6. William Lynch

CEO, Barnes & Noble

You might think about Barnes & Noble as the largest book retailer in the world and Amazon as the one who shifted book business online. But in recent years, after Barnes & Noble’s book- retail business slightly sluggish, which forced the company to close around 100 kiosks, it introduced its game changer business, Nook- a digital e book reader. The latest news is Microsoft investing $300 million to get 17.6 percent stake in Nook business. Currently the Nook business is valued at $1.7 billion, twice the $792 million value of entire Barnes & Noble.