World Beaters

By Jim Frederick/Tokyo; Jeff Israely; Barbara Kiviat

Hiroshi Mikitani JAPAN'S HEAVY HITTER

Mikitani, 39, head of Rakuten, Japan's largest online retail and services operation, is moving into a new arena: sports. The ex-banker, whose company's revenues hit $360 million in the past four reported quarters, bought a professional soccer team last January. In November, Rakuten won the right to create the first team added to Japan's professional baseball league in 50 years. "At first I didn't really understand the obsession that people like Rupert Murdoch seemed to have merging media with sports," he says. "But now I do." --By Jim Frederick/Tokyo

Marco Testa MILAN'S PITCHMAN

Testa, 52, is a modernist and a traditionalist. His Milan ad agency has just completed a yearlong study of consumer reaction to interactive TV ads, and he believes that "the Web is the future" for his industry. Testa, who took the reins after the death of his father and company namesake, has made the Armando Testa Agency Europe's largest independent ad firm by doubling revenues. He continues to fend off buyout offers, convinced that independence breeds creativity. "Once you're listed on the stock exchange, you have to play according to different rules," he says. --By Jeff Israely

Mike Sands FLYING HIGH

As the new president of Orbitz.com Sands, 37, is taking the Chicago-based travel website global. The marketing exec was tapped for the top job when travel and real estate services giant Cendant bought Orbitz late last year. His first international step will be letting customers use foreign credit cards to book online, especially Europeans eager to travel to the U.S. because of the weak dollar. Sands also plans to roll out foreign-language sites and use Cendant's long-standing relationships with hotels and time shares overseas to give Americans more options. --By Barbara Kiviat