Lone Star State featured prominently as Time names newly minted Texan Elon Musk Person of the Year

Time Magazine’s Person of the Year 2021 is billionaire Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk, and his profile paints the Lone Star State as the playground for its larger-than-life endeavors.

This photo provided by Time Magazine shows Elon Musk on the cover of the double issue of the magazine from December 27th to January 3rd, which announced Musk as the Person of the Year 2021.(Not in the credits / RELATED PRESS)

As is so often the case in the past, Time’s cover story highlights a character with undeniable influence and nuanced impact. The profile deals with Musk’s upbringing and his rise as a global tech visionary and US power broker and describes him as a “clown, genius, edgelord, visionary, industrialist”. [and] Showman “all in one breath.

Musk, who is also the founder and CEO of space exploration company SpaceX, recently overtook Amazon founder Jeff Bezos as the richest person in the world when the soaring price of Tesla drove his net worth to around $ 300 billion. He owns about 17% of Tesla stock, the shares of which sold for nearly $ 1,000 each Monday.

Time cited the breadth of Musk’s endeavors, from founding SpaceX in 2002 to his hand in founding alternative energy company SolarCity alongside Tesla, the world’s most valuable auto company. The magazine emphasizes that the annual appreciation is not an award, but rather a “recognition of the person who had the greatest influence on the events of the year, for better or for worse”.

The magazine also noted that Musk has an army of loyal followers (and investors) on social media, where he impales the powers that be, and regulators alike, trying to keep an executive at bay who is far from traditional. For his 66 million followers on Twitter, he offers the world unusual help and even drives his own followers and investors crazy through the troubled markets.

It depicts Musk’s “techno-libertarian” policy, which is not supported by any of the major political parties in the United States. It also briefly notes the sexual harassment and poor working conditions allegations made against its companies.

Americans who live in Texas are well aware of the influence of the larger-than-life entrepreneur. Texas is mentioned nearly a dozen times in the Person of the Year cover story – a nearly century-old attempt by Time to highlight the world’s most influential person each year.

Most people take good care when the richest person in the world announces they’re moving to your state, like Musk did earlier this year. And between his Twitter posts about bowel movements and video game memes, Musk has been moving more and more of his company’s business to Texas.

Here are six ways Musk is promoting its Texas presence:

1. Star Base, Texas

Musk is developing Starbase, a corporate town centered around SpaceX’s Gulf Coast operations, in the small village of Boca Chica in southern Texas. In recent years he has tried to buy up property in Boca Chica from residents, mostly retirees and outdoor types, whose seaside homes have been destroyed by rocket launches.

His plans for the starbase were so far unclear. Academics have warned that there have been attempts in the past to build company-built cities that can lead to worker exploitation.

When Musk announced that a tiny $ 50,000 house in Boca Chica would be his only permanent residence, it was reported by almost every local news agency and television network in the state.

2. SpaceX

SpaceX has been conducting its missile tests in Texas and Florida for years. The company announced earlier this year that it is building a rocket engine factory near Waco in the town of McGregor, where it already operates an engine test facility. Musk has said the engine factory will be a key part of his ambitions to build a city on Mars by 2050.

3. Tesla

Last year, Musk moved Tesla’s headquarters to Austin and moved with him to Texas. He said he wanted to focus on his future plans for the electric vehicle company and rocket startup SpaceX.

Tesla is building a $ 1.1 billion electric vehicle factory near Austin that is expected to create at least 5,000 jobs in the region. Texans will build Tesla’s Model Y SUV and its new cyber trucks and tractor-trailers at the site. It’s considered one of the largest job-creating projects in Texas in the past decade.

4. NeuroLink

Musk’s neuroLink nanotechnology brain implant company has expanded to Austin and is hiring a number of positions around the city, including a zookeeper. Max Hodak, co-founder of NeuroLink, left the company shortly after Musk made unsubstantiated claims that the technology could enable “superhuman cognition.” NeuroLink plans to begin testing its brain implant technology in humans in 2022, Musk recently said.

5. The boring company

The Boring Company, Musk’s tunneling and transportation company, has applied for licenses from the state to renovate a site in Pflugerville, north of Austin. The Boring Company has also hired local officials to build an underground tunnel connecting Boca Chica and South Padre Island, which are separated by seawater.

6. Lone Star Mineral Development

Elon Musk’s SpaceX is hoping to drill for natural gas in Texas, presumably to support its rocket business through a subsidiary called Lone Star Mineral Development. SpaceX has not released any details. The subsidiary’s efforts have been challenged by the Dallas Petroleum Group, which claims it has wells on the land purchased from SpaceX.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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