Big Tech

Wanted: someone ‘foolish enough’ to succeed Elon Musk as Twitter boss

Tesla chief has pledged to step down as Twitter CEO, and is searching for a successor to take over by year end

Elon Musk told the World Government Summit in Dubai on Wednesday that he was ready to hand off the reins of Twitter. Photograph: Karim Sahib/AFP via Getty Images

Wed Feb 15 2023 - 07:24

Elon Musk is aiming to find his successor to lead Twitter as chief executive towards the end of 2023.

“I need to stabilise the organisation and just make sure it’s in a financially healthy place and the product roadmap is clearly laid out,” Musk said via a remote video link to a conference in Dubai on Wednesday.

Since taking over in October, Musk has said that he plans to step aside at some point, but had never specified a timeline. After handing over the reins, Musk has said his priority will be to emphasise Twitter’s engineering as owner. The billionaire executive embarked on a search for a new chief executive in December, a person familiar with the search said at the time.

“I’m guessing towards the end of this year should be a good timing to find someone else to run the company,” Musk said. “I think it should be in stable condition around the end of this year.”

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Musk committed to handing off the Twitter reins after running a poll of his followers in December.

Close to 60 per cent were in favour of the billionaire stepping down – motivated in part by concern about him being distracted from Tesla Inc. At the time, he said it was a matter of finding “someone foolish enough to take the job.”

Still, the chief executive of Tesla, Twitter and SpaceX has a track record of missing his own deadlines and promised delivery times, including for new products such as the Cybertruck or software capabilities such as fully autonomous driving.

“Twitter is still somewhat of a start-up in reverse,” Musk said. Lots of work is needed to get Twitter to a “stable position.”

Musk, 51, took Twitter private in a $44 billion deal, and is the world’s second-richest man with a personal fortune of $187 billion, according to Bloomberg.

Musk also spoke broadly about his vision for Twitter and his efforts to rid the platform of misinformation. He said he wanted Twitter to be a source of truth and he encouraged companies, other CEOs and ministers to speak authentically, even if it draws attacks.

“Having some criticism is fine,” he said. “It’s really not that bad. I’m constantly attacked on Twitter. I don’t mind.”

Asked whether he limited social media usage for his children, Musk said, “I haven’t tried to restrict social media from my kids, but that may have been a mistake.”

– Bloomberg

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