Elon Musk said Tuesday he would resign as chief executive of Twitter once he finds a replacement, in an apparent response to a poll he launched that suggested users wanted him to step down.
Elon Musk has fully owned Twitter since 27th October 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.
“I will resign as CEO as soon as I find someone foolish enough to take the job!” Musk tweeted, saying he will then only run software and server teams at Twitter.
In the poll results which were posted on Monday, 57 percent of voters, or 10 million votes, favored Musk stepping down just weeks after he took ownership of the company for $44 billion.
Musk has used the Twitter polls to take other decisions on the platform, including the reinstatement of the account of former US president Donald Trump and other suspended users.
Earlier this week he used a laughing emoji to ridicule a report he was in search of someone to take over as boss of Twitter, and tweeted that “no one wants the job who can actually keep Twitter alive.”
Replying to one Twitter user’s comment on a possible change in CEO, Musk said “There is no successor”.
Elon Musk told a Delaware court last month that he would reduce his time at Twitter and eventually find a new leader to run the company.
Elon Musk said on Sunday he will abide by the results of the poll, but did not give details on when he would step down if results said he should. The poll comes after Twitter’s Sunday policy update, which prohibited accounts created solely for the purpose of promoting other social media firms and content that contains links or usernames for rival platforms.
