(New York) The boss of electric vehicle maker Tesla and space exploration company SpaceX Elon Musk was named personality of the year by the American magazine on Monday Time.
Richest man on the planet with a fortune estimated at $ 265.4 billion by the magazine Forbes, Mr. Musk, 50, succeeds United States President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
Known for his whimsical personality and customary soaring on Twitter, where he has more than 66 million subscribers, the entrepreneur of South African origin, naturalized Canadian then American, is not a consensual character.
“Mr. Musk has spent his life defying the jealous; today it seems to be in a position to put them back in their place, ”write the journalists of the Time in their portrait of the billionaire entrepreneur.
2021 has been a successful year for Mr. Musk and his businesses.
SpaceX won an exclusive contract with NASA in April to send the first astronauts to the moon since 1972.
In September, the company sent four space tourists into space for the first orbital mission in history with no professional astronaut on board.
Mr. Musk speaks enthusiastically about his plans to colonize Mars over the next several years.
Tesla, whose market value topped $ 1 trillion on Wall Street in October, continues to dominate the popular electric vehicle market.
“Our goal with Tesla has always been to set an example for the automotive industry by hoping that other manufacturers will also manufacture electric vehicles in order to accelerate the transition to sustainable technologies,” Musk said in an interview. at Time.
The leader launched a poll on Twitter a few weeks ago, asking his followers whether or not he should sell 10% of his shares in the company. The majority of participants said they were in favor.
Mr. Musk has since sold more than 11 million Tesla shares.
On the entertainment front, in May he hosted the popular entertainment show “Saturday Night Live” on NBC.
On his favorite social network, Mr. Musk frequently touts certain cryptocurrencies, including Dogecoin, his tweets often causing strong price variations.
Time magazine has awarded the title of “Personality of the Year” since 1927.
The last great American boss to have obtained it is the CEO of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg, awarded in 2010.