Elon Musk respects the decree of Twitter’s customers, apparently. Musk on Tuesday tweeted that he would step down as head of Twitter as soon as he finds an acceptable substitute. It follows a ballot the Tesla CEO and Twitter proprietor posted Sunday during which he requested customers whether or not he ought to step down as head of Twitter. Over 57% voted in favor of Musk stepping down.
“I’ll resign as CEO as quickly as I discover somebody silly sufficient to take the job!” Musk tweeted on Tuesday. “After that, I’ll simply run the software program and servers groups.”
I’ll resign as CEO as quickly as I discover somebody silly sufficient to take the job! After that, I’ll simply run the software program & servers groups.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 21, 2022
Over 17.5 million folks voted in Musk’s ballot. Twitter as a complete had about 238 million each day customers on the finish of June.
The billionaire, who is also the pinnacle of automobile maker Tesla and rocket maker House X, has a historical past of reversing selections quickly after saying or implementing them.
The abrupt resignation from the beleaguered social community comes almost two months after Musk’s takeover. Beneath his management, Twitter has confronted huge layoffs, lawsuits from former workers, a pullback in spending from advertisers, abrupt coverage adjustments and worldwide outrage after suspending journalists, and different high-profile customers. Earlier than Musk closed the deal to buy Twitter in October, he was reportedly solely planning to be CEO for a couple of months earlier than handing over the reins.
Musk’s time as Twitter’s head has to date been punctuated with new insurance policies that spark a backlash among the many platforms customers and advertisers. In October, Twitter briefly launched a function that allowed customers to pay $8 to earn a “blue examine” verification. It was shortly taken benefit of by trolls, who setup accounts impersonating corporations like Nintendo and Coke. In maybe essentially the most well-known instance, pharmaceutical firm Eli Lilly and Co. noticed its inventory plummet after a faux account tweeted “We’re excited to announce insulin is free now.”
Musk adopted that up final week by suspending accounts for reporters from publications that had been critically overlaying his management, together with The Washington Publish, The New York Occasions and CNN. Twitter also suspended over two dozen accounts on the location that used publicly obtainable flight info to trace the placement of personal jets. Musk accused the account of offering “assassination coordinates” by monitoring his personal jet’s actions and linked it to an alleged stalking incident that occurred in Los Angeles. The Washington Publish reported Sunday that the police had not determined a link.
Following a sequence of dramatic coverage adjustments, for which Musk appeared to apologize Sunday, he promised there would be a vote for all major changes going ahead.