In business, the power of individual leaders is an inherently hard thing to measure. It’s subjective, and it fluctuates on any given day, just like the strength of an electrical current goes up and down depending on environmental conditions.
To commemorate Variety’s 120th anniversary year, we gave ourselves a tough assignment. We wanted to take a snapshot of leadership and muscle in the entertainment industry at this fraught moment of turmoil and transition for Hollywood.
After months of internal debate, months of arguing over draft lists and a last push of double-checking titles and name spellings, here we finally arrive at the end result: The Variety 120 list of the most powerful executives in entertainment.
Notice the emphasis on executives. We realized early on that we needed strict guidelines for who to include and who not to include. The Variety 120 is a survey of executive leadership at the industry’s biggest and most influential companies. That includes some companies that are far removed from Hollywood geographically but still have influence in the global business of entertainment, which we define here as film, TV, music and gaming.
We intentionally did not include actors, writers, directors, producers, multihyphenates, lawyers, talent agents or managers, simply to make the ranking process more manageable. We also kept our lens focused on traditional entertainment, thus this list does not include leaders from sports or news.
When you get down to it, 120 isn’t that many slots to cover a truly global business. So we lean toward the C-suite – the senior managers who are responsible for driving their companies forward and delivering the bottom line.
Also, notice the emphasis on big. This list leans toward the biggest studios, labels, streamers and game publishers who dominate mass media production and distribution. We considered a company’s market share and market cap in determining this ranking. A person’s career achievements and overall industry stature were also a factor for inclusion.
We also considered things that can’t be tallied with a calculator. In many of the entries, you’ll read our assessment that the individual has strong ties or deep connections to the creative community, or the investment community, or that he or she commands great respect among colleagues. It’s a relationship business, after all. Executive careers rise and fall on the strength of reputations. All kidding aside, it really is like high school with money and stock options.
Variety journalists write every day (every hour) about how dramatically our industry is being transformed by the streaming revolution, by the growth of the global demand for content and by the rise of digital-native creators who would scoff “TLDR” at the idea of getting notes from a creative executive. But in reality, if you want to break a new artist, launch a TV show, open a movie or orchestrate a blockbuster video game release – most roads to achieving a bona fide hit still run through the companies and the leaders highlighted here.
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Spoiler alert: Our selection for the last slot on this list, No. 120, was carefully considered. The person is the leader of Indonesia’s largest media conglomerate. Indonesia is one of the world’s fast-rising entertainment hubs. We noticed that from our internet traffic and by the growing number of markets and festivals that we cover in the region. We made this choice to bookend the list with a signpost of the future and an example of the reach and influence of movies, TV, music and games.
From our very first issue, published Dec. 16, 1905, much of Variety’s focus has been on the people who work behind the scenes to make things happen for those who take the stage. We hope this list can be a scorecard for readers who, like the staff of Variety, are eager to see what comes next for our fascinating industry in 2026 and beyond.
Profiles written by Jem Aswad, Matt Donnelly, Steven J. Horowitz, Angelique Jackson, Elsa Keslassy, Brent Lang, Cynthia Littleton, Jennifer Maas, Naman Ramachandran, Rebecca Rubin, Michael Schneider, Todd Spangler, Brian Steinberg and Nick Vivarelli.
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101. Mukesh Ambani
Image Credit: Getty Images Title: Chair and Managing Director, Reliance Industries
Held job since: 2002
Sources of power:
- He controls Reliance Industries, India’s most valuable conglomerate, with interests spanning energy, telecom, retail and media.
- He built JioHotstar into India’s dominant streaming and sports platform, supported by the scale of Reliance’s Jio telecom backbone.
- He folded Disney’s India assets into Reliance’s media arm, now branded JioStar, creating an unmatched force in Indian entertainment.
