WARREN BUFFETT

AGE: 77
OCCUPATION: Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway
NUMBER OF TIME COVERS: 0
PREVIOUS APPEARANCES ON THE TIME 100: 1

PRO: The Oracle from Omaha has surpassed friend Bill Gates as the world's richest man: he's now worth a staggering $62 billion — the vast majority of which will go to charity upon Buffett's death. And the subprime crisis bore out Buffett's year-old prediction that "weakened lending practices" would lead to financial ruin.

CON: Congrats on being right again, Warren! Berkshire Hathaway's earnings are down for the quarter, thanks to a falloff in the insurance market. And Buffett's offer (later rescinded) to re-insure $800 billion of municipal bonds was seen largely as a self-serving gesture.