Mittal one of the “100 most influential people of 2007”

Lakshmi Mittal is named in Time Magazine’s “100 most influential people of 2007” published on May 4. To add to the honour, the steel magnate is praised as a visionary titan by no less than industrialist Wilbur L. Ross Jr, the very man who built up and sold North America’s biggest steelmaker to Mittal in 2005.

Time Magazine’s list of the world’s 100 most influential people spans politics, business, the arts, science and more and honours only the most visionary people in each of the fields.

Ross compares Mr Mittal to Andrew Carnegie, the American industrialist who consolidated the American steel industry. According to Ross Mittal arguably overshadows Carnegie in some ways, as the geographic scope of Arcelor Mittal, with 320,000 employees in 60 countries, vastly exceeds US Steel’s. Both men overcame fierce opposition, and both leaped impossibly high hurdles to reach goals that boggled their contemporaries’ minds, says Ross.

The most remarkable part of Mr Mittal’s story, claims Ross, is that it is “far from over”. Arcelor Mittal is only in the early stages of penetrating China, has only just announced plans to enter the Indian market, and has yet to get involved in Russia, Japan or many emerging markets. The best might still be to come.

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“Builders and Titans: Lakshmi Mittal” by Wilbur L. Ross Jr. and the full list of “The Time 100” – Read the article