Walt Disney’s Anne Sweeney moving up in Forbes’ world

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In the realm of power list injustices, this one was a real stinker. When Forbes magazine released its annual ‘100 Most Powerful Women’ list Wednesday, one of the more curious showings was that of Walt Disney Co.’s Anne Sweeney. A year ago, Sweeney -- who as co-chairman of Disney Media Networks oversees such influential TV institutions as ABC, the Disney Channel and ABC Family -- ranked a respectable No. 30.

This year, even though her job didn’t change, Sweeney came in at No. 98. Forbes, say it isn’t so.

In fact, it wasn’t. ‘It was a big, gigantic oops,’ said Forbes spokeswoman Monie Begley.

Twenty-four hours after issuing its list with great fanfare, Forbes revised the ranking, elevated Sweeney to No. 52 and apologized for the mistake. Begley faulted a data entry error: Someone typed ‘$8 million’ to represent the revenue produced by Sweeney’s division of Disney rather than the correct figure, ‘$8 billion.’

‘No excuses. It was terrible what happened to Anne Sweeney, but there was no malevolence intended toward her,’ Begley said. ‘She’s an incredibly talented and successful woman and she’s now at No. 52 where she belongs.’

The magazine uncovered the mistake after questions were raised by The Times and ABC. It acknowledged the mistake on its website Thursday.

This isn’t the first time that Sweeney has been bounced around the Forbes list. In 2007, she ranked No. 77 – another dizzying fall after the 2006 edition, when she was named the 15th most powerful woman in the world.

The Sweeney shuffle this year meant slightly lower rankings for several other Hollywood business women. Amy Pascal, co-chair of Sony Pictures Entertainment, moved to No. 60 from No. 59, and MTV Networks chief Judy McGrath shifted to No. 62. DreamWorks SKG Chief Executive Stacey Snider came in at No. 63.

-- Meg James