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Elon Musk says he will step down as Twitter CEO

December 21, 2022

Previously, Musk posted a poll on Twitter asking the platform's users whether he should stay on as CEO. More than 57% of the millions who voted said he should step down from his role.

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Elon Musk Twitter post
More than 17 million people voted in Musk's Twitter pollImage: Yui Mok/PA Wire/picture alliance

Elon Musk said Tuesday he will step down as chief executive of Twitter as soon as a replacement is found.

"I will resign as CEO as soon as I find someone foolish enough to take the job! After that, I will just run the software and servers teams," Musk wrote on Twitter.

What else has Musk said about stepping down?

Earlier this week, Musk received a clear indication from Twitter users that the majority of them would like to see him step down from the job after weeks of controversy surrounding the social media platform.

Around 57.5% of the 17.5 million people who took part in a poll he posted on Twitter with the question, "Should I step down as head of Twitter?" answered in the affirmative.

Plumbing to new depths

After months of lawsuits and the near miss of a full-blown trial, Musk finally took control of Twitter at the end of October. Just before the $44 billion (€41.45 billion) acquisition was finalized, Musk entered Twitter headquarters with a sink in his hands — tweeting the picture with the words, "Let that sink in."

The ensuing two months have seen mass layoffs, rows over blue check marks, Donald Trump's account restored, several journalists banned from the platform, the prohibition of promoting other social media outlets and Twitter hemorrhaging millions of dollars per day.

There have also been calls from Wall Street for Musk to step down from Twitter, which some investors see as distracting the billionaire from his work at Tesla, the electric vehicle company he also runs. 

jsi/ar (AFP, Reuters)