Lifestyle - Ambani Brothers among most powerful people

LONDON: After making their way into the league of richest persons, India's warring billionaire brothers - Mukesh and Anil Ambani - have been named together among the world's 100 most influential and powerful people by British fashion magazine Vanity Fair. Ambani brothers are ranked at the 67th place in the 100 list which is topped by Russian Prime Minister Vladmir Putin while media baron Rupert Murdoch is in the second spot. "The economy may be in shambles, but the moguls of the 100 list are still moving, shaking, merging and acquiring, the magazine said in an accompanying 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 investor Warren Buffet in the fifth place. India-origin venture capitalist Vinod Khosla of Khosla Ventures is ranked at the 92nd position. Both Mukesh and Anil together have a combined net worth of $85 billion and they inherited their father's sprawling industrial conglomerate in 2002, "but never figured how to play together nicely". Later in 2005, the business was split with Mukesh getting the oil, gas, and petrochemical business while Anil got the telecom and banking operations. "Already a big player in Bollywood, Anil is on the 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 top 10 are Web retailer Jeff Bezos (6th), Dubai's ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum (7th), Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich (8th), Hollywood celebrity couple Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt (9th) and Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore (10th). Prominent personalities like former American president Bill Clinton, Mexican telecom tycoon Carlos Slim, celebrity director Steven Speilberg, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg are also part of the list. "While most of us wince when we pull up to gas pump, wonder about sudden decline in market values of our houses, and worry over the looming eco-catastrophe, these realities do not seem to be hampering the lifestyles of 0.00000002% who are portrayed in these pages," magazine said.