“I will resign as CEO as soon as I find someone foolish enough to take the job!”, Elon Musk wrote on Twitter.
Earlier this week, Musk received a clear indication from Twitter users that most of them would like to see him step down from the job after weeks of controversy surrounding the social media platform.
Around 57.5% of the 17.5 million people who took part in a poll he posted on Twitter with the question, “Should I step down as head of Twitter?” answered in the affirmative.
After months of lawsuits and the near miss of a full-blown trial, Musk finally took control of Twitter at the end of October. Before the $44 billion (€41.45 billion) acquisition was finalized, Musk entered Twitter headquarters with a sink in his hands — tweeting the picture with the words, “Let that sink in.”
The ensuing two months have seen mass layoffs, rows over blue check marks, Donald Trump’s account restored, several journalists banned from the platform, the prohibition of promoting other social media outlets and Twitter haemorrhaging millions of dollars per day.
There have also been calls from Wall Street for Musk to step down from Twitter, which some investors see as distracting the billionaire from his work at Tesla, the electric vehicle company he also runs.
He has also alienated some investors in his electric vehicle company Tesla who are concerned that Twitter is taking too much of his attention.
Some of Musk’s actions have unnerved Twitter advertisers and turned off users. They include laying off half of Twitter’s workforce, letting go of contract content moderators and disbanding a council of trust and safety advisors that the company formed in 2016 to address hate speech, child exploitation, suicide, self-harm and other problems on the platform.
