Time Hit by Stunning Leak as Report Outs ‘Person of the Year’ a Day Early
Donald Trump will win the award for a second time.
Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/Reuters
Time’s most-coveted secret was ruined by a stunning leak on Wednesday that revealed its 2024 “Person of the Year” will be Donald Trump.
A Trump biographer outed the magazine’s big announcement a day before it planned to announce Trump as its winner.
Meridith McGraw, who penned the all-access account Trump in Exile, wrote in Politico that Time will go public with its announcement on Thursday morning, with sources telling her the president-elect is expected to celebrate the honor by ringing the opening bell of the New York Stock Exchange.
Donald Trump holds up the cover of Time magazine on the campaign trail in 2015. A year later, he was announced as the magazine’s “person of the year.”
Brian Snyder/REUTERS
Time is known to go to extreme lengths to keep its “Person of the Year” choice under wraps each winter. Most staffers at the publication are kept in the dark until the big reveal.
Those who do have the inside scoop discuss finalists in code, using colors or types of food to avoid accidental identity disclosures. In the magazine’s headquarters, glass-walled offices used for editing are covered up and locked down to ensure privacy.
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A spokesperson for Time told Politico that the magazine “does not comment on its annual choice for Person of the Year prior to publication.
The cover of Time’s 2016 edition of “Person of the Year.”
Time
It’s the second time the 78-year-old Trump has won the award, with the first coming after his election win in 2016.
Trump won over shortlisters Kamala Harris, Kate Middleton, Elon Musk, and Benjamin Netanyahu. Others reported to be on the short list included the podcaster Joe Rogan.
Pop superstar Taylor Swift won the award last year. Trump now joins former president Barack Obama, a winner in 2008 and 2012, and other former world leaders, like Mikhail Gorbachev, as a two-time “Person of the Year.”
Caitlin Clark is TIME's Athlete of the Year https://t.co/WtgLuIIYhb pic.twitter.com/oGDewhUPcB
— TIME (@TIME) December 10, 2024
Wednesday’s leak came shortly after Time announced its other major awards, including NBA star Caitlin Clark as Athlete of the Year, Elton John as Icon of the Year, and Lisa Su of Advanced Micro Devices as CEO of the Year.
Marc Benioff, the Salesforce co-founder who owns Time, has reportedly been in talks to possibly sell the historic news magazine. Those discussions were active as recent as last month, with CNBC reporting Benioff took a meeting with the Antenna Group, a Greek media company, to gauge its interest.
Benioff purchased Time in 2018 for $190 million. Talks with the Antenna Group have centered around a $150 million price tag, CNBC’s source said, but a Time spokesperson said at the time that no deal had been reached.
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