The former Touche and Ross senior partner, Patrick McKenna, makes his debut into the industry's top 10 most powerful people list this week.

The Media Guardian Top 100 list, out today, ranked McKenna 9th. The venture capitalist worth an estimated £390m is the financial guru of much of the UK's media.

McKenna, who made senior partner at 28, was responsible for signing Robbie Williams for £80m to EMI and the sale of Simon Fuller's Pop Idol for £100m.

He established media investment company Ingenious Media Group in 1998 and has since advised independent producers including Hat Trick, the makers of 'Have I Got News For You', and David and Victoria Beckham.

McKenna has reportedly paid himself £100m from profits of the company and was described as 'ubiquitous' by the panel which ranked him.