TIME/CNN presents Global Influentials, the top 25 business people worldwide

JOE CIARDIELLO FOR TIME

8. Meg Whitman
eBay CEO

When a headhunter begged her to interview at a fledgling dotcom, Whitman, then an executive at Hasbro's preschool division, at first declined. But she reconsidered and within a couple of years turned eBay into the most successful pure Internet company while making herself the first woman Internet billionaire. Whitman, 44, has made eBay—with more merchandise than ever, including $1 billion a year in auto sales and 37 million users worldwide—a truly global marketplace.

CNN Video: Watch a short profile of Meg Whitman
Company Web Site: www.ebay.com

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