But his colleagues said he was often in shirtsleeves with a sweater vest, and was always approachable, generally eschewing the more imperial style associated with financial titans.

Hobnobbing with the country's financial titans did not hurt Mr. Jackson's image, either.

No doubt the roughly 400 financial titans worldwide who will spring for an S65 this year are probably buying it with pocket change.

Nick Paumgarten watches the returns with a roomful of financial titans whose tax rates are about to experience an uptick even as their hedge funds tank.

For now at least, the combined J. P. Morgan Chase & Company clearly would have the size to claim a spot among the world's financial titans.

In 1910, The New York Times profiled him with seven other financial titans, including Henry Frick and J. Pierpont Morgan.

There he advised the financial titans George F. Baker and J. P. Morgan on which banks to save in the Panic of 1907.

As Michael R. Milken, the junk bond wizard, created financial titans out of thin air, the entrenched powers of Wall Street came to a startling realization.

He added that he would not apologize for sometimes having sharp elbows in his dealings with politicians and financial titans.

No one is ruling out the possibility of a patent war between the financial titans some time down the road.