After his Twitter poll that saw over 10 million users voting that he should step down as the social media company’s CEO, Elon Musk has said he will only resign when he finds a suitable successor.
In addition to that, the billionaire said he will continue to run the core part of the company (software & servers) even after he resigns.
But Musk suggested that it may be difficult to find someone willing to accept the offer of Twitter CEO, noting that his replacement must be ‘foolish enough’ to want the job.
Reaction to poll: In his first reaction to the poll two days after it was concluded with 57.5% of 17.5 million users voting that he should step down as Twitter CEO, Musk said:
- “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.”
Finding a new Twitter CEO: Earlier on Monday, Musk responded to a Twitter user’s comment that the billionaire ought to have appointed a CEO immediately after he finalised his acquisition of the company for $44 billion. According to Musk, it may be difficult to find someone that would keep Twitter alive like him.
- “The question is not finding a CEO, the question is finding a CEO who can keep Twitter alive,” he said.
Meanwhile, Twitter users have been suggesting several names for Musk to consider as CEO. Names being put forward as a possible replacement for Musk include Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s former chief operating officer, Sriram Krishnan, engineer and close confidante to Musk, and Jared Kushner, US former presidential adviser and son-in-law of Donald Trump.
Some are also speculating that Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey could also come back to run the company. Jack resigned as chief executive in November 2021 and had been supportive of Musk’s acquisition of Twitter, even though they disagree on some of the recent policies of the latter.