Elon Musk has said he will “abide” by the results of a Twitter poll asking users if he should “step down” as chief executive. On Sunday (December 18), the billionaire launched a poll on his Twitter account which asked: “Should I step down as head of Twitter? I will abide by the results of this poll,” along with the options Yes or No.
When the poll closed on Monday morning, 57.5 percent of respondents – more than 10m users – had voted “Yes”, after more than 17.5m votes were cast. The Tesla boss has not yet publicly responded to the vote and it is unclear if or when he would hand over the day-to-day running of the social media giant, but he said before the vote closed that there was “no successor” lined up.
Musk only took over the social media firm two months ago in a deal worth $44bn (£36 billion). He posted two cryptic tweets late on Sunday, the first of which said: “As the saying goes, be careful what you wish, as you might get it.”
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A second said: “Those who want power are the ones who least deserve it.”
Industry expert Paolo Pescatore of PP Foresight said the company’s future was now even more unpredictable following the vote, after an already turbulent period under his leadership which has seen a number of controversies and several major policy U-turns.
“One thing I’d say is expect the unexpected. Ultimately, he still owns the company and is the one calling the shots,” Pescatore told the PA news agency.
Should I step down as head of Twitter? I will abide by the results of this poll.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk)
Other industry experts also said Musk’s influence at Twitter was unlikely to substantially dwindle even if he did step down from running the platform day-to-day. Jukka Väänänen, chief executive of PR platform Newspage, said: “Even if he steps down as CEO, Musk will still be pulling the strings, that much is for sure."
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Social media commentator Matt Navarra said he believed the Tesla boss was “expecting” the result because of his controversial stint in charge and the poll is part of his own preparations to step aside. He said: “I get the feeling he’s bored of his new toy and he’s in fact seeing what most previous tech CEOs and social media bosses have seen, which is that it is actually no fun being the person in charge of all the decision-making and policies around social media and content moderation.
“It’s also a huge distraction from his other big businesses like Tesla, and he’s not doing himself any favours from a financial point of view, or in terms of relationships with stakeholders and shareholders in his other businesses.”
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