Regardless of how you personally feel about Elon Musk, there’s not denying that he’s kind of a big deal. Not that TIME’s opinion on anything matters, but there’s kind of a reason that they named him their Person of the Year.
Or maybe many reasons. Bloomberg Opinion decided to take a look at some of them.
Not everyone is thrilled by Time’s choice for “Person of the Year,” but it’s hard to deny that 2021 has really been Elon Musk’s year.
Let’s run through the highlights https://t.co/pNj0E3IR3p
— Bloomberg Opinion (@opinion) December 20, 2021
The highlights include Musk’s wealth, of course, as well as Tesla and SpaceX’s success.
But Bloomberg also points to Musk’s tweets as a reason for his Person of the Year status. In fact, Bloomberg thinks it’s Musk’s tweets that will ultimately be his legacy:
If there’s one thing that Musk is destined to be known for, it’s his tweets – he’s sent about 3,000 this year.
🚽He says half are written on the toilet. It sort of checks out: All but 15 were sent from an iPhone, and when else would a busy CEO get time? https://t.co/h7FZDoyKml pic.twitter.com/3CL3rU3295
— Bloomberg Opinion (@opinion) December 20, 2021
Many of Musk’s tweets are random musings, memes or updates on his companies. But sometimes they control the market.
For example, he only had to tweet about getting Floki, a Shiba Inu puppy, for $SHIB to soar in value https://t.co/h7FZDoyKml https://t.co/jPtu4lC0ih
— Bloomberg Opinion (@opinion) December 20, 2021
He even used Twitter this year to make a financial decision, asking whether he should sell 10% of his Tesla stock.
It was weird, but he did tell everyone what he’d do in advance even though he didn’t have to. Maybe other CEOs should follow his lead https://t.co/h7FZDoyKml pic.twitter.com/xaLdegq5dI
— Bloomberg Opinion (@opinion) December 20, 2021
And that’s all very interesting, but come on.
Musk definitely will not be remembered for his tweets. Lol https://t.co/eOrMoicBIt
— Cameron Cruz (@c_cruzzer) December 20, 2021
Richest man on the planet, opening up space to commercial travel (and bailing out NASA in the process), answering all the enviros cries for non-fossil fuel transportation, but sure his… tweets will echo in eternity. https://t.co/PHXQmFHEbs
— Steve (@UberSteve) December 20, 2021
I think actually he will be known for the cars and the rockets and stuffhttps://t.co/ySzLMSgSCg
— Steven Godofsky (@sgodofsk) December 20, 2021
The tweets might make the top ten (pretty sure the "funding secured" episode is going to be taught in securities law classes for decades) but they definitely won't be #1 https://t.co/4opvZfbkv3
— Josh Barro (@jbarro) December 20, 2021
Yea pretty sure the tweets only matter because of his being a multi-hundred-billionaire whose started some ridiculously successful companies.
And not the other way around.
— BlueChex and Milk (@21milkman) December 20, 2021
Just because people hundreds of thousands of people come running every time Musk tweets something doesn’t mean that the tweets are the thing about him.
No one's legacy will be defined by the ephemera published on this website. https://t.co/eVUBiWwaR1
— Noah Rothman (@NoahCRothman) December 20, 2021
Nope. Not even Trump. And if you think this pop-cultural figure for 30 years before he became the 45th US president is and will be defined by tweets, it's time to log off.
— Noah Rothman (@NoahCRothman) December 20, 2021
People do not live and die by the Twitter. Not even Donald Trump’s Twitter.
especially not his!
— Josh Barro (@jbarro) December 20, 2021
https://twitter.com/foster_type/status/1472935669232193554
Heh.
https://twitter.com/LincolnAbe1865/status/1472935239924256769?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1472935239924256769%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitchy.com%2Fwordpress%2Fwp-admin%2Fpost.php%3Faction%3Deditpost%3D2106898
Knock us over with a feather.
Possibly the dumbest take of the week and it's only Monday.
— Ginger Lady (@GingerLady6) December 20, 2021