Tesla chief executive officer and SpaceX founder Elon Musk on Monday was named Time magazine’s “Person of the Year” 2021, the same year that saw the electric car company cross $1 trillion in market value.
Time magazine’s editor-in-chief Edward Felsenthal said Musk was given the recognition “for creating solutions to an existential crisis, for embodying the possibilities and the perils of the age of tech titans, for driving society's most daring and disruptive transformations”.
“Even Elon Musk's spacefaring adventures are a direct line from the very first Person of the Year, Charles Lindbergh, whom the editors selected in 1927 to commemorate his historic first solo transatlantic airplane flight over the Atlantic,” he added.
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Musk is also the founder at brain-chip startup Neuralink and infrastructure firm The Boring Company. The market value of Tesla's crossed $1 trillion in 2021, surpassing Ford Motor and General Motors combined, in terms of value, according to a report by Reuters. Musk also overtook Amazon founder and another space exploration enthusiast Jeff Bezos in valuation.
“The richest man in the world does not own a house and has recently been selling off his fortune. He tosses satellites into orbit and harnesses the sun; he drives a car he created that uses no gas and barely needs a driver. With a flick of his finger, the stock market soars or swoons,” the magazine said about Musk.
{{/usCountry}}“The richest man in the world does not own a house and has recently been selling off his fortune. He tosses satellites into orbit and harnesses the sun; he drives a car he created that uses no gas and barely needs a driver. With a flick of his finger, the stock market soars or swoons,” the magazine said about Musk.
{{/usCountry}}According to the Time magazine, "Person of the Year" signified somebody "who affected the news or our lives the most, for better, or worse".
Among other significant awards, the magazine named vaccine scientists as “Heroes of the Year”, American gymnast Simone Biles as “Athlete of the year” and singer, song-writer and actress Olivia Rodrigo as the “Entertainer of the Year”.
In 2020, the then US President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris were together awarded “Person of the Year”.