The 25 Most Influential People on the Web - Las 25 personas mas influyentes en internet
1. The Seeker: Steve Ballmer
microsoft.comBallmer has his work cut out. He needs to make Microsoft (MSFT) an Internet player without jeopardizing its desktop monopolies, restore customers' faith in Windows after Vista sapped it, and imbue the company with a sense of direction after its failure to reel in Yahoo. Microsoft continues to mint money, bringing in about $1.8 billion monthly in cash. But in a world where software is moving from the PC to the Web, the company is being outmaneuvered by Google. Microsoft's ad unit is bleeding cash, and its search sites accounted for just 8.3% of U.S. users' queries in August. Buying Yahoo was supposed to help, but now Ballmer likely will need to chart a new course—without daily help from Bill Gates, who retired in June.
2. The Marshall: Mitchell Baker
mozilla.orgWhen Baker, the "Lizard Wrangler" at the Mozilla Foundation, launched the Firefox browser four years ago, Microsoft's Internet Explorer was in her sights. Baker's overarching goal was to keep the Web open. Now, Firefox's market share has risen to nearly 20% while IE's has slipped from 95% to 72%, and most Web sites treat all browsers equally. These days, Mozilla is faced with a threat of its own: Google's Chrome browser, which launched Sept. 1. Baker says the new browser on the block "forces us to do our best." Mozilla's latest foray is into mobile browsing.
3. The Innovator: Jeff Bezos
amazon.comBy sending Amazon's (AMZN) stock to all-time highs during the past year, Bezos effectively hushed critics who worried that the company was spending too much on technology and shipping discounts. Now, the company he founded 14 years ago is firmly focused on exactly the kind of new ventures that Bezos relishes. Whether it's the Kindle e-book or cloud computing services aimed at businesses that want to store data and their operations on Amazon's massive server farms, Bezos is committed to developing new kinds of revenue streams for the digital future.
4. The Searchers: Sergey Brin, Larry Page, and Eric Schmidt
google.com
The Google (GOOG) executive triumvirate, with Schmidt as CEO and co-founders Brin and Page as respective presidents of technology and products, works as a seamless team at the top of the search giant. Up to now, their key task has been to manage the breakneck growth of the company, now comprising more than 18,000 employees and expecting $16.2 billion in sales this year, up 53%. Even the declining economy has not yet seemed to slow its dominance in Web search and search-based advertising. But that very success is creating challenges, namely a backlash against their increasing power online from competitors, advertisers, and government regulators. Now, their main job will be convincing the world they mean it when they spout their informal corporate motto, "Don't be evil."
5. The Investor: Jeff Clavier
softtechvc.com
A onetime angel investor in more than Web 2.0 startups, Clavier last year started a bona fide venture capital firm, SoftTech VC in Palo Alto, Calif. The French native has none of the press star power of better known VCs such as Sequoia Capital's Michael Moritz or John Doerr of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, but Clavier is the one all the newly minted entrepreneurs are flocking around at countless Web 2.0 conferences. For good reason: Clavier has an eye for fast-rising startups, such as news feed aggregator NetVibes, personal-finance service Mint, and social advertising network SocialMedia. And five of his startups had successful "exits" through acquisition by the likes of Yahoo, AOL, and others.
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