CEO of Tesla and SpaceX Elon Musk named 'Person of the Year' by Time magazine
Time magazine has named CEO of Tesla and SpaceX Elon Musk as Person of the Year. "Person of the Year is a marker of influence, and few individuals have had more influence than Musk on life on Earth, and potentially life off Earth too," Time editor-in-chief Edward Felsenthal wrote. "In 2021, Musk emerged not just as the world's richest person but also as perhaps the richest example of a massive shift in our society."
It was indeed a banner year for Musk, who garnered attention for becoming the richest person in the world in part due to the rise in Tesla's (TSLA) stock price. With SpaceX, Musk launched the first-ever mission to Earth's orbit with a crew of only tourists and no professional astronauts.
This tradition from Time began in 1927 as "Man of the Year" and has since changed to not only recognize an individual, but also to consider the impact of a group, movement or idea that had the most influence in the past year.