Elon Musk got a post-breakup glow-up.
The newly single Tesla and SpaceX founder is Time Magazine’s pick for their 2021 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’s editor-in-chief and CEO Edward Felsenthal said in a statement on Monday.
Earlier this year, Musk, 50, caused a seismic wave on Earth when he announced his split from musician Grimes, his girlfriend of three years. In May 2020, the ex-couple welcomed son X Æ A-Xii — a name that dominated headlines and even became a meme.
Musk told Page Six in September that he and the Canadian singer, 33, are “semi-separated” but will remain on good terms to co-parent their son.
“We are semi-separated but still love each other, see each other frequently and are on great terms,” Musk said at the time. “It’s mostly that my work at SpaceX and Tesla requires me to be primarily in Texas or traveling overseas and her work is primarily in LA. She’s staying with me now and Baby X is in the adjacent room.”
But 2021 was all about Musk. This year saw the South African-born entrepreneur be deemed the richest man in the world, with a value estimated to be some $266 billion.
“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,” Felsenthal added.
In fact, his big year saw him add more than $100 billion to that fortune and steal the title of world’s wealthiest person from rival Jeff Bezos. When Musk passed Bezos in net worth, the father of seven said he’d send the Amazon founder a silver medal.
Amid his breakup, though, Musk has also sworn off many of his possessions and sold most of his mansions. He now lives in Texas — where he’ll save billions on the Lone Star State’s lack of a personal income tax. He’s also moved Tesla’s corporate headquarters to the state.
“The richest man in the world does not own a house and has recently been selling off his fortune,” the magazine wrote in the profile of the businessman. “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. An army of devotees hangs on his every utterance.”
In April, SpaceX won NASA’s exclusive contract to return US astronauts to the moon for the first time since 1972. Just a month later, the company’s massive Starship rocket, which the billionaire intends to use to send people and cargo to Mars one day, launched and successfully landed for the first time. This marked a major achievement for SpaceX, which wants to make its rockets reusable to lower the cost of space exploration.
In May, while hosting “Saturday Night Live,” Musk announced he was “making history” as he revealed that he has the neurodevelopmental disorder Asperger’s.
“I’m actually making history tonight as the first person with Asperger’s to host SNL, or at least the first to admit it. So I won’t make a lot of eye contact with the cast tonight. But don’t worry, I’m pretty good at running ‘human’ in emulation mode,” Musk said.
Musk found himself at the center of another pop culture moment after last month, when his ex released a song subtly shading him. The lyrics of Grimes’ latest track, titled “Player of Games,” mention being in love with the “greatest gamer” — seemingly a nod to Musk, who is an avid PC gamer.
“I’m in love with the greatest gamer,” Grimes sings. “But he’ll always love the game more than he loves me.”
