Musk steps down as CEO of Twitter as soon as he finds “some idiot” as his successor

Dec 20 (Reuters) – Billionaire Elon Musk said on Tuesday he will step down as CEO of Twitter once he finds a replacement but will still run some key parts of the social media platform.

“I will resign as CEO as soon as I find someone stupid enough to take over! After that, I will just run the software and server teams,” Musk wrote on Twitter.

Musk’s $44 billion acquisition of Twitter in October has been marked by chaos and controversy, with some investors wondering if he was too distracted to properly run electric car maker Tesla. (TSLA.O)for which he is personally involved in production and engineering.

This is the first time Musk has mentioned stepping down as head of the social media platform, following Twitter users Been voted He has to resign in a billionaire poll conducted on Sunday evening.

In the poll, 57.5% of nearly 17.5 million people voted “yes.” Musk said on Sunday that he would stick to the findings. He did not provide a time frame for when he would step down and no successor has been named.

The survey results capped a whirlwind week that included changes to Twitter’s privacy policy and the suspension – and reinstatement – of journalists’ accounts, which drew condemnation from news organizations, advocacy groups and officials across Europe.

Wall Street calls for Musk to step down have been mounting for weeks, and recently even bulls at Tesla have questioned his focus on the social media platform and how it could distract him from running the electric car maker.

Musk himself said that he had a lot going on, and that he would be looking for a Twitter CEO. He said Sunday, however, that there is no successor and that “nobody wants the job that can really keep Twitter alive.”

Additional reporting by Anne Maria Shipu and Gopi Babu in Bengaluru; Editing by Sandra Mahler and Anne-Marie Rountree

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