AOL chief Steve Case has booted Bill Gates off his throne in the ranks of the IT elite.

According to Vanity Fair's hot list of the top 50 movers and shakers in the industry, Internet King Case reigns supreme - toppling Gates after four years at number one.

Case, chairman of AOL Time Warner, only rated sixth in IT influence in the poll last year. According to the magazine, he may not be as rich as Gates, but his skills at bringing off the merger with Time Warner warrant the top guru title.

In third and fourth place were Sumner Redstone, chairman and CEO of Viacom, and Gerald Levin, AOL Time Warner designated CEO. Media tycoon Rupert Murdoch weighed in at number five.

Another high flyer was Steve Jobs. The Apple CEO bagged sixth place - ahead of industry heavyweights such as Larry Ellison, Oracle chief, and Steve
Balmer, Microsoft CEO.

The "Top 50 Leaders of the Information Age" article - which came out on Tuesday - is also reported to favour Jobs for more than his iMac flavours. It was his role at rising Pixar Animation through the movie industry ranks that helped earn him brownie points in the eyes of Vanity Fair. ®

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