Twitter poll: Musk must step down as CEO

Tech billionaire Elon Musk’s Twitter poll results are out and 57.5 per cent respondents say he should go, casting new uncertainty on the social media platform.

Majority Twitter users want chief executive Elon Musk to step down. Picture: Jim Watson/AFP

Elon Musk should step down as chief of Twitter, according to a poll the billionaire orchestrated and pledged to follow, casting new uncertainty on the social-media platform after more than seven weeks of turmoil since he took it over.

More than 17 million Twitter users had voted by the time the poll on the platform closed after 6am ET (10pm AEDT), with 57.5 per cent saying he should leave as head of the company. Mr. Musk, who in October closed a $US44bn deal for Twitter, delisting the business, had said when he launched the Twitter poll on Sunday that he would abide by the results.

Should I step down as head of Twitter? I will abide by the results of this poll.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 18, 2022

It isn’t clear who would take over leading Twitter if Mr Musk steps aside as CEO, or what his role would be, given that he still owns the company.

Most of the company’s prior leadership was either fired or left after he took over.

“No one wants the job who can actually keep Twitter alive. There is no successor,” Mr Musk tweeted Sunday.

Twitter didn’t respond to a question on the poll’s outcome.

Twitter is a shadow of its former self with most of its leaders gone since the Musk takeover in October. Picture: Constanza Hevia/AFP)

The billionaire’s leadership at Twitter has been tumultuous and weighed on sentiment toward his other businesses, particularly electric carmaker Tesla.

Shares in the automaker have fallen more than 56 per cent this year, frustrating some retail investors who partly blame Mr Musk’s focus on Twitter for the decline.

Mr Musk’s Twitter involvement also has dented Tesla’s brand image.

This month he sold more than $US3.5bn of Tesla stock in his second round of sales since buying Twitter. It wasn’t clear what prompted Mr Musk to sell additional Tesla stock.

There have been questions since Mr Musk first showed interest in buying Twitter how he would juggle running the company while also pursuing all his other endeavours.

Bill Nelson, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s administrator, this month said he had asked SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell if Twitter would divert from the rocket company’s mission.

“She assured me that it would not be a distraction,” Mr Nelson said.

Mr Musk said last month that he had too much work on his plate.

“I expect to reduce my time at Twitter and find somebody else to run Twitter over time,” he testified at a trial about his Tesla pay package last month.

He also said he has been spending most of his time of late focusing on Twitter.

At the time, he wrote on Twitter, “I will continue to run Twitter until it is in a strong place, which will take some time.”

The outcome of the poll adds another disruption at the top of Twitter, which has suffered waves of leadership upheaval.

Co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey handed over running the company little over a year ago after a bruising battle with an activist investor.

Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, a previous backer of Musk, says the recent changes don’t ‘make sense’. Picture: Marco Bello/AFP

His successor, Parag Agrawal, lasted less than a year and was fired by Mr Musk immediately after he took over the company in October. Mr Musk also ousted several other top Twitter executives, and more have resigned since.

Mr Musk has been the driving force at Twitter for nearly two dramatic months, with many advertisers having paused spending, resignations, and content-moderation actions that have been abrupt and controversial among many users.

This past week has been another one full of twists. Twitter suspended the accounts of several journalists, prompting criticism from some politicians and officials before Mr Musk said Saturday that Twitter would begin reinstating the accounts.

Earlier Sunday, Twitter made another sudden change to its content-moderation rules, saying it would no longer allow “free promotion of certain social media platforms.”

Tesla’s shares and brand image have come under pressure with Mr Musk’s Twitter actions and stock selldowns. Picture: Lillian Suwanrumpha/AFP)

That also fuelled criticism and questions, including from Mr Dorsey, who previously endorsed Mr Musk’s takeover. “Doesn’t make sense,” Mr Dorsey tweeted Sunday.

Late Sunday, the tweets from @TwitterSupport and a note on the company’s website announcing the policy against promoting other social-media platforms appeared to have been deleted.

Twitter’s head of trust and safety, Ