The CEO of Tesla has become the most influential boss in the world since 2022. His influence continues to grow.
Elon Musk has many titles even if he hates honors.
He is the chief executive officer of Tesla (TSLA) – Get Tesla Inc. Report, an “It company” whose name is associated with innovation.
Musk prefers to call himself Technoking, a catch-all title he chose as a joke to show that titles mean absolutely nothing, as he explained last December at The Wall Street Journal’s CEO Council Summit.
“I just did that as kind of, like, a joke–just to show that these titles don’t mean a lot,” Musk said.
He is also the richest man in the world, with an estimated net wealth of $223 billion as of June 27, according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He is the only person in the world above $200 billion. The second richest man in the world, Jeff Bezos, the founder of e-commerce giant Amazon (AMZN) – Get Amazon.com Inc. Report, is worth $137 billion.
This title is worth to the serial entrepreneur admiration, mockery and criticism. For its detractors, it is the symbol of the widening of social and economic inequalities between the richest and the poorest. They also see in it the sign that the richest do not pay enough taxes.
But this title also earned Musk the unfailing admiration of millions of fans who swear by him and are ready to defend him and his technological and space ambitions at all costs.
The Tech tycoon has thus gained a lot of influence in recent months to the point where it has become difficult to miss it regardless of the media we listen to or read regularly. His presence on social media has also increased significantly and his profile, which was already high, has gained further visibility.
Musk Has 100 Millions Followers
Of all the social networks, Musk is particularly fascinated and drawn to the microblogging website Twitter (TWTR) – Get Twitter Inc. Report, which he calls the de facto Times Square of our time. He made an offer of $44 billion on April 14 to acquire the platform that has become his preferred channel of communication.
This acquisition, which has become a saga due to Musk’s recurring criticism of Twitter management, is still ongoing and should be finalized no earlier than the end of October.
In the meantime, the billionaire entrepreneur has just entered the history of Twitter for good. Indeed, Musk has just crossed the symbolic threshold of 100 million followers on Twitter.
This feat makes him the sixth person in the world to have at least 100 million Twitter followers. He is also the only CEO to achieve such a feat. The other five personalities featured in the 100 million follower club are former President Barack Obama with 132.1 million followers, musicians Justin Bieber with 114.1 million followers, Katy Perry with 108.8 million and Rihanna with 106.9 million followers. Next comes Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo with 101.3 million followers.
At the time of writing, Musk had 100 million followers.
His Influence Continues to Grow
It’s hard to predict how high the mogul, who has gained tens of millions of followers since becoming more involved in politics, geopolitics and hot and divisive social issues, will rise in this ranking. Just 4 months ago Musk had just over 70 million followers.
Indeed, the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February was the trigger for the ambitions of the CEO of Tesla who sees himself as the new visionary of our time. Musk thus ended the tradition of corporate bosses remaining neutral on issues that divide their customers. He announced that he supported Ukraine against Russia. Recently, he said that he will vote Republican in the midterm elections. He has let it be known that his preferred candidate for the 2024 presidential election is Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis. He said former President Donald Trump was too divisive to run again, but he’d reinstate Trump’s twitter account once he officially becomes the new owner of the platform.
Musk has been quick to criticize wokism and cancel culture. And he does not hide his animosity for the progressive wing of the democratic party.
The 100 million Twitter followers mark is proof that his influence continues to grow beyond the circles of Silicon Valley, Wall Street, politics and the media.
