Subscribe | Renew | Change Address | Pay Bill Try TIME Magazine: Get 4 Free Trial Issues

Luis Figo, Soccer Millionaire
Think you've got a big tax bill? Consider the plight of Luis Figo. The Portuguese-born soccer star was acquired last year by the Spanish team Real Madrid. It bought out his contract by paying archrival Barcelona a world record $56 million and agreeing to pay Figo $4 million a year. Spanish law normally does not consider a buyout payment to be taxable so long as the two teams agree to describe the player's move as a "transfer." But, out of pique at losing its premier player, Barcelona is refusing to go along. As a result, authorities now say the $56 million, which Figo used to buy out his contract with Barcelona, must be taxed as a gift from Madrid to Figo. His tax bill: $32 million. He says he believes the two teams will work out a deal that will let him avoid paying it.

Clara Furse, Stock-Exchange Chief
Shortly after her appointment early this year as the first woman chief executive of the London Stock Exchange, Furse, 43 and the mother of three, was named third on a Wall Street Journal list of Europe's most powerful women. She is a former top executive for Crédit Lyonnais Rouse and speaks five languages. Fond of pastel suits and designer eyewear, Furse is described by colleagues as at once charming and ruthless. Both qualities will come in handy as she takes over an institution that is still very much an old-boys' club.

Carlos Ghosn, Nissan CEO
At 47, the Brazilian-born Ghosn is widely admired for his revival of Nissan. Lately he's a fashion role model for Japanese executives. The stocky, thin-haired CEO doesn't look like GQ material. But profiles in Japanese media have focused as much on his dark, stylishly tailored suits, colorful ties and rimless eyewear as on his management skills. Masakatsu Ochiai, a Tokyo fashion writer, says traditionally staid Japanese businessmen think that "if they can dress like Ghosn, they will be like him."

Wilfred Horie, Banker in South Korea
Wilfred Horie, 55, a Japanese American trained in the U.S., last year became the first foreigner to head a South Korean bank (Korea First Bank). Now he is also the first banker to refuse a government directive to help bail out ailing South Korean companies. He said it was against his bank's "risk policy." Horie has also broken with Korean traditions of hierarchy by lunching with low-ranking employees and seeking out their views.

Zrenate Künast, new Agriculture Minister
With her Green Party credentials, punk hairstyle and penchant for Rollerblading, Künast, 45, has made quite a splash as Germany's new Minister for Consumer Protection, Food and Agriculture. Amid devastating epidemics of foot-and-mouth and mad-cow disease, Künast—a lawyer with no prior experience in agriculture—wants to reform European subsidies so they will encourage less crowded, less intensive farming practices that are healthier for animals and consumers.