Title: Co-founder, chairman and CEO, Baidu
Born: November 17, 1968, Yangquan, Shanxi, China
Education: BS in information science, Peking University; MS in computer science, SUNY Buffalo
Early Marker: Worked for Dow Jones on software development for first online edition of The Wall Street Journal.
Big Idea: Patented early search-engine page ranking algorithm while working for Dow Jones. This algorithm, which Li turned into Baidu, China's dominant search engine, is said to have inspired Larry Page's Google.
Wave of the Future: Search, media