Ambani bros in powerful people's list

LONDON: After making their way intothe league of richest persons, India's warring billionaire brothers - Mukesh andAnil Ambani - have been named together among the world's 100 most influentialand powerful people by British fashion magazine Vanity Fair. Ambanibrothers are ranked at the 67th place in the 100 list which is topped by RussianPrime Minister Vladmir Putin while media baron Rupert Murdoch is in the secondspot. "The economy may be in shambles, but the moguls of the 100list are still moving, shaking, merging and acquiring, the magazine said in anaccompanying report. The founders of search engine major Google - Sergey Brin,Larry Page - and its CEO Eric Schmidt have been ranked at the third spot.Apple's chief executive and the brain behind iPods and iPhones -Steve Jobs has cornered fourth rank followed by legendary American investorWarren Buffet in the fifth place. India-origin venture capitalist Vinod Khoslaof Khosla Ventures is ranked at the 92nd position. Both Mukesh andAnil together have a combined net worth of $85 billion and they inherited theirfather's sprawling industrial conglomerate in 2002, "but never figured how toplay together nicely". Later in 2005, the business was split withMukesh getting the oil, gas, and petrochemical business while Anil got thetelecom and banking operations. "Already a big player in Bollywood, Anil is onthe cusp of buying into DreamWorks with a $500 million plus capital investment.He also plans to finance films for the production companies of George Clooney,Tom Hanks, and Brad Pitt," Vanity Fair said. Other names in the top10 are Web retailer Jeff Bezos (6th), Dubai's ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashidal Maktoum (7th), Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich (8th), Hollywood celebritycouple Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt (9th) and Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore(10th). Prominent personalities like former American president BillClinton, Mexican telecom tycoon Carlos Slim, celebrity director StevenSpeilberg, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg arealso part of the list. "While most of us wince when we pull up togas pump, wonder about sudden decline in market values of our houses, and worryover the looming eco-catastrophe, these realities do not seem to be hamperingthe lifestyles of 0.00000002% who are portrayed in these pages," magazine said.