Elon Musk has said that he will step down as CEO of Twitter when he finds someone “stupid enough to take the job.” The billionaire had said he would follow the result of a Twitter poll, in which 57.5% of people voted “yes” to him leaving the job.
Elon Musk Stepping Down As CEO of Twitter
Elon Musk says that even after his replacement is found, he will still be in charge of the software and server teams.
Since he took over, many people have been unhappy with the changes to the platform.
Since October, when Mr. Musk bought the social media site, he has fired about half of its employees and tried to roll out Twitter’s paid-for verification feature before pausing it.
Last week, the feature was brought back. Civil rights groups have also criticized his way of moderating content, saying that he is doing things that will lead to more hate speech and false information.
On Friday, the United Nations and the European Union criticized Mr. Musk because Twitter suspended some journalists who cover the company.
The UN tweeted that media freedom was “not a toy,” The EU said that sanctions would be put in place against Twitter.
This is the first time the billionaire has answered the poll that started on Sunday asking if he should quit. More than 17.5 million people voted, and 42.5% said Mr. Musk shouldn’t step down.
Should I step down as head of Twitter? I will abide by the results of this poll.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 18, 2022
Mr. Musk says it might be hard to find someone to take over the social media platform. After laying off Twitter employees last month, the billionaire is said to have told the remaining workers that the company he just bought could have “the net negative cash flow of several billion dollars” in 2023 and that “bankruptcy is not out of the question.”
After this week’s poll, he wrote on Twitter, “No one wants the job who can keep Twitter alive.”
Some people think that Jack Dorsey, who helped start Twitter, could also come back and run the company. In November 2021, he gave up his job as CEO.
Sheryl Sandberg, the former COO of Facebook, Sriram Krishnan, an engineer and close friend of Mr. Musk, and Jared Kushner, a former US presidential adviser and Donald Trump’s son-in-law, has also been mentioned as possible replacements.
Mr. Musk has listened to Twitter polls in the past. He likes to say “vox populi, vox dei,” which is Latin for “the voice of the people is the voice of God.” But on Tuesday, he said that in the future, only paid Twitter users with a blue tick will be able to vote on policy changes.
It happened after a user said that it looked like a lot of “bots” had voted in the poll about Mr. Musk’s role at the company. Mr. Musk said he was “interested” by the claim.
Elon Musk‘s time as CEO of Twitter may have been short, but it was certainly not sweet. At times, it felt like we were watching a train go off the tracks.
Yep, he already has the new CEO picked out.
Elon will retire to being Chairman of the Board and Tweeter.
— Wall Street Silver (@WallStreetSilv) December 18, 2022
He seemed to like the show he put on. Did he get bored, did his investors stop him, or did he finally listen to those who told him that Tesla, the electric car company that a lot of his wealth is tied to, needs urgent attention from its CEO, who is also him, because the company’s value keeps going down?
Given how honest Mr. Musk seems to be on Twitter, he might tell us one day.
But the Musk/Twitter show is not over yet. No one is likely to buy the company from him soon, especially not at the price he paid for it, and he will still be a prolific and influential tweeter on his own.
Also, he has to find someone to take his place and work with him, which could be hard.
After its launch was put on hold, Twitter’s paid verification feature was rolled out again last week. People who pay $8 per month or $11 if they use the Twitter app on an Apple device get a “blue tick” for using the service. Before, a free blue tick was used to show that something was real.
Investors have been telling Mr. Musk for weeks that he needs to stop running Twitter because it is keeping him from running Tesla well.
Over the past year, the electric car company’s stock has dropped by more than 65%.
Mr. Musk sold Tesla shares worth billions of dollars to help pay for his purchase, which made the shares go down.
After Mr. Musk’s tweet on Tuesday, Dan Ives from the investment firm Wedbush Securities said, “Finally a good step in the right direction to end this painful nightmare situation for Tesla investors.”
For the latest news, keep visiting our website NogMagazine.com.