This year, Musk’s wealth and achievement reached unprecedented highs.
Love him or hate him, and there’s certainly no shortage of people on both sides, you can’t deny that Tesla CEO and SpaceX founder Elon Musk has staked his claim on the world. His companies have created unprecedented advancements in the fields of both electric cars and commercial space flight, and Musk himself has become an international buzz generator in the world of finance. A single tweet from Musk’s Twitter can upend the value of entire cryptocurrency, that’s how much his word is worth. Which achievements like that under his belt, it’s only right that he receive some recognition.
Today, TIME Magazine announced their Person of the Year award for 2021. The Person of the Year is given every year to an exemplary human being who has made an indelible mark on society and the world, whether that be through accumulation of wealth, personal achievement, or general contribution to the human condition. This year’s Person of the Year, in case it wasn’t obvious by now, is none other than Elon Musk.
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,” wrote TIME editor-in-chief Edward Felsenthal. “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.”
Elon Musk (@elonmusk) is TIME's 2021 Person of the Year #TIMEPOY https://t.co/8Y5BhIldNs pic.twitter.com/B6h6rndjIh
— TIME (@TIME) December 13, 2021
2021 was indeed a red letter year for Musk. The surging of Tesla stock values catapulted him into the coveted position of world’s wealthiest man, and Musk himself was part of the very first successful commercial space flight, setting in motion a new generation of space race.