AGE: 77
OCCUPATION: Chairman and controlling shareholder of the News Corp.
NUMBER OF TIME COVERS: 2
PREVIOUS APPEARANCES ON THE TIME 100: 1
PRO: The Rupe wants what it wants, and what it wanted was the Wall Street Journal (and parent company Dow Jones). He got it, for $5 billion, amid loud claims he wouldn't interfere with its editorial integrity. Also, the nearly $600 million he paid for MySpace turned out to be a bargain.
CON: After the sale, an editor at one smaller Dow publication got "cold feet" and killed a review of a book critical of Murdoch's aggressive, expensive Chinese media ventures.