Elon Musk stated this week that he will resign as Twitter’s CEO once he finds someone “foolish enough” to replace him.
This Tuesday, Twitter CEO Elon Musk stated he will not step down as the company’s chief executive until he can find a suitable replacement for the position. He also cited the current state of the company’s finances as a reason to delay his departure.
Before joining a Twitter livestream with a former intern to discuss the current state of the company, Musk tweeted: “I will resign as CEO as soon as I find someone foolish enough to take the job! After that, I will just run the software and servers teams.”
On Sunday evening, Musk tweeted out a poll in which he asked Twitter users if he should step down as CEO. His tweet regarding finding a replacement was the first mention of him actually leaving the role since the poll itself. In the livestream, he expanded on the financial situation of Twitter.
“[Under my watch] Twitter is down a little over 2,000 people. The company has been facing a negative cash flow situation of $3 billion a year until [I] arrived.”
“That’s why I spent the last five weeks cutting costs like crazy, to ensure that Twitter would be roughly cash flow breakeven by 2023. [Running Twitter is like] you’re in a plane heading to the ground at high speed with the engines on fire and the controls don’t work,” Musk stated on the livestream.
He went on to explain that some of Twitter’s costs were a result of his initial purchase of the company, which is currently dealing with $12.5 billion of debt that will have to be paid off using revenues.
“With the changes we are making here on massively reducing the burn rate, and building subscriber revenue, I now think that Twitter will, in fact, be ok next year,” he claimed.
“No one [who wants the job] can actually keep Twitter alive.”
Musk has mentioned previously that he didn’t plan on staying in the CEO position long term. Back in November he told a court in Delaware that he would reduce his time spent at Twitter and likely find someone to take over the position.
Tesla investors have also voiced their concerns over Musk’s involvement in the company, questioning whether or not his role with Twitter was getting in the way of him properly running his electric vehicle business and all the endeavors they’re currently involved in.
Musk’s time with Twitter so far has been quite controversial in the public eye. He’s suspended multiple accounts of journalists who were critical of his acquisition of the company and the changes he’s made so far, and future plans for the platform.
Musk stated that all major policy decisions made for Twitter would be decided by vote, likely through Twitter polls feature, however, it seems that only users who are paying the $8 or $11 for a Twitter Blue subscription will be able to vote in polls; after Musk responded to a tweet making that suggestion stating that Twitter would “make that change.”
Eric Mastrota is a Contributing Editor at The National Digest based in New York. A graduate of SUNY New Paltz, he reports on world news, culture, and lifestyle. You can reach him at eric.mastrota@thenationaldigest.com.
