"Should I resign as head of Twitter?" Elon Musk asks users of the online platform. The majority would welcome this step, but Musk initially shows no signs of acknowledging the result of the poll. Now he is announcing his retirement - but not immediately.
Twitter boss Elon Musk announces that he will hand over the management of the company. "I will resign as CEO as soon as I find someone dumb enough to do the job! After that, I will just run the software and server teams," he wrote in response to a poll of users about whether he should step down as Twitter boss.
A majority had voted for Musk's withdrawal. However, there is currently little indication that the group's owner will quickly find a suitable candidate for the top job. Either way, he should retain great influence as the owner. Musk had already warned before the vote that there were no interested parties who were able to "actually keep Twitter alive". He himself had taken over the top position in the course of his approximately 44 billion dollar purchase of the Internet platform in October. However, Musk had repeatedly signaled that this should not be a permanent solution. Musk said last month that he expects to reduce his working hours at Twitter and hand over the leadership there over time.
The tech billionaire also runs other companies, most notably the electric car maker Tesla and the rocket company SpaceX. Musk's commitment and the ongoing turbulence on Twitter are causing dissatisfaction among their investors and fears that he is neglecting his other companies and damaging their reputation. Some of Tesla's key shareholders have publicly complained that Musk's focus is too much on Twitter and that he is currently absent as the automaker's CEO. Tesla is already under pressure - the stock has fallen by around 50 percent in three months.
Musk's almost two months as "Head of Twitter" have been characterized by chaos and controversy. After a series of highly controversial decisions, the headwind for the 51-year-old star entrepreneur has become increasingly stronger. The Twitter poll he initiated himself on Sunday turned out to be quite clear: 57.5 percent of 17.5 million votes were for the resignation. Musk had previously assured that he would stick to the result of the vote. After that, however, he doubted the result and referred to possible manipulation by bots.
According to US media reports, his search for a new boss was already under way before the vote - but so far without success. In the past week, the situation on Twitter has continued to escalate. Musk - despite his repeatedly emphasized commitment to freedom of speech - initially blocked an automated account for tracking his private jet and later temporarily also the user accounts of some US journalists. His plan to no longer allow users to advertise their presence on certain competing platforms - including Facebook, Instagram or Mastodon - triggered further anger.
Musk promised in another tweet on Monday night that he would also put major changes to the guidelines to the vote in the future. The vote on his resignation as head of Twitter is not the first poll that Musk has conducted on the Internet platform. Last year, for example, Musk committed a Twitter vote to selling a tenth of his Tesla shares. In November, he had a vote on whether former US President Donald Trump could work on the short message service again. Yes, he can, was the answer with a narrow majority, whereupon Twitter unblocked the account again.
Musk's Twitter purchase raised suspicions from the start. The multi-billionaire justified the takeover as an action to strengthen freedom of speech. However, critics feared that the internet platform would be further brutalized and that the change of ownership could lead to more unbridled hate speech, hate speech and disinformation. Musk failed to address those concerns. On the contrary: With a wave of terminations, erratic rule changes, the reactivation of blocked accounts and other controversial decisions, he shook the online network and thus scared not only users but also advertisers - the most important source of income.
