{"id":49922,"date":"2013-11-22T13:51:04","date_gmt":"2013-11-22T11:51:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=49922"},"modified":"2013-11-22T13:53:54","modified_gmt":"2013-11-22T11:53:54","slug":"elon-musk-named-businessman-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/trending\/49922\/elon-musk-named-businessman-of-the-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Elon Musk named businessman of the year"},"content":{"rendered":"

SA-born SpaceX and Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, has been named Fortune Magazine’s businessperson of the year, alongside other big names in technology.<\/p>\n

According to Fortune, Musk is described as a “triple threat”, moving from co-founding payment service, PayPal, straight into the world of borderline sci-fi – with space exploration, electric cars and solar energy.<\/p>\n

In 2013, Musk moved Tesla Motors on the path to profitability, and caught the eyes of analysts and consumers with his ideas and visions (including a futuristic transport concept called the Hyperloop<\/a><\/strong>) – and in the midst of all his successes, still managed to indulge in his own personal fancies<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

“Bloomberg Wealth says he is worth $7.7 billion, but it is his audacity and tenacity that make him Fortune’s Businessperson of the Year,” the publication said.<\/p>\n

Musk was named ahead of a slew of “activist investors” – including the vocal Dell and Apple investor, Carl Icahn – for their contribution to sending strong and clear messages to corporations during the course of 2013.<\/p>\n

\"Carl<\/a>

Activist investor, Carl Icahn<\/p><\/div>\n

In third position, Fortune tipped its hat to Pony Ma Huateng, co-founder and CEO of Chinese Internet company, Tencent – which saw a 61% gain in value since January 2013, sending stocks of SA media company, Naspers (which has a large shareholding in the company) flying to new highs.<\/p>\n

Amazon founder and CEO, Jeff Bezos appeared sixth on the list, having pushed the massive online retailer into new markets and launching new services. Bezos also made a bold personal move in 2013, forking over $250 million of his own wealth to buy The Washington Post newspaper.<\/p>\n

In eigth postion, Google co-founder and CEO, Larry Page cracked the top 10 list, with the online giant’s share prices rocketing past the $1,000 mark in 2013. According to Fortune, Google remains number one in search, ads, mobile (Android), online video, maps and browsers.<\/p>\n

Yahoo’s CEO, Marissa Mayer, crept into the top 10, pushing the Internet company’s turnaround through a number of acquisitions including popular blogging platform, Tumblr, for $1.1 billion. Mayer’s overhaul of Yahoo has pushed its user base up to 800 million, while the company’s stock price has doubled in 2013, according to Fortune.<\/p>\n

Fortune’s top 10 business people of the year<\/h3>\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
#<\/strong><\/td>\nName<\/strong><\/td>\nCompany<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1<\/td>\nElon Musk<\/td>\nTesla Motors, SpaceX<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2<\/td>\nActivist Investors<\/td>\nVarious<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
3<\/td>\nPony Ma Huateng<\/td>\nTencent<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
4<\/td>\nAngela Ahrendts<\/td>\nBurberry<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
5<\/td>\nReed Hastings \/ Jeff Bewkes<\/td>\nNetflix \/ Time Warner<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
6<\/td>\nJeff Bezos<\/td>\nAmazon<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
7<\/td>\nAkio Toyoda<\/td>\nToyota<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
8<\/td>\nLarry Page<\/td>\nGoogle<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
9<\/td>\nWarren Buffett<\/td>\nBerkshire Hathaway<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
10<\/td>\nMarissa Mayer<\/td>\nYahoo<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n

Other tech personalities to make the list of 50 names include:<\/p>\n