CEOs and their James Bond doppelgangers

Image credit: Clara Don

Bond, James Bond. We’ve all heard these three 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 – I thought that it might be fun to take a nostalgic trip down memory lane… And to make it even more amusing, I’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 beautiful Bond girls, here are my picks!

Note: 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

5. Mark Zuckerberg as Q

6. Susan Wojcicki as Moneypenny

7. Elon Musk as Le Chiffre

8. Jeff Bezos as Blofeld

9. Alisée de Tonnac as Honey Ryder

10. Travis Kalanick as James Bond (007)