Elon Musk tops Fortune's list of the 100 most powerful people in business

Fortune recognized tech mogul and billionaire Elon Musk as the most powerful person in business for 2024, highlighting his enormous influence in the business arena. According to the magazine:

High-stakes risk has been a hallmark of Elon Musk’s career: defying industry standards with reusable rockets at his $210 billion interplanetary exploration company SpaceX—or, at $1 trillion Tesla, spending billions on titanic production facilities to manufacture electric-vehicle components in-house.

But it was Musk’s recent zero-sum bet to stake his reputation, his newly purchased social media platform, and more than $130 million in political donations to Republicans and Donald Trump’s third presidential campaign that has propelled him—and his companies—to an unparalleled level of power and influence in both business and politics.

Musk tops list of 100 most influential people in business

The owner of Tesla, SpaceX and the social media platform X topped the annual list of the 100 most influential people in business, beating out others such as Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, Warren Buffett, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway and Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase.

Other notable executives round out the top 10 on Fortune's list, including Tim Cook (Apple), Mark Zuckerberg (Meta), Sam Altman (OpenAI), Sundar Pichai (Google) and Mary Barra (General Motors).

"In the end, the people who earned spots on the list of the most powerful people share a vital trait: Their words, deeds and wealth shape what others around them think and do," Fortune wrote. 

Musk's decisive support for President-elect Trump.

In addition to his leadership in several technology companies such as xAI and Neuralink, Musk is currently the richest person in the world. 

Musk's support for President-elect Donald Trump has also been instrumental in the recent election. The billionaire participated in the election campaign, attending rallies and organizing events in support of the Republican.

Recently, Trump announced that Musk will have a position in his administration. He will lead the new Department of Government Efficiency which will "restructure public spending and carry out far-reaching reforms." He will dismantle bureaucracy, eliminate unnecessary regulations, cut wasteful spending and restructure federal agencies.

In his victory speech, Trump thanked Musk for his endorsement and called him a "new star" in American politics: "A star is born - Elon!"