“So Much for Controlling the Media” was the headline on Heeb’s recent obituary for its own print product. But the latest issue of Vanity Fair offers evidence to the contrary; with Jews dominating that magazine’s annual index of the 100 most influential moguls, our grip seems secure as ever.
At the top: Preternaturally youthful Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, whose “World Domination Watch” — Vanity Fair’s words — cites the fact that “Facebook runs more banner advertisements than any other website (176 billion a quarter) and drives more U.S. visitor traffic to some sites than even Google.”
The founders of mighty Google themselves, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, rank third; as Vanity Fair notes ominously, “Ken Auletta revealed in ‘Googled’ that the trio discussed buying The New York Times.” New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg — whose former job involved running a local media company — took seventh place, followed by Oracle founder and amateur sailor Larry Ellison, holder of “the third-biggest American fortune after Bill Gates’s and Warren Buffett’s.”
Further down the list, the strivers include Hebrews like Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock, which manages $3.3 trillion in assets; schmatte-peddler-made-good Ralph Lauren, who just opened a 23,000-square-foot flagship shop in Paris; J. Crew chief Millard “Mickey” Drexler, credited by VF with “brilliant retailing”; and Comcast head Brian Roberts, whose game-changing acquisition of NBC is pending regulatory approval.
Some also-rans who didn’t even make the top 20 might have to hide in the Hamptons this weekend: DreamWorks Animation’s Jeffrey Katzenberg, MacAndrews & Forbes honcho Ron Perelman, Bloomberg LP vice president Dan Doctoroff, Daily Show MC Jon Stewart, and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. Whither heavyweights like Barry Diller? He’s at #40 this year. Despair not, guys; there’s always next year.