AGE: 57
OCCUPATION: Chairman of the Virgin Group, Defier of Death
NUMBER OF TIME COVERS: 0
PREVIOUS APPEARANCES ON THE TIME 100: 1
PRO: The flamboyant Brit has built a billion-dollar enterprise — music label, airline, mobile-phone service, and space-tourism agency. He's actively working to improve the environment by experimenting with alternative biofuels and financing a $25 million contest to find an effective atmosphere purifier.
CON: His bold business practices (and frequent attempts to break world records) can also be construed as self-aggrandizing Barnumism. Just ask Stephen Colbert, who got a face-full of Branson's antics in an interview.