Elon Musk said on Tuesday that he would not leave his position as the company's CEO until he can find a suitable successor, citing the company's financial situation as justification for delaying his intended exit.
"As soon as I find someone naive enough to accept the position of CEO, I will step down! Musk wrote, "After that, I'll only handle the software & servers teams," and then he joined a Twitter Livestream to talk about the company's condition with a former intern."
For the first time since Twitter users overwhelmingly supported his resignation in a poll that the billionaire started on Sunday night, Musk discussed stepping down as the social media platform's CEO. The admission, however, fell well short of a strong guarantee to follow his word.
File image dated October 31, 2013, showing Elon Musk, who in his first remarks after the overwhelming user vote for him to stand down as the site's CEO, said that only Twitter Blue subscribers will be allowed to vote in future policy-related polls on the website. Tuesday, December 20, 2022, was the release date.
During the show, Musk spoke with viewers about his time working for the firm and emphasized the need for cost-cutting measures. Under his leadership, Twitter has shrunk to "a little over 2,000 employees," down from "a negative cash flow scenario of $3bn [£2.48bn] a year" before his arrival, which he described as "net dead."
To make sure Twitter would be "approximately cash flow breakeven" by 2023, he stated, "that's why I spent the past five weeks lowering expenses like crazy." Even today, managing the business is like "being in a jet with the engines on fire and the controls are broken" as it is rapidly approaching the earth.
He admitted that some of the company's expenses were due to his purchase, which left the business with a $12.5 billion debt that must be repaid out of its earnings. But "I now believe that Twitter will be OK next year" as a result of the adjustments we are doing here to drastically lower the burn rate and increase subscription income.
This week's Twitter poll was posted. Musk has already said that he would not continue to lead the firm in the long run. The second-richest person in the world testified in court in Delaware in November that he would cut down on his time at Twitter and ultimately find someone to take over the company's management.
Recently, Tesla investors have questioned if Musk's obsession with the social media platform is keeping him from effectively leading the electric car industry. Calls for Musk to stand down on Wall Street have been rising for weeks.
Musk acknowledged throughout the court proceeding that he was overburdened. But he said on Sunday that there was no one in place to take his place and that "no one wants the position who can truly keep Twitter alive.
Musk's sole comment on the poll up to his tweet on Tuesday was that bogus accounts had tampered with the results. He also said that Twitter will "make that adjustment" in response to a tweet that suggested only those who paid $8 or $11 (for iOS subscribers) for a Twitter Blue membership should be allowed to vote in the polls.
Following a slew of actions taken by Twitter's new owner that was roundly criticized, a poll was conducted asking him to resign. He initially blocked a user who monitored the whereabouts of his private plane, and then he suspended several journalists who had been reporting on the block.
Musk issued a new regulation forbidding any connections to other social networks, including Mastodon, Instagram, and Facebook after users replied by expressing intentions to switch to other platforms.
The adjustment was done during the Fifa World Cup championship in Qatar when Musk and Kushner were seen watching the game. By the end of the day, the policy had been dropped, and Musk said that moving forward, all significant policy changes will be put to a vote.
