ransohoff: Jessica Chou. Ray: Eric Lee/Bloomberg. Smalls: Photograph By Max Hemphill For Bloomberg Businessweek. Spencer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg. Singh: Chris Kleponis/Cnp/Bloomberg. Taylor: Marlena Sloss/Bloomberg. Telescope: Chris Gunn/Nasa. Warren: Photograph By Akilah Townsend For Bloomberg Businessweek. Wei: Ashley Pon/Bloomberg. Williams: Pierre Suu/Gc Images/Getty Images. Wong: Lauryn Ishak/Bloomberg. Zelensky: Sergei Supinsky/Afp/Getty Images

Ones to Watch: Cheng: Photograph by Aurélien Mole. Ellis: Photograph by Paige Brown. Fernandez, Lee: Olly Olly Market. Heyward: Photograph by Laura Thiesbrummel. Sweet: Photograph by Mike Hardin. Murty: Photograph by Era Chaudhary. Shan: Photograph by Coast and Copper. Zuabi: Michael Kirby Smith/The New York Times/Redux Pictures. Chavez Cortes, Gelen, O’Brien, Stuart, Weber: Courtesy Subject

(Updates entries for Guillaume Pousaz, Isabella Weber and Leah Ellis.)