Samsung Electronics CEO Kwon Oh-hyun was ranked fifth out of 50 CEOs in “2012 Businessperson of the Year” selected by global business magazine Fortune, followed by Google CEO Larry Page who ranked sixth.

Fortune evaluated Kwon as a CEO who has successfully run the $149 billion Samsung Electronics empire since June 2012 as the head of component business.

“Under Kwon, the Korean company became the second-largest chipmaker in the world. Now the new CEO has to contend with its top customer and competitor ― Apple,” Fortune said.

Tim Cook ― the CEO of Samsung’s patent war opponent, Apple ― ranked second after Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, who pushed Amazon’s revenue up 31 percent in 2011.

By Chung Joo-won (joowonc@heraldcorp.com)