CONTROVERSIAL billionaire Elon Musk said on Tuesday (Dec 20) that he will step down as chief executive officer (CEO) of Twitter as soon as he finds a successor to take over the position.
“I will resign as CEO as soon as I find someone foolish enough to take the job! After that, I will just run the software & servers teams,” Musk tweeted.
I will resign as CEO as soon as I find someone foolish enough to take the job! After that, I will just run the software & servers teams.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 21, 2022
Musk made his decision after asking Twitter users if they thought he should step aside from his position as CEO of the social media and microblogging site, which he acquired earlier this year in a high-profile US$44 bil deal.
“I will abide by the results of this poll,” said Musk when posting the 12-hour online survey.
Before his poll closed, according to news portal The Vibes, Musk tweeted, “The question is not finding a CEO, the question is finding a CEO who can keep Twitter alive.”
In a response to another tweet, he added: “No one wants the job who can actually keep Twitter alive. There is no successor.”
According to the results, more than 17.5 million votes were cast globally, with a definite majority of 57.5% voting ‘Yes’ and 42.5% voting ‘No’.
The poll was conducted in the wake of Musk’s abrupt and seemingly irrational decisions to ban and un-ban several journalists from the platform, of whom were his critics, as well as firing roughly half of his Twitter’s staff and other tumultuous actions, which led many to wonder whether the well-liked service had any future at all, at least under the current leadership.
Moreover, Musk also runs car maker Tesla and rocket firm SpaceX.
He reiterated his warnings that the platform might be on the verge of bankruptcy in conversations with Twitter users after posting his most recent poll.
Furthermore, Musk has fully owned Twitter since Oct 27 and has repeatedly courted controversy as CEO, sacking half of its staff, readmitting far-right figures to the platform, suspending journalists, and trying to charge for previously free services. – Dec 21, 2022
