TIME names Elon Musk 2021 Person of the Year

Every December, TIME magazine announces its Person of the Year. This year, that award goes to the groundbreaking entrepreneur Elon Musk. TIME's editor-in-chief Edward Felsenthal explained why. He wrote: "Person of the Year is a marker of influence. Few individuals have had more influence than Musk on life on Earth, and potentially, life off Earth too." He added: "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." Mr Musk is worth more than $255 billion. He is the richest person in history. He is also helping to save our world and our future. He is leading efforts to explore space and get to Mars.

The year 2021 was an amazing one for Elon Musk. He went into space* in his own rocket. It was made by his company SpaceX. This is a pioneer in space tourism. It might enable us to travel to Mars. Mr Musk is also well known for his car company Tesla. This controls two-thirds of the multi-billion-dollar electric car market. It is valued at around $1 trillion. Musk is also an engineer, inventor and a trailblazer in many other cutting-edge industries. He first made his name by co-founding the e-payments company PayPal. Today, he is a leading player in robotics, solar technology, crypto-currency, artificial intelligence and super-speed public transport. TIME called him a genius and a visionary.

* ERROR: Elon Musk has never been into space.