Elon Musk said Tuesday afternoon that he plans to stay on as Twitter’s CEO until he finds someone willing to replace him on the job.
Musk’s announcement came after just over 57 percent of responses indicated he should step down, in an unscientific poll the billionaire himself created and vowed to fulfill last weekend.
“I will resign as CEO as soon as I find someone stupid enough to take the job!” Musk tweeted. “After that, I’ll just run the software and server teams.”
Since taking over San Francisco-based Twitter in late October, Musk’s career as CEO has been marked by quickly issued rules and policies that have often been withdrawn or changed soon after they were made public
He has also alienated some investors in his electric vehicle company Tesla who worry that Twitter is giving him too much attention.
“The first few weeks of Mr. Musk’s ownership of Twitter have raised questions about possible violations of securities or other laws, including whether Mr. Musk is funneling Tesla’s resources to Twitter,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat, said in a letter , made public, to Robyn. Denholm, chairman of the board of Tesla.
Tesla shares are down 35 percent since Musk took over Twitter on Oct. 27, costing investors billions. Tesla’s market value topped $1.1 trillion on April 1, the last day of trading before Musk revealed he was buying Twitter shares. Since then, Tesla has lost 58 percent of its value, at a time when rival automakers are chipping away at the company’s dominant share of electric vehicle sales.
Stocks fell on Wednesday, as they have every day this week.
A single share of Tesla that cost about $400 to start the year can now be had for less than $140.
Tumultuous first weeks
Some of Musk’s actions have baffled Twitter advertisers and turned off users. It includes firing half of Twitter’s workforce, letting go of hired content moderators and disbanding a board of trust and safety advisors the company formed in 2016 to address hate speech, exploitation child, suicide, self-harm and other issues on the platform.
Musk, who also runs the rocket company SpaceX, has previously acknowledged how difficult it will be to find someone to take over as Twitter’s CEO.
Front Burner22:24The culture war on Elon Musk’s Twitter
Musk said Tuesday night that he “spent the last five weeks cutting costs like crazy” and trying to build a stronger paid subscription service because otherwise Twitter could take a roughly $3 billion loss next year He blamed it in part on the $12.5 billion in debt tied to his April deal to buy the company, as well as recent interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve.
Joking with Twitter followers last Sunday, he said the person replacing him “must really like pain” to lead a company he said has been “on the fast track to bankruptcy “.
“No one wants the job that can actually keep Twitter alive. There is no successor,” Musk tweeted.
As things stand, Musk would still retain overwhelming influence over the platform as an owner. He fired the company’s board shortly after taking control.