Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Elon Musk has been named CEO of the Year for 2013 through MarketWatch. His popularity certainly shows in the headlines as news outlets just can’t get enough of him. His name must be getting clicks too, or we probably wouldn’t be seeing so many headlines about him.
Why Musk was named CEO of the Year
According to Shawn Langlouis of MarketWatch, there are several reasons the Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO has received this honor. He faced off with short sellers successfully and oversaw the very early repayment of the huge loan from the Energy Department. He also is often compared to Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) CEO Steve Jobs, who was an innovator as well as a CEO.
Also Musk isn’t afraid to take on big personalities like George Clooney, who he fired back at after Clooney bashed his 2008 Tesla Roadster.
Musk disrupts multiple industries
Elon Musk’s success has extended even beyond Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA). He was first noticed as CEO of PayPal, which he sold to eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY). He disrupted the online payments industry with that company and then moved on to the auto industry with Tesla. And he’s not just working on disrupting one industry. He’s also moving to disrupt the space industry with his other company SpaceX, which builds rockets.
During the selection process, more than 12,000 votes were entered by MarketWatch readers and editors.
Tesla’s Elon Musk joins big names
Among those who have been named MarketWatch CEO of the Year are Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) CEO Alan Mulally, Robert Iger at The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS), Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) CEO Jeff Bezos and Steve Jobs, who received the honor of CEO of the Decade in 2010.
Other CEOs who were nominated this year include Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) CEO Reed Hastings, Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) CEO Marissa Mayer, LinkedIn Corp (NYSE:LNKD) CEO Jeff Weiner and Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
