Wal-Mart Boss Pips Murdoch in Powerbroker List

The readers of glossy society magazine Vanity Fair are likely to raise an eyebrow or two this month after the magazine put the boss of Wal-Mart at the top of its annual New Establishment power list.

Lee Scott, who has helped build Wal-Mart into the world's biggest retailer with a pile-it-high and sell-it-cheap philosophy, is a surprise entry. The list promises to rank the top 50 leaders of the information age and is normally dominated by media, entertainment and technology figures.

Mr Scott, who was number nine in last year's list, displaces News Corporation chairman and chief executive Rupert Murdoch. Third is another media magnate, Viacom's Sumner Redstone, followed by Bill Gates of Microsoft and Steve Jobs of Apple.

Lachlan Murdoch, deputy chief officer of News Corp, and James Murdoch, who now runs BSkyB, make their debut on the ranking at joint 34th. The highest ranked woman on the list is Meg Whitman of eBay at number 11.

Mr Scott, 55, makes the top of the list because Wal-Mart has become "the nation's dominant pedlar of cultural products", the magazine said. Wal-Mart is the largest company in the world in terms of revenue and has a greater market capitalisation than Time Warner, Disney, News Corp and Viacom combined.

Still, he is not usual Vanity Fair fodder. Mr Scott has worked for Wal-Mart for a quarter of a century and was appointed chief executive in 2000.

Wal-Mart has been the focus of growing criticism in the US because of its increasing power. It fights the formation of unions, is facing a class action alleging discrimination against female workers, and is widely denounced for destroying local communities with its vast out-of-town stores.

What might be of more concern to the readers of Vanity Fair is Wal-Mart's censorious approach to the information age. The company refuses to sell magazines, CDs or DVDs that it deems in bad taste, in some cases offering music with offensive lyrics bleeped out.

Outside the top 10, Richard Parsons, who runs Time Warner, is at 14; Carleton Fiorina, boss of Hewlett Packard is at 16; Hollywood director Steven Spielberg is at 17, and chat show host Oprah Winfrey is ranked 23rd.

Players in the power game

1 H Lee Scott Jr, president and chief executive, Wal-Mart (9)*

2 Rupert Murdoch, chairman and chief executive, News Corporation (1)

3 Sumner Redstone, chairman and chief executive, Viacom (2)

4 Bill Gates, chairman and chief software architect, Microsoft (3)

5 Steve Jobs, chief executive, Apple; chairman and chief executive, Pixar Animation Studios (4)

6 Sergey Brin, president, technology, Google

and Larry Page, president, products, Google (23)

7 Jeff Bezos, chairman, president and chief executive, Amazon (16)

8 Barry Diller, chairman and chief executive, InterActiveCorp (7)

9 Warren Buffett, chairman and chief executive, Berkshire Hathaway (8)

10 Brian Roberts, chairman, president, and chief executive, Comcast Corporation (5)

11 Meg Whitman, president and chief executive, eBay (6)

12 Steve Ballmer, chief executive, Microsoft (10)

13 Sam Palmisano, chairman and chief executive, IBM (11)

14 Richard Parsons, chairman and chief executive, Time Warner (13)

15 Michael Dell, chairman, Dell and Kevin Rollins, president and chief executive, Dell (12)

16 Carleton S Fiorina, chairman and chief executive, Hewlett-Packard (47)

17 Steven Spielberg, co-principal, DreamWorks (15)

18 David Geffen, co-principal, DreamWorks (24)

19 Jeff Bewkes, chairman, entertainment and networks group, Time Warner and Don Logan, chairman, media and communications group, Time Warner (17)

20 Tom Freston, co-president and co-chief operating officer, Viacom (19) * (2003) Source: Vanity Fair