December7, 2020Since the first Bloomberg 50
in 2017, we’ve had a rule:
no repeats. But a few past
honorees could’ve made
the list this year, so we gave
them one of their own.
STACEY
ABRAMS
FOUNDER, FAIR FIGHT,
FAIR FIGHT ACTION, AND
FAIR COUNT, ATLANTA
(BLOOMBERG 50, 2019)● Her network of
organizations highlighting
voter suppression and
promoting fair elections
is credited with helping
inspire about 800,000
registrations in Georgia.
Joe Biden became the first
Democratic presidential
candidate to win the state
since 1992. (Donors to
Abrams’s organizations
include Michael Bloomberg,
owner of Bloomberg LP,
Bloomberg Businessweek’s
parent company.)
MUKESH AMBANI
CHAIRMAN, RELIANCE
INDUSTRIES LTD.,
MUMBAI (2018)● Asia’s richest man
persuaded Facebook,
Google, and private equity
funds to inject more
than $20 billion into Jio
Platforms, the technology
arm of his conglomerate,
making him one of the
10 wealthiest people in the
world—and setting the stage
for a clash with Amazon
.com for dominance of
India’s e-commerce market.JOSÉ ANDRÉS
FOUNDER, WORLD
CENTRAL KITCHEN,
WASHINGTON (2018)● Throughout the
pandemic, World Central’s
#ChefsForAmerica
initiative has provided
people in need with more
than 30 million meals in
400-plus cities.JACINDA
ARDERN
PRIME MINISTER, NEW
ZEALAND (2019)● Life is back to something
like normal for the country’s
5 million people, which helps
explain her overwhelming
reelection on Oct. 17. Ardern
locked down New Zealand
early, keeping infections
below 2,000 and deaths to
just over two dozen.MARY BARRA
CHAIRMAN AND CEO,
GENERAL MOTORS CO.,
DETROIT (2017)● To fulfill a $490 million
U.S. government contract,
Barra directed GM
engineers to transform
an automotive electronics
plant in Kokomo, Ind.,
into an assembly line for
ventilators. By September
the company had used
previously furloughed
workers to produce and
deliver 30,000 machines.KENNETH
FRAZIER
CEO, MERCK & CO.,
KENILWORTH, N.J. (2017)● Frazier is guiding
scientists as they test
candidates for a one-shot
coronavirus vaccine. He
also drew attention to the
opportunity gap facing
minorities. “I don’t think I
have a choice” but to act as
a role model, Frazier, one
of only four Black CEOs at
Fortune 500 companies,
told Bloomberg TV in July.TOBIAS LÜTKE
CEO, SHOPIFY INC.,
OTTAWA (2019)● Shopify became
Canada’s most valuable
company in 2020, its
systems underpinning the
explosive growth of online
retail for non-Amazon
transactions as much of
America sheltered at home.JEROME
POWELL
CHAIRMAN, U.S. FEDERAL
RESERVE (2018)● Powell oversaw two
March cuts that took
the Fed’s key interest
rate to almost zero and
unveiled a program of
bond purchasing and
other measures that
topped an estimated
$3 trillion. It all added up
to the most aggressive
stimulus package in Federal
Reserve history.CATHIE WOOD
CEO, ARK INVESTMENT
MANAGEMENT LLC,
NEW YORK (2018)● Tech companies led
the post-March stock
rally, and Wood’s bullish
bets on the ones shaping
the future—Tesla, Crispr
Therapeutics, and Slack,
for example—saw her
ARK Innovation exchange-
traded fund double in
value this year. Her Ark
Genomic Revolution ETF is
performing even better.ERIC YUAN
CEO, ZOOM VIDEO
COMMUNICATIONS INC.,
SAN JOSE (2019)● The videoconferencing
platform became critical
infrastructure as offices
went remote. Zoom’s stock
price is up more than
500%, swelling Yuan’s
fortune to $20 billion.
�Adam BlenfordHOW ABOUT
A ROUND OF
APPLAUSE FOR
SOME ALUMS?
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