Elon Musk may be stepping down from Twitter as CEO following a Twitter poll.
Key Details
- Twitter owner Elon Musk has faced a turbulent weekend, following the banning of several prominent journalists that he accused of doxxing the location of his son, his feud with independent journalist and Twitter Files author Bari Weiss which resulted in him unfollowing her, Twitter banning links to rival-social media platforms, and his feud with Tesla investors over declining valuation.
- This comes in addition to weeks of criticism and scrutiny against his approach to leadership for the social-media site.
- “Should I step down as head of Twitter? I will abide by the results of this poll,” he tweeted.
- Musk is now saying he may step down from his role leading the company, following a Twitter poll he opened on Sunday evening. The poll concluded this morning with 17,502,391 votes and 57.5% saying “Yes,” he should step down.
Why it’s Important
Elon Musk previously promised that he would eventually find a new CEO to take over control of Twitter after he’d set it in a new direction. Now it appears he may be stepping down earlier than expected. He is unlikely to forfeit his ownership of his $44 billion Twitter investment but will likely fall into a similar arrangement to his ownership of SpaceX, Tesla, and Neuralink, with the companies operating independently with his oversight over their vision and direction.
Musk has financial incentives to step away from Twitter and focus on his other projects. SpaceX is on the cusp of a major success with the launch of its Starship heavy-lifting vehicle, which is contracted to play a role in NASA’s Artemis program. NASA administrator Bill Nelson weighed in on Musk’s focus on Twitter last weekend, telling SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell that there are concerns with SpaceX meeting its delivery dates.
Tesla investors in particular are critical of Musk’s focus away from his electric-vehicle development. Tesla’s valuation year-to-year is down 57.6%.
“Tesla investors have become more vocal about their dissatisfaction with their CEO, Elon Musk, spending a lot of time on Twitter and selling Tesla shares to support the company … Tesla investors have been calling for Musk to step down from the role of CEO at Twitter and refocus on Tesla, but Musk has mostly ignored their pleas. It reached a level where investors were starting to now call for Musk to step down from his role as CEO of Tesla instead,” says Electrek.
Musk does not have a clear CEO to take over control from him who shares his vision for the social media app.
