Elon Musk Racks Up Several Major Awards To End 2021

It's uncommon for Elon Musk, the disruptor, to receive positive coverage from mainstream media.

By: EVANNEX

Dec 20, 2021 at 8:42am ET

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Posted on EVANNEX on December 20, 2021, by Matt Pressman

Elon Musk has maintained a huffy relationship with the vast majority of mainstream media outlets. It's understandable. Sometimes these publications have chosen to embrace and celebrate Tesla short-sellers while, simultaneously, throwing shade at the company's CEO. And, to make matters worse, Tesla doesn't even advertise.

Above: A look at Elon Musk on the magazine covers of both Time and Newsweek (Source: Newsweek / Time)

That said, the tide may be turning. Last week, three publications recognized Musk in their collective year-end wrap-ups. Financial Times and Time Magazine both named Musk their Person of the Year. Meanwhile, Newsweek heralded Musk amongst America's Greatest Disruptors.

The announcement from Time Magazine was, perhaps, the most notable. Time called him "the brooding, blue-skinned man-god who invents electric cars and [makes] moves to Mars... Musk has spent a lifetime defying the haters; now, it seems, he’s finally in position to put them in their place. For 2021 was the year of Elon Unbound."

Unlike Silicon Valley's software scions, Musk is "a manufacturing magnate—moving metal, not bytes," according to Time. "The man from the future where technology makes all things possible is a throwback to our glorious industrial past, before America stagnated and stopped producing anything but rules, restrictions, limits, obstacles and Facebook."

Above: Financial Times crown Elon Musk their 'Person of the Year' for 2021 (Source: Financial Times)

Meanwhile, Financial Times writes, "The FT is naming Elon Musk its Person of the Year because he has triggered a historic shift in the world’s auto industry towards electric vehicles... [transforming] one of the world’s most important industries in ways that could have profound implications for governments, investors — and for the climate."

In addition, Newsweek calls Musk the "Thomas Edison of the tech era... who [harnesses] a similarly broad impact and difficult personality. Whereas Edison was by nature an inventor, Musk is more of an impresario, assembling the technical, business and investing talent he needs in service of a grand engineer's vision."

In the end, Newsweek argues that Elon Musk is "arguably the most prolific and disruptive technologist of the 21st century."