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Rupert MURDOCH 3 LAST YEAR 1 chairman-chief executive, news corp.
AGE 66 CREDITS Fox Kids spent $1.9 billion on Family Channel; made nice with Time Warner to win Fox News an NYC cable berth; challenged ESPN with Fox Sports Net; promised to buy L.A. Dodgers for reported $350 million. DEBITS EchoStar deal collapsed; he put wrecking ball to HarperCollins and got smeared in post-Diana backlash for being No. 1 tabloid titan.
Michael EISNER 4 LAST YEAR 2 chairman-ceo, the walt disney co.
AGE 55 CREDITS Guarded Disney against Chinese (who hate Scorsese's Kundun) and Southern Baptists (who hateABC's Ellen). Disney films (Ransom, George of the Jungle) enjoyed record profits--its second-place market share notwithstanding. DEBITS He's the eighth dwarf: Prickly. Parted ways with friend Ovitz; will be seeing Katzenberg in court.
Oprah WINFREY 5 LAST YEAR 20 talk-show host/actress
AGE 43 CREDITS Commands R-E-S-P-E-C-T. King World and Wall Street held their breath while she mulled over continuing her talk show until 2000 (the stock closed up $1.37 when she said yes); now a publishing powerhouse thanks to book club's influence; wants to conquer the box office with film version of Beloved. DEBITS Everything's coming up Rosie.
George LUCAS 6 LAST YEAR -- head wookiee
AGE 52 CREDITS How's this for power: Murdoch owes him. Fox's rerelease of Star Wars trio racked up $250 million. Now directing the first of three prequels; every studio's drooling for distribution rights, and Lucas scored new toy tie-ins worth kajillions--yes, k-k-kajillions. DEBITS Sure, we all lined up to feel the Force again, but those new scenes? Lame.
Edgar BRONFMAN JR. 7 LAST YEAR 6 president-ceo, the seagram co. ltd.
AGE 42 CREDITS USA Networks gives company multimedia clout; could tutor Eisner on management (Frank Biondi and Ron Meyer are Universal's biggest assets); $800 mil global return on Lost World and Liar Liar. DEBITS Crabby stockholders who don't think Leave It to Beaver is as good a return on investment as the hot Du Pont stock Bronfman sold to buy Universal.
Bob WRIGHT, Don OHLMEYER & Warren LITTLEFIELD 8 LAST YEAR 9 pres.-ceo, nbc; pres., nbc west coast; pres., nbc ent.
AGES 54/52/45 CREDITS NBC still rules prime time; keeps Seinfeld for at least one more season; Veronica's Closet looks to be a hit. DEBITS Risky strategies of Must-She TV, and 3rd Rock against Drew Carey, haven't paid off. Eventual cost to renew ER could make Seinfeld deal look like chump change.
Jerry SEINFELD 9 LAST YEAR 49 comedian-writer-producer
AGE 43 CREDITS Seinfeld admirably survived cocreator Larry David's exit, remaining the No. 1-rated sitcom; contract negotiations prove NBC execs would rob a bank to keep him; could net a bigger payday when his $1 million-per-episode deal expires this season. DEBITS Late-night reruns force us to skip local news--not that there's anything wrong with that.
