TIME magazine last night turned on the wattage for its sixth annual 100 Most Powerful People ceremony, which drew everyone from First Lady Michelle Obama and talk-show queen Oprah Winfrey to two of the three founders of blogging phenomenon Twitter.
It was high tech meets show biz meets politics.
On the outs this year: hedge-fund king Stevie Cohen, the head of SAC Capital who was not invited, and Blackstone Group’s Steve Schwarzman, who was stationed farther back in the room at table No. 14. In his place: Twitter’s co-founders and Obama policy advisers.
At one point last year, Time Managing Editor Richard Stengel considered ranking the Time 100 from most to least influential, or at least breaking out rankings within categories.
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That never happened. So the seating at last night’s dinner at the Frederick P. Rose Hall/Jazz at Lincoln Center, brought to you exclusively by Media Ink, is the unofficial barometer of the heat factor.
To get an idea of the star power, Lou Reed, who wrote a profile on South African artist William Kentridge, was seated in the bleachers, at table No. 28, while Ann Coulter, who profiled Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin — coincidentally a no-show — was seated farther back at table No. 12.
It’s the sixth year that Time has published the list and the fifth time that it’s hosted a night to bring together as many of the honorees, and the notables who contributed articles, as possible.
Of the 100 people named to the list, 52 were in the audience last night, a strong rebound after the show seemed to lose a little vitality last year.
This year, there was little doubt where the action was. It was at table No. 6, where Oprah and the first lady broke bread with Stengel, Time Inc. Editor-in-Chief John Huey and A.R. Rahman, who composed the Oscar-winning score to “Slumdog Millionaire.”
Right next to them at table No. 7 was designer Stella McCartney, who made us wonder if the chef whipped up a special dish for the confirmed vegetarian. She shared the table with Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes
Talk-show host Jimmy Fallon, who after appearing at the National Magazine Awards a few days earlier in the same venue was back performing and delivering one-liners last night. He was stationed at table No. 9 with Time Inc. CEO Ann Moore.
Diane Sawyer wasn’t on the Top 100 list, but she made the dinner thanks to her write-up on Oprah. Sawyer also was seated in the bleacher section at table No. 23 because she had to duck out early.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg, oddly, was tapped to do a write-up on the ladies of “The View.” But he skipped the festivities again this year.
The ladies themselves, however, were present and accounted for, with Sherri Shepher at table No. 4, breaking bread with Tsunami survivor and Time International Editor Michael Elliott. Elisabeth Hasselback shared a table with Charlie Rose and Chris Matthews at table No. 1, which was clearly not the most important table of the night even though her political cred seemed to get her a better ranking than her co-hosts.
Joy Behar was at table No. 2, with Twitter co-founder Evan Williams and one of the more controversial picks of the day, the founder of the online community 4chan.org — a 21-year-old who goes by the name “moot,” even though his real name is Christopher Poole.
The other Twitter man in attendance, co-founder Biz Stone, was at table No. 10 with Obama’s 27-year-old speech writer Jon Favreau, Ralph Lauren‘s son David and former first cousin Lauren Bush.
Another “View” co-host, Whoopi Goldberg was at table No. 3, with Daniel La Londe, president and CEO of Louis Vuitton, Time’s Kate Betts and Desiree Rogers, the White House social secretary.
Hachette ax
Another longtime Hachette Filipacchi executive is exiting, fueling more rumors that the company is being slimmed down for a potential sale.
Nicholas Matarazzo, the executive vice president and group publishing director of the Men’s Enthusiast Network, is out.
The company in a statement said his position will not be filled.
“It’s time to close this chapter in my life,” said Matarazzo in a statement. He had been with the company for 28 years, through four own ership changes. “I’m confi dent that the company is well prepared and posi tioned to manage its core brands across media platforms and will emerge from this economic climate stronger than before.” The latest rumor is that the recent company-wide pay cuts and the decision to put a number of titles on the block are part of a larger plan that will ultimately seek a US publishing partner for Elle, its international flagship, while other magazines are sold off.
A spokeswoman insisted that there are no plans to do that. keith.kelly@nypost.com