Entrepreneur and Twitter Inc CEO Elon Musk has offered to resign as chief executive of Twitter as soon as he finds someone "foolish enough to take the job."
Musk's response follows the online poll he opened on whether or not he should step down as head of Twitter. In the poll floated on Sunday, 57.5 per cent of the voters had said he should resign, while 42.5 per cent had voted no.
Musk, who promised to abide by the results of this poll, had stayed silent on Monday. However, he tweeted on Tuesday: "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 & servers teams." This hints that though he may step down, Musk will continue to yield significant influence on the company’s decision-making.
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 & servers teams.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 21, 2022
Musk's post was well received by his followers, some of who praised his integrity.
The billionaire had earlier replied to Twitter users who cast doubt on the poll feature that only people who paid for its subscription service would be allowed to vote. That said, Twitter polls are straw polls, meaning that they are not comparable to professional public opinion research as .alicious bots or inauthentic accounts may also be able to register a response.
Musk had also tweeted that he had no successor and suggested that there were no qualified candidates to lead Twitter. "No one who wants the job can actually keep Twitter alive," he posted.
However, there are reports that the Tesla CEO is actively searching for a CEO for Twitter, a company he bought in October before making it private. According to a report by CNBC, Musk’s search for a new CEO has been ongoing and began before the Twitter poll was made.
Musk had previously said his position as CEO would be temporary. "I expect to reduce my time at Twitter and find somebody else to run Twitter over time," he told the Delaware court.
