Other big tech companies are now scrambling to put together similar ventures. Hewlett-Packard recently reorganized its worldwide research program to focus on a handful of categories, including cloud computing, and Microsoft is rumored to be planning an initiative called the device mesh, which would link all your computer devices—laptop, desktop, and handheld—and automatically sync them over the internet. One catch for Microsoft: Even if its cloud initiatives are successful, the company apparently lacks the number of internet users needed to achieve critical mass and make the business model work, which is a major reason it's trying to buy Yahoo (and gain access to its users) for $44.6 billion. In other words, more clouds are on the horizon. —Russ Mitchell

MICROFINANCE

Muhammad Yunus

Founder // Grameen Bank

LOAN RANGER Economist Muhammad Yunus has done exceedingly well by backing fledgling entrepreneurs. He founded Grameen Bank 25 years ago to lend small sums of money to the very poor in Bangladesh. So far, the bank has loaned out $6.8 billion, in average amounts of $200, and 98 percent of its loans have been paid back in full. (Its clients have no collateral; repayment is on the honor system, with interest rates that range from zero to 20 percent a year. Recipients are encouraged to make sure that their children attend school.) Yunus' program has assisted about 7.5 million small-business owners—mostly Bangladeshi women who make less than $1 a day—and many of their children have gone on to become doctors, engineers, and computer programmers. For these efforts, Yunus and Grameen Bank were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006.

The recognition that came with the Nobel has allowed him to increase Grameen's presence around the globe. It now has thousands of branches, and recently opened a location in Queens, New York, with the goal of helping the "unbanked." The corporate world has taken notice: Yunus recently formed a partnership with Groupe Danone to provide low-cost food to Bangladesh, and dozens of microfinance ventures patterned after Yunus' have sprung up, including Kiva, an online operation based in San Francisco, and Pro Mujer, in Latin America. Though he could easily retire to Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, where his wife is a physics professor, Yunus is instead looking for another campaign. "The biggest challenge I want to take on is providing health care in a self-sustaining way," he says. —Constance Loizos

FINANCE

Julian Robertson

Philanthropist // Retired

CUB SCOUT Julian Robertson ran Tiger, one of the most successful hedge funds of all time, but he's more influential for tutoring a generation of stock pickers. The so-called Tiger Cubs are people who worked under Robertson at Tiger and later launched their own firms, like John Griffin, founder of Blue Ridge Capital. Since the Tiger fund closed eight years ago, Robertson has helped establish another generation of talent, the Seeds—young managers he selects and sets up with a grubstake. There are about 30 Seeds so far, with $27 billion under management, and their average 2007 return, after fees, was a staggering 44.3 percent. Robertson still handles his own money but says he's happier letting his protégés work with clients. "If you're a macro trader, you can be up all night long wondering about the Japanese markets," he says. "I could just see breathing my last as I was getting a quote on the yen." —Duff McDonald