Mukesh Ambani sits at the apex of India’s entertainment power structure by virtue of scale, capital and infrastructure. As chair of Reliance Industries since 2002, Ambani has expanded the group far beyond its petrochemicals roots, with Jio transforming how hundreds of millions of Indians access data, video and live sports. That reach now feeds directly into JioStar, Reliance’s media empire, whose flagship streamer JioHotstar counts more than 400 million monthly active users, making it by some distance India’s largest streaming platform. With dominance across telecom pipes, streaming distribution and premium sports rights, Ambani doesn’t need to chase content trends — he sets the conditions under which India’s film, TV and digital industries operate.
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102. Andrew Wilson
Image Credit: Getty Images Title: Chairman and CEO, Electronic Arts
Held job since: 2013
Sources of power:
- He steered the video game publisher into $55 billion sale to a group of private equity giants.
- He’s extremely well connected in gaming and business circles after 25 years with EA.
Wilson is highly regarded within Electronic Arts for his longevity with the firm and his understanding of the gaming marketplace. He’s regularly mentioned as a possible candidate for high-level CEO openings in media and business. In September, Wilson pulled off a sale to Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and Silver Lake that will take EA private in a $55 billion deal that is a record price for a private equity transaction.
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103. Yves Guillemot
Image Credit: Getty Images Title: CEO and Co-Founder, Ubisoft
Held job since: 1988
Sources of power:
- He’s headed the influential AAA game publisher behind “Assassin’s Creed” for nearly 40 years.
- He’s ready to ride the licensing wave of interesting in Ubisoft brands as TV adaptations.
Ubisoft isn’t the world’s biggest video game company, but longtime chief Guillemot has kept the French outfit a major force in top-tier titles. Its biggest franchise is “Assassin’s Creed,” an action game set in real historical time periods, is being adapted as a TV series for Netflix. FX has ordered a series based on Ubisoft’s “Far Cry,” a hit first-person shooter that debuted in 2004.
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104. Graham Taylor
Title: CEO, Fifth Season
Held job since: 2017
Sources of power:
- With big shifts in film and TV, Fifth Season is helping to fill the void for mid-sized independent players active in high-end film and TV.
- Taylor has deep connections throughout Hollywood from his years at WME.
Taylor is going solo as CEO of Fifth Season in 2026 for the first time since the company as founded (as Endeavor Content) in 2017, following the departure of co-CEO Chris Rice. Season 2 of Apple TV’s “Severance” was a buzzy breakout for Fifth Season this year. Parent company CJ ENM brings deep pockets and a global focus to the company. That positions Taylor well to build up Fifth Season as a mid-sized competitor and key supplier of distinctive streaming series and films.
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105. Jon Platt
Image Credit: Nadav Kander Title: Chairman and CEO, Sony Music Publishing
Held job since: 2019
Sources of power:
- He’s a veteran industry executive leading the world’s largest music publishing company.
- The company remains at the forefront of signing new talent and leads.
Platt hates for Sony to be called the “world’s largest publishing company,” but with just over 25% global market share in 2024, it’s hard to downplay that fact. A 40-year publishing veteran who has signed and worked closely with Jay-Z, Beyonce and many others, Platt leads the company with a firm but famously empathetic and artist-friendly hand. The company is moving forward decisively in all areas, from new signings — artists like BigXThaPlug, Ravyn Lenae, Addison Rae and Little Simz join a roster that includes Paul McCartney, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Queen, Travis Scott, Lady Gaga and Olivia Rodrigo — to sync (Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run” in a Dove Super Bowl ad, a Luther Vandross documentuary) to acquisitions like Hipgnosis Songs Group (formerly Big Deal Music), Africa Nostra and Elements Music. In the first half of 2025, Sony’s share of the Billboard Hot 100 chart set a new record for the highest ever tracked by the company.
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106. Jennifer Storms
Image Credit: NBC Title: Chief Marketing Officer, NBCUniversal Television and Streaming
Held job since: 2025
Sources of power:
- She was handpicked for the role by Donna Langley, to whom she reports.
- She was instrumental in bringing buzz back to the Olympics with the campaign for the Paris Summer Games.
- Her background in sports is key as NBC revs up its live sports investment.
