Elon Musk Puts Stepping Down As Twitter Boss Up For Vote
Elon Musk is conducting another Twitter poll, and this one might be the most consequential yet. The billionaire has asked people whether he should step down as the CEO of Twitter, merely weeks after he forked out $44 billion to buy the company. At the time of writing, nearly 57% of the respondents voted in favor of Musk abandoning his seat as the head of Twitter. Just like many of his polls conducted before, Musk claims he will "abide by the results of this poll." However, he also mentioned in another tweet that there's "no successor" ready up take up the mantle.
Should I step down as head of Twitter? I will abide by the results of this poll.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 18, 2022
Musk's leadership style has come under fire ever since he first stepped foot inside the company's headquarters after signing the acquisition papers. He fired entire departments, gutted teams across every division, started asking employees to show their commitment by writing code, and even sleeping in the office space while also losing some core amenities. The Twitter 2.0 vision that Musk has often talked about has drawn a lot of flak, too.
After unbanning thousands of accounts — following a Twitter poll — Musk signed controversial new policies such as a ban on promoting other social media platforms on Twitter, especially hot rivals like Mastodon. Musk's self-proclaimed free speech absolutism has also been implemented questionably, while multiple independent research papers have claimed that problems like racism and toxicity have gone up on Twitter under his regime.
Maybe it's the right time to focus on Tesla
Musk hasn't really explained the motive behind stepping down as the CEO of Twitter, but he claims that "the question is not finding a CEO, the question is finding a CEO who can keep Twitter alive." Replying to podcast host Lex Friedman, Musk mentioned that Twitter has been in the fast lane to bankruptcy since May. Musk is propping up Twitter based on his own Tesla holdings, and despite promising that he won't be selling any more Tesla stocks for months, he offloaded another pile worth $3.6 billion just three days ago.
Musk's reign as Twitter's new CEO with a free-speech-loving agenda and hardcore commitment from employees hasn't really turned Twitter into a cash cow. On the contrary, advertisers continue to be wary of the platform, and there's a visible user exodus happening, especially folks with influence. While there's a legion of his supporters that claim he's the right kind of leader for Twitter, some Tesla shareholders think otherwise.
No one wants the job who can actually keep Twitter alive. There is no successor.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 19, 2022
Tesla investors had started to worry months ago that Musk's duties at Twitter will distract him from his responsibilities at the car company. Tesla's stock price has fallen to a two-year low of around $150 and the company's market cap has dropped below $500 billion for the first time since November 2020. Tesla investor Joe Cirincione blasted Musk for "killing the company with his antics." Separately, Tesla's third-largest individual shareholder, Leo KoGuan, says that "Elon abandoned Tesla and Tesla has no working CEO."