CNN
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Twitter owner Elon Musk confirmed on Tuesday night that he would step down as CEO of the company, but only when he identifies a successor, speaking directly for the first time to a Twitter poll he created this week in which millions of users voted to oust him.
In one TweeterMusk said he would quit “as soon as I find someone dumb enough to take the job!”
He added that after stepping down as CEO, Musk would “lead the software and server teams” at Twitter, indicating he could continue to wield significant influence over the company’s decision-making.
The announcement comes after more than a day of silence on the ballot following its result. On Monday, after more than 17 million users cast their ballots – 57.5% of whom said Musk should quit – the billionaire executive only addressed the results tangentially. He suggested that future Twitter polls could be limited to paying users of Twitter Blue, the company’s subscription service.
Musk’s poll asking users whether he should step down as CEO came after a massive backlash to Twitter’s abrupt suspension of several journalists who cover him, as well as Twitter’s decision to ban and then not to ban, links to other social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram and Mastodon, a fast-growing Twitter rival that has grown eightfold in size since October.
Musk’s brief tenure as CEO brought sweeping, sometimes erratic, changes to one of the world’s most influential social media companies.
Under his leadership, Twitter fired the majority of its staff, alienated key advertisers, welcomed former President Donald Trump to the platform after he was suspended following the Jan. 6 Capitol riots, and released internal communications to reporters. on Twitter’s operations before Musk took ownership of the company.
Musk forced the remaining employees to pledge to get “extremely hardcore” in their jobs and stopped enforcing Twitter’s policy against Covid-19 misinformation.
Within days, Twitter launched, then was forced to cancel, a paid verification feature that was instantly manipulated by satirical accounts posing as big brands, athletes and other verified public figures on the platform.
Musk’s penchant for making major product changes based on little more than informal Twitter polls highlighted his ad hoc, improvisational management style. But this approach has drawn increasing criticism from many Twitter users. Last week, Twitter suspended several reporters who reported on Musk’s permanent banning of an account that tracked his plane.
Growing criticism of Musk culminated in Sunday’s poll which served as an effective, if unscientific, referendum on Musk’s handling of the company since he completed his late Twitter purchase. october.
