Billionaire Elon Musk, founder and CEO of Tesla Motors, was named 2021 Person of the Year by Time magazine this Monday (13). At 50, the South African-Canadian businessman, naturalized as an American, was recognized for his investments in space travel and new technologies.
“Person of the Year is a marker of influence, and few individuals have been more influential than Elon Musk in life on Earth, and potentially in life beyond,” wrote the publication’s editor-in-chief, Edward Felsenthal.
“In 2021, Musk emerged not only as the richest person in the world, but also as perhaps the richest example of a major change in our society.”
Tesla founder has surpassed Jeff Bezos’ fortune this year: today, it has an estimated equity of more than US$ 188 billion (more than R$ 1 trillion).
The honors from Musk, also founder and CEO of the SpaceX rocket company, follows that of then-President-Elect Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, chosen in 2020 as part of Time’s long tradition of recognizing future American leaders.
In addition to Tesla and SpaceX, Musk leads brain chip startup Neuralink and infrastructure company The Boring Company. In a tweet last week, the billionaire said – although it is not known if he was serious – that he has been considering leaving his duties to become a digital influencer.
Last week, President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) was elected by popular vote as personality of the year, following a strong mobilization of supporters on social networks and applications such as WhatsApp and Telegram.
With 24% of the votes counted, the Brazilian leader had a large margin in relation to the second-placed, former US president Donald Trump, who had 9%.
In September, businesswoman Luiza Trajano was the only Brazilian to enter the magazine’s ranking of 100 most influential people.
Featured in the “Titans” category, the one that decorates reference professionals in their fields, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Magazine Luiza joined the Brazilian gymnast Simone Biles, the author and screenwriter Shonda Rimes and the American football player Tom Brady.
*Under supervision of Ligia Tuon
Reference: CNN Brasil
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