Last year's position : 18

The Cable Guy remains a deal-maker extraordinaire, years after creating businesses and then selling TCI to AT&T for $48bn. There is still speculation about Liberty assets in Europe and whether Malone is the man to finally join together NTL and Telewest in the UK, creating a formidable opponent for BT and BSkyB and creating a model for other countries.

Again we ask: can he save cable and turn it into more than TV delivery?