Elon Musk Reveals New Twitter CEO Will Take Over Post in Six Weeks
20:32 GMT 11.05.2023 (Updated: 20:38 GMT 11.05.2023)
© AP Photo / Soeren StacheIn this Feb. 2, 2013, file photo, a smartphone display shows the Twitter logo in Berlin, Germany, Twitter unsealed the documents Thursday, Oct. 3, 2013, for its planned initial public offering of stock and says it hopes to raise up to $1 billion
© AP Photo / Soeren Stache
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Musk has served as Twitter CEO since his October 2022 takeover, shortly after dismissing then CEO Parag Agrawal along with several other executives. He previously indicated he intended to move away from the CEO post by years' end.
Elon Musk has announced he will officially be stepping down as CEO of Twitter in six weeks' time after finding a new person for the role.
The announcement was made in a Thursday tweet in which he detailed he would be transitioning to "exec chair & CTO, overseeing product, software & sysops."
"Excited to announce that I've hired a new CEO for X/Twitter," Musk wrote. "She will be starting in ~6 weeks!"
Musk did not identify the new chief executive officer by name, nor did he provide any specifics on the individual's work experience.
The Twitter chief commented in mid February that he intended to appoint his successor by the end of the year, but that he first wanted to ensure the social media platform remained stable.
“I’m guessing probably towards the end of this year should be good timing to find someone else to run the company because I think it should be in a stable position around the end of this year," he had said at the World Government Summit in Dubai.
The development comes after Musk previously stated in December 2022 that he would be honoring the results of a public poll he created that asked Twitter users whether he should step down as Twitter chief.
At the time, the final poll results revealed 57.5% of participating users were in favor of his departure from the CEO gig. A total of 17,502,391 users voted in the poll.
After months of stalled talks and legal filings, Musk officially took hold of Twitter in October 2022 as part of a $44 billion acquisition. He had stated then that he never intended to remain the permanent CEO of the platform.
In the months that followed, his arrival at the company was marked by a loss of advertisers, budget cuts and severe staffing losses.
Talk of Musk's shift away from Twitter came on the heels of reports speculating investors felt as though his other companies were suffering, and that the South African entrepreneur was becoming increasingly distracted with his new purchase.