Bond, James Bond. We’ve all heard these three little words about a hundred times (or if you’re a diehard Bond fan like me, probably a thousand times!) With the latest chapter of the saga just being released (Spectre), we thought that it might be fun to take a nostalgic trip down memory lane… And to make it even more amusing, we’ve selected some of the top CEOs who bear a striking resemblance to some of the most iconic Bond characters! Be they evil villains or sexy Bond girls, here are our picks! (This is a satirical piece, which under no circumstance associates these international figures with the characters in the movies).
1. Warren Buffet as Goldfinger
Warren Buffett is one of the wealthiest men in the world. As chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, Buffet has established himself as a leading figure in business and finance. Everything he touches seems to turn to gold, something he shares with Goldfinger! As Shirley Basset sings in the opening credits of the movie: “He’s the man, the man with the Midas touch.”
2. Jack Ma as Oddjob
Jack Ma is a business phenomenon in Asia and in the rest of the world. With the $21.8 billion IPO of his e-commerce firm Alibaba Group in 2014, Ma set a new record (it was the world’s biggest public stock offering). He may not decapitate his opponents with a razor-sharp hat like Oddjob, but he certainly knows how to deal with his competition!
3. Sheryl Sandberg as Xenia Onatopp
Like Xenia, Sheryl is a strong, beautiful and independent woman. And they are both surrounded by men: Xenia fires AK-47s in action scenes with exploding trains, Russian tanks and Tiger helicopters. Sheryl leads Facebook’s projects in a generally male-dominated Silicon Valley. Power to the women!
4. Richard Branson as Hugo Drax
Hugo Drax is a wealthy billionaire who is the proud owner of Drax Industries. His goal? To obliterate all human life on earth and fly out a carefully selected group of men and women to space with his shuttles. Now, even though Sir Richard Branson is also a wealthy entrepreneur, his plans aren’t that drastic. With Virgin Galactic, everyone will be able to travel to space!
5. Mark Zuckerberg as Q
Q is one of the most epic characters in the James Bond saga. And even though Desmond Llewelyn was replaced by Ben Wishaw, the character lives on. Like Q, Mark Zuckerberg is a tech wiz who revolutionizes the world by coding!
6. Susan Wojcicki as Moneypenny
Moneypenny is another Bond favourite. Always playful and cheerful, she is reliable and hardworking (007 would be lost without her). Like Moneypenny who has been by Bond’s side from the very beginning, Wojcicki has been with the Google founders early on, lending her Menlo Park garage to them as their initial HQ! Loyalty is key for both Moneypenny and Wojcicki, an admirable quality!
7. Elon Musk as Le Chiffre
Both Le Chiffre and Elon Musk are cunning men who bet against the odds. But whereas Le Chiffre bets against the stock market by short selling large quantities of airline stocks before they crash, Elon bets big on innovative machines that will revolutionise the world of travel, be it via his Tesla cars, space launch vehicles or Hyperloop trains.
8. Jeff Bezos as Blofeld
Ernst Stavro Blofeld is the ultimate Bond villain who seeks world domination through his global criminal organisation SPECTRE. As Jeff Bezos is neither evil nor megalomaniac, his desires are slightly more realistic. He is striving to dominate the e-commerce industry and is doing so brilliantly via his global company Amazon.com. (He is just missing the cat!)
9. Alisée de Tonnac as Honey Ryder
Both Alisée and Honey are strikingly beautiful. But behind this sensuous beauty lies wit and a great sense of adventure. While Honey explores the seas with her trusty knife, Alisée travels the world with her passport and Seedstars World hoodie. One woman’s seashell is another woman’s startup!
10. Travis Kalanick as James Bond (007)
They are both handsome, have their way with the ladies and have awesome cars… And building the Uber empire may just be cooler than driving an Aston Martin! Is that envy we hear Mr. Bond?