Storms has been a rising star at NBCUniversal for a decade. The success of the 2024 Olympics and the months-long marketing campaign that built awareness for the event vaulted her to a bigger playing field encompassing all TV and streaming marketing activity for the company. It’s a natural progression for the executive. She worked in marketing at PepsiCo and for Turner Broadcasting before she joined NBCUniversal in 2015 as CMO of NBC Sports.
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107. Oliver Schusser
Image Credit: Getty Images Title: VP, Apple Music, Apple TV+, Sports and Beats
Held job since: 2018
Sources of power:
- He joined Apple in 2004 and played a crucial role in expanding iTunes into Europe.
- He cut his teeth in entertainment with a role at Universal Studios in the mid-1990s, overseeing TV production and marketing.
Schusser doesn’t just wear one hat at Apple — he oversees Apple Music, TV+, Beats, podcasts and sports. One of his key successes this year was in working with Roc Nation to line up Kendrick Lamar for the 2025 Super Bowl Halftime Show, sponsored by Apple Music, which became the most-watched halftime show in history with 133.5 million viewers; next year, Bad Bunny looks to be even more popular (and controversial). Beyond that, Apple Music followed last year’s 100 Best Albums list with the Top 500 Streamed Songs tally to honor 10 years of the streaming service. On the product side, the company rolled out DJ With Apple Music integration, a feature that allows users to mix sets from the service’s catalog of over 100 million songs, and partnered with the TuneIn app to expand the audience for its global radio stations.
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108. Jerome Seydoux and Ardavan Safaee
Image Credit: Courtesy Images Title: Co-President, Pathé; President, Pathé Films
Held job since: 1999/2018
Sources of power:
- Under their leadership, Pathé has remained the leading distributor while continuing to invest aggressively in premium exhibition and local production.
- The company has delivered major commercial and critical successes, including producing local blockbusters such as “The Count of Monte Cristo,” as well as best picture winner “CODA.”
- They attracted new shareholder Rodolphe Saadé and have launched a strategic push into English-language production.
Unlike his brother Nicolas Seydoux, who handed over Gaumont to his daughter Sidonie, Jérôme Seydoux, 91, still calls the shots at Pathé, which he continues leading with an iron fist and bold ambitions shared by his right-hand man, Ardavan Safaee, Pathé Films president. The company, which turns 130 in 2026, still has mojo: It owns France’s biggest cinema chain and keeps investing in premium venues; it ranks as the leading French distributor and produces a dozen films every year, including local blockbusters such as “The Count of Monte Cristo” and “The Three Musketeers,” as well as “CODA,” which won three Oscars, including best picture, in 2022. Pathé remains the only French film group still fully involved in exhibition, production, distribution and sales. Seydoux and Safaee’s next big saga, slated for December 2026, is “De Gaulle,” Antonin Baudry’s two-part historical thriller charting the French Resistance during WWII through the eyes of General Charles de Gaulle. Having welcomed new shareholder Rodolphe Saadé, who took a 20% stake in May, Pathé is now plotting a big push into the English-language space. The company has hired former FilmNation exec Ben Browning to lead its U.K. office and is backing producer Dimitri Rassam’s investment vehicle, Yapluka, with multiple English-language projects in the pipeline.
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109. Sean Cohan
Image Credit: Getty Images for Opportunity Net Title: President, Bell Media
Held job since: 2023
Sources of power:
- Two words: “Heated Rivalry.”
- He brings deep relationships in the U.S. to the task of expanding the reach of Bell Media’s content and brands.
Bell Media has a big footprint in entertainment through its CTV broadcast networks and Crave streamer. Crave’s hockey romance drama “Heated Rivalry” erupted in November as a buzzy hit that was quickly scooped up for the U.S. by HBO. The “Rivalry” rocket ship is a prime example of the potential that Cohan sees in Bell Media and its entertainment and news content. His enthusiasm is informed by his years of working in pay-TV and international for what is now A+E Global Media.
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110. Alfonso de Angoitia Noriega and Bernardo Gómez Martínez
Image Credit: Courtesy of Televisa Title: Co-CEO, Grupo Televisa
Held job since: 2017
Sources of power:
- Grupo Televisa is Mexico’s dominant media company.
- The company’s stocked vault of telenovelas and other IP make it an attractive licensing and co-production partner for TV and movie players in the U.S. and elsewhere.
Grupo Televisa has never had such a big platform on the world stage with increased global content licensing opportunities. Televisa has also increased its investment in Univision, the Spanish-language U.S. broadcast network. Televisa meanwhile has been mining its vast catalog for IP opportunities opened up by the heightened demand for fresh content.
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111. Luis Fernández
Image Credit: Courtesy Title: Chairman, NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises
Held job since: 2023
Sources of power
- He oversees the largest Spanish-language media platform in the U.S.
- He understands TV and managing big events, having come up through news and sports.
Telemundo has been successful in targeting younger Latinos with a wide range of entertainment shows, from traditional novelas to recurring dramas to reality and game shows. Fernández’s background in news and sports makes him well positioned to connect Telemundo into the larger NBCUniversal strategy of emphasizing live content and high-wattage events such as the World Cup and Olympics.
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112. Daniel Alegre
Image Credit: Courtesy Title: CEO, TelevisaUnivision
Held job since: 2024
Sources of power:
- The Univision brand has enormous market clout with Latinos in the U.S.
- His background at Google, Activision and tech startups will help him manage Univision’s linear and streaming assets.
Alegre spent 16 years with Google, working to expand its operations in Latin America and Asia Pacific. He served as COO of gaming firm Activision prior to its sale to Microsoft. He was recruited to take the reins of Univision following a bumpy period when Univision’s private equity investors exited the business and Televisa formally increased its share from minority to majority owner. Alegre’s background at Google will surely help him manage Univision’s traditional network business and the Vix streaming platform.
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113. Guy Moot and Carianne Marshall
Image Credit: Araya Doheny Titles: Co-chair-CEO / Co-chair-COO, Warner Chappell Music
Held job since: 2018
Sources of power: Beat perennial market-share leader Sony in Q4 2024, leading pop and country categories
- The pair recently signed the Tom Petty estate.
- Warner Chappell scored massive wins with Amy Allen, Grammy-winning Songwriter of the Year.
The Moot-Marshall tag team is a stellar example of the dual-leadership model that many companies have successfully deployed in recent years, adding up to more than the sum of the parts — in the last quarter of 2024, Warner topped perennial market leader Sony, leading in both the pop and country categories. The U.K.-reared Moot’s three decades of experience include long stints at EMI and Sony, where he signed or worked closely with Ed Sheeran, Drake, Charli XCX, Sam Smith, Amy Winehouse, Mark Ronson and Lana Del Rey and played a key role in Sony’s $2.3 billion acquisition of EMI; L.A. native Marshall brings a songwriter-friendly, sync-centric approach nurtured during her years as a partner at indie powerhouse Songs publishing, which signed the Weeknd, Lorde and Diplo before it was sold to Kobalt for $150 million in 2017. In recent months the company has seen massive success with Grammy Songwriter of the Year Amy Allen (who’s scored hits with Sabrina Carpenter, Harry Styles, Rosé and Tate McRae) and Shaboozey; signing the Tom Petty estate and Eagles co-founder Bernie Leadon, and its formidable Nashville division re-upping with Kacey Musgraves.
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114. Sidonie Dumas
Image Credit: Getty Images Title: CEO, Gaumont
Held job since: 2004
Sources of power:
- She has spearheaded the international expansion of Gaumont in the U.S., Latin America, Germany, Italy and the U.K.
- She produced the 2011 French comedy “The Intouchables” which grossed $426 million worldwide.
- Under her watch, Gaumont has successfully developed its TV business, delivering “Narcos” and “Lupin” among others.
Since succeeding her father Nicolas Seydoux at the helm of the world’s longest-running film studio in 2004, the soft-spoken Sidonie Dumas has steered Gaumont’s international expansion, notably with the launch of a Los Angeles-based TV outfit that produced hit dramas such as “Narcos,” alongside outposts in the U.K., Germany, Italy and Latin America. In France, Gaumont has also worked closely with streamers on a string of successes, notably Netflix’s “Lupin,” starring Omar Sy. Under Dumas’ watch, the company scored a major coup with the 2011 French comedy “The Intouchables,” budgeted at around $10 million and grossing a whopping $426 million worldwide. The film continues to generate value, with an Italian remake currently thriving at the box office. While Gaumont exited exhibition after selling its theater chain to Pathé for €380 million in 2017, the company remains deeply involved in producing and distributing ambitious French films, such Olivier Assayas’ “The Wizard of the Kremlin” starring Jude Law and Paul Dano. Earlier this year, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures hosted a special retrospective for the revered studio, screening restored titles from its 1,600-film library.
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115. Anna Marsh
Image Credit: Courtesy Philippe MAZZONI Title: CEO, Studiocanal, CCO and Deputy CEO, Canal+ Group
Held job since: 2019
Sources of power:
- Under Anna Marsh’s leadership, Studiocanal has expanded its footprint across France, the U.K., Germany, Benelux and Spain, as well as Australia and New Zealand.
- She has driven strong theatrical momentum at the company, with the box office for Studiocanal’s productions and co-productions tripling between 2022 and 2024.
- She has spearheaded an international network of 22 production labels, helping position Studiocanal as a global content powerhouse.
Anna Marsh, the energetic New Zealand-born chief of Studiocanal, has come a long way since stepping into Canal+ Group’s film arm as VP of international sales in 2008. Under her leadership, Studiocanal has seen growth in both film and television across France, the U.K., Germany, Benelux, Spain, Australia and New Zealand. She’s also overseen an international network of 22 production labels, and has worked closely with Canal+ Group CEO Maxime Saada on driving the pay-TV banner’s global expansion, now present in 70 countries with 40 million subscribers. As Marsh said on stage at the company’s upfront showcase earlier this month, Studiocanal “works with everyone.” The company finances and distributes 80 films and about 20 series per year. Studiocanal saw the B.O. for its productions and co-productions triple between 2022 and 2024 with movies such as “Paddington in Peru;” and it looks to build on that momentum in the next two years with theatrically driven movies such as “Les Misérables,” “Elsinore,” starring Andrew Scott and Olivia Colman, and Ava DuVernay’s “Heist of Benin,” starring David Oyelowo.
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116. Martin Mills
Image Credit: Courtesy Martin Mills / Beggers Group Title: Chairman and founder, Beggars Group
Held job since: 1977
Sources of power:
- He oversees one of the largest and most influential independent-label groups.
- He holds the rights to Adele’s first three albums.
- He’s arguably the world’s powerful champion for independent music.
Taken collectively, the independent-label sector is the fourth-largest music company in the world (after the majors Universal, Sony and Warner). While its giants, like BMG and Concord, tend to behave more like majors, if the indie world has a godfather, it’s the man at the top of the Beggars Group collective, Martin Mills, who for decades he has fought what he regards as market dominance by the majors. The British-born executive, who formed the Beggars Banquet label from his record store of the same name in 1977, has had no shortage of success: His company was built on the multiplatinum sales of Gary Numan’s 1979 smash “Cars” and, three decades later, signed Adele and holds the rights to her first three albums (along with artists like Radiohead, Prodigy and the Cult). He’s currently leading the fight against Universal’s $775 million acquisition of the independent artist-services giant Downtown, to avoid giving that company “further dominance in a market where they’re already dominant,” as he told the Times last month. He has fought many such battles before — he testified before Congress to fight UMG’s acquisition of EMI in 2012 — and for decades has been fending off offers for his company, which includes around 100 artists and the 4AD, Matador, Rough Trade, XL and Young labels. Now 76, he’s planning for Beggars’ post-Martin Mills future, yet he assured the Times, “This company will remain independent for a long time after me.”
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117. Lee Jae-sang
Title: CEO, Hybe
Held job since: 2024
Sources of power:
- Hybe is the biggest purveyor of Kpop hits and artists.
- The company is well positioned to capitalize on growing interest in Korean culture around the world beyond Kpop.
Lee Jae-sang was elevated to CEO of Hybe amid a period of turmoil for the company as founder and chairman Bang Si-hyuk faces a legal investigation related to allegations of unfair activity related to Hybe stock. Lee is implementing the “Hybe 2.0” plan to expand the company’s reach and activity in music, film and TV. Those include big plans for the Hybe America division to blend music, content, gaming and fandom in new ways for global audiences.
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118. Jody Gerson
Image Credit: Courtesy John Michael Fulton Title: Chairman/CEO, Universal Music Publishing Group
Held job since: 2015
Sources of power:
- She’s held executive positions at EMI Music Publishing and Sony/ATV Music Publishing, signing young artists like Lady Gaga and Alicia Keys.
- Earlier this year, she was appointed to the board of directors at both Gap Inc. and Ancestry.
- She co-founded the nonprofit She Is the Music, an organization intended to empower women in music.
A music industry veteran, Gerson oversees 48 offices in 40 countries as head of UMPG, where she became the first woman to be named CEO of a major publisher in 2015. Gerson has signed and/or worked closely with some of the world’s biggest artists including Taylor Swift, Adele and the Weeknd, and played a crucial role in acquiring catalogs from Bob Dylan and Neil Diamond. The company, which manages more than five million copyrights, saw continued growth under Gerson’s watch, most recently accruing $634 million in Q3 2025 — a 13.6 percent year-over-year-boost.
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119. Rodolphe Belmer
Image Credit: Francois Roelants Title: Chairman and CEO, TF1 Group
Held job since: 2023
Sources of power:
- He has kept TF1 financially robust amid a challenging ad market and build the group’s AVOD service TF1+.
- He engineered a landmark distribution deal with Netflix to bring TF1’s linear channels and on-demand catalogue into the streamer’s ecosystem.
- He is a former Canal+ chief and Netflix board member.
Since taking the reins at TF1 Group in 2023, former Canal+ chief and Netflix board member Rodolphe Belmer has maintained the commercial network’s rating leadership in Europe (with more than 37 million French viewers reached each month through its broadcast channels), while developing a hard-charging digital strategy. Belmer has been proactively fighting the erosion of linear audiences and declining prospects for traditional advertising. He’s never more passionate than when he talks about TF1+, the ad-supported streaming service he launched in France and across French-language territories to tap into the booming digital video ad market and lure subscribers who have left traditional television in droves. Belmer’s strategic moves have kept the company financially robust, delivering €1.1 billion in consolidated revenue during the first half of 2025, with advertising revenue up 40%. Belmer, who built his career within the Canal+ group where he shepherded the pay TV group’s investment in premium content until his exit in 2015, has also forged relationships with streamers such as Netflix, Prime Video and Disney+, to finance upscale shows. Belmer’s boldest stroke so far at TF1 is a first-of-its-kind deal with Netflix, which will see the streamer carry TF1’s five free-to-air channels and on-demand content starting in 2026.
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120. Hary Tanoesoedibjo
Image Credit: KPU Title: Executive Chair, MNC Group
Held job since: 2002
Sources of power:
- He controls Indonesia’s largest free-to-air television footprint through RCTI, MNCTV, GTV and iNews.
- He built a vertically integrated media group spanning broadcasting, production, digital platforms and talent management.
- He has leveraged media scale into political and real-estate influence, including high-profile partnerships with the Trump Organization.
Hary Tanoesoedibjo has constructed the most comprehensive media machine in Indonesia, anchoring his power in free-to-air television that still reaches the country at mass scale. Since consolidating control of what became MNC Group in the early 2000s, Tanoesoedibjo has assembled a portfolio that spans the nation’s most-watched commercial networks, in-house production studios and one of Indonesia’s largest talent management operations. In a country of some 285 million people — the world’s fourth-most populous nation — that reach translates into unmatched influence over advertising, celebrity and political visibility. The group has extended its broadcast dominance into digital through platforms such as RCTI+ and Vision+, while Tanoesoedibjo has parlayed media visibility into politics via the Perindo Party and into real estate through projects like the Lido City Special Economic Zone, including Trump-branded resorts. His power rests in controlling the channels through which mass attention is created and sustained.
