Vinod Khosla sole Indian in Vanity Fair power list
Vinod Khosla sole Indian in Vanity Fair power list
Annual power lists are about as ubiquitous as the magazines -- Forbes, the Economist, Time, Newsweek, and so on and on -- that indulge in the exercise, and just as idiosyncratic.
India-born venture capitalist Vinod Khosla, known for his love for "clean" technology, has been named alongside titans like Rupert Murdoch, Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Bill Clinton and Steven Speilberg, in a list of most influential names prepared by Vanity Fair magazine.
The California-based Indian origin investor, who was born in Pune and invests through Khosla Ventures, has been ranked 62 in Vanity Fair's Annual Power Ranking for 2007. He has been featured in the list for the first time and is the only person of Indian origin there.
The list, The New Establishment, published in the magazine's October issue, is topped by media baron Rupert Murdoch. He is followed by Mac computer and iPhone maker Apple's Steve Jobs and Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page.
Khosla has been ranked ahead of investment guru George Soros (67th), fashion queen Donatella Versace (77th), The New York Times columnist and author of the famous book The World is Flat Thomas L Friedman (78th), Disney's John Lasseter (66th) and Hollywood studio Dreamworks' Stacey Snider (64th).
Besides capital, Khosla is also known for offering assistance and strategic advice to entrepreneurs.
Khosla acquired his engineering degree from IIT Delhi and was the founding CEO of Sun Microsystems in early 1980s. He then went on to become a general partner of the venture capital firm Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers in 1986.
Even before venturing on his own, Khosla's influence as a prescient investor was sufficient to put him in top position on the annual Forbes 'Midas List' of venture capitalists as early as 2003; since then, he has been at or near the top of the Forbes' listing each year.
There is a reason Khosla is the investor's investor: as Forbes pointed out while citing him in 2003, the Woodside, California-based Khosla is one of those rare investors who does not believe in rapid turnovers, and quick returns.
After forming Khosla Ventures in 2004, he discussed upon the use of ethanol as a gasoline substitute and has also invested heavily in ethanol companies. His basic aim was to cut dependence on foreign oil imports.
During last year, Khosla has ploughed some $300 million into 30-plus start-ups including Stion and Ausra (solar), Great Point (clean coal), Bloom Energy (fuel cells) and Mascoma (cellulosic ethanol), the magazine said.
"Nobody in the (Silicon) Valley is investing more money in clean technology than this green giant," Vanity Fair said.
The list also has private equity giant Blackstone Group's Stephen Schwarzman and Pete Peterson (4th), investment guru Warren Buffett (5th), former US President Bill Clinton (6), Oscar winning filmmaker Steven Spielberg (7), Bernard Arnault of French luxury goods brand LVMH (8), billionaire Democrat-turned-Republican Mayor Michael Bloomberg (9) and Microsoft chairman Bill Gates and his wife Melinda Gates (10).
It features only 10 women including, Melinda Gates, Donatella Versace, Oprah Winfrey, Miuccia Prada and Martha Stewart.
