Meg Whitman Tops Fortune's List of 50 Most Powerful Women in Business for First Time; E-Bay's Surge and Troubles at HP Drop Carly Fiorina to Second Place after Six Years at No. 1 Spot

Business Wire, Oct 4, 2004

NEW YORK -- For the first time since the inception of its 50 Most Powerful Women in Business list, FORTUNE names Meg Whitman, President and CEO of eBay, to the No. 1 spot. She displaces Hewlett-Packard Chairman and CEO Carly Fiorina (No.2), who held the top spot each year since the list first appeared in 1998. Rounding out the top ten are Andrea Jung, Chairman and CEO, Avon Products (No. 3); Anne Mulcahy, Chairman and CEO, Xerox (No. 4); Marjorie Magner, Chairman and CEO, Global Consumer Group, Citigroup (No. 5); Oprah Winfrey, Chairman, Harpo (No. 6); Sallie Krawcheck, CFO (as of Nov. 5), Citigroup (No. 7); Abigail Johnson, President, Fidelity Management & Research (No. 8); Pat Woertz, EVP, Global Downstream, ChevronTexaco (No. 9); and Karen Katen, EVP & President, Global Pharmaceuticals, Pfizer (No 10). The complete list and accompanying stories appear in the October 18 issue of FORTUNE, available on newsstands October 11 and at www.fortune.com on October 4.

So why does 2004 belong to Meg Whitman? Because she "has built the world's largest online marketplace, the world's most valuable Internet brand--and the fastest growing company in history," report FORTUNE writers Anne Harrington and Petra Bartosiewicz. As for Fiorina, she still runs the 11th-largest corporation in the U.S., with $73 billion in revenues. But she has fallen out of the top spot thanks to a power surge by Whitman, as well as the fact that HP missed earnings targets and is still getting crunched between competitors IBM and Dell.

The 2004 list has seven new arrivals: Zoe Cruz, Worldwide Head, Fixed Income, Foreign Exchanges, and Commodities, Morgan Stanley (No. 16); Irene Rosenfeld, Chairman & CEO, Frito-Lay, PepsiCo (No. 31); Susan Ivey, President & CEO, Reynolds American (No. 36); Lisa Weber, President, Individual Business, MetLife (NO. 43); Claire Watts, EVP, Merchandising, Wal-Mart (No. 45); Susan Decker, CFO & EVP, Finance & Administration, Yahoo (No. 48); and Carol Kovac, GM, Healthcare & Life Sciences, IBM (No. 50). Three women return after falling off the list in previous years: Heidi Miller, CEO, Treasury and Securities Services, J.P. Morgan Chase (No. 29); Brenda Barnes, President and COO, Sara Lee (No. 39); and Anne Stevens, Vice President, Canada, Mexico, and South America, Ford Motor (No. 49).

As in past years, FORTUNE ranked the women on four major criteria: the size and importance of the woman's business in the global marketplace; her clout inside her company; her career trajectory; and in certain cases her cultural and social impact.

In a related story, "eBay's Secret," FORTUNE editor-at-large Patricia Sellers looks at how Whitman has turned eBay into a huge success--and explains why she is at the top of FORTUNE's list. "Whitman and her team are building and tuning what many consider to be the company of tomorrow--a model 21st century organization of minimal staff and maximal profitability," says Sellers. "Whitman has steered the company in surprising directions and made counterintuitive strategic choices...Unlike Fiorina--who is struggling with a troubled merger, earnings disappointments, and restless innovators--Whitman had to amass a more complex, subtle kind of power."

FORTUNE also publishes an international Power 50 list, composed of women who have an operating role in for-profit businesses outside the U.S. In order, the top ten are: Anne Lauvergeon, Chairman, Areva (France); Xie Qihua, Chairman and President, Shanghai Baosteel Group (China); Marjorie Scardino, CEO, Pearson (Britain); Nancy McKinstry, CEO, Wolters Kluwer (Netherlands); Ho Ching, Executive Director, Temasek Holdings (Singapore); Ann Patricia Botin, Chairman, Banco Banesto (Spain); Linda Cook, CEO, Shell Gas & Power (Netherlands); Yang Mianmian, President, Haier Group (China); Marina Berlusconi, Vice Chairman, Fininvest (Italy); and Kate Swann, CEO, W.H. Smith (Britain).

The publication of this year's lists coincides with FORTUNE's annual Most Powerful Women Summit, the premier gathering of women leaders from the corporate world, government, society, and the arts. The event takes place in Dana Point, Calif. from October 4-6, and provides a unique opportunity for the world's most influential women to trade ideas, share experiences, and extend their power in a relaxed, open atmosphere. The program will consist of conversations, one-on-one interviews, and panel discussions.