Elon Musk says he'll adhere to popular vote, resign as Twitter CEO

After Elon Musk tweeted out a poll asking whether he should remain Twitter CEO, voters showed him the door. Last night, he reiterated he'll abide by the decree.

Elon Musk says he'll adhere to popular vote, resign as Twitter CEO
Elon Musk Photo: Dimitrios Kambouris

Is Elon Musk’s befuddling tenure as Twitter’s CEO coming to an end? After a poll on his leadership status (tweeted by Musk himself) voted the Tesla founder out of office, Musk has said he will honor the count and recuse himself from the role of chief executive.

Musk tweeted out an initial poll on December 18, asking users: “Should I step down as head of Twitter? I will abide by the results of this poll.” When all was said and done (and over 17.5 million people had cast their digital ballot), 57.5% of participants voted Musk out, and 42.5% voted for him to continue his tenure.

Responding to that tweet on Tuesday night, Musk reiterated that he would abide by the results of the popular vote, and said he planned to resign once he tied up one last loose end.

“I will resign as CEO as soon as I find someone foolish enough to take the job!” Musk wrote. “After that, I will just run the software & servers teams.”

The new announcement is a far cry from Musk’s last tweet on the matter, in which he claimed nobody could follow his footsteps at the platform (which before his purchase, had been publicly traded since 2013.) “No one wants the job who can actually keep Twitter alive,” he wrote on December 18, in response to a user who claimed Musk had already found a new CEO. “There is no successor.”

As it is with most of Musk’s Twitter content, exactly what his resignation will look like (or if it will come to pass) remains anyone’s guess. Even if he departs as CEO, Musk is still the owner of the company—his hands aren’t exactly off the strings yet.

 
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