Fortune 'Businessperson of the Year'

"From the euro mess to the Occupy Wall Street movement to the US unemployment crisis, 2011 was the kind of year that tests leaders" is how Fortune introduced its 'Businessperson of the Year' rankings for 2011. Take a look at the winners -

1. Howard D. Schultz
Founder and CEO, Starbucks

"Schultz distinguished himself in another way in 2011, taking steps to raise funds for job creation and to fight political dysfunction in Washington. The White House paid attention," the magazine said.

2. Jeffrey P. Bezos
Founder and CEO, Amazon

"Bezos stands out as an engaged, shareholder-friendly CEO (he owns 20 per cent of the company but collects a small salary and no bonus). Amazon's international prospects seem bright given that more than half of all Internet users are now in developing markets," Fortune wrote.

3. John J. Watson
Chairman and CEO, Chevron

4. Reid Hoffman
Founder and Chairman, LinkedIn; Partner, Greylock

5. James A. Skinner
Vice Chairman and CEO, McDonald's

6. Mark Zuckerberg
Founder and CEO, Facebook

"Zuckerberg is now battling archrival Google to dominate the social web and the rich advertising revenue potential that it represents. The battle so far has mostly gone Facebook's way," the magazine wrote.

7. Irene B. Rosenfeld
Chairman and CEO, Kraft Foods

8. Tim Cook
CEO, Apple

"With Jobs now gone, Cook must show investors that he's more than just an able manager with special talent for running a global high-tech supply chain," Fortune said.

9. Muhtar Kent
President & CEO, Coca-Cola

10. Samuel J. Palmisano
Chairman and CEO, IBM

11. Ajaypal S. Banga
President and CEO, MasterCard Worldwide

"Today about a third of the world's credit cards bear the MasterCard brand, making it the second biggest card network after Visa. MasterCard has perhaps the strongest brand in its sector and its stock price is up 49.5 per cent in the past year," the magazine said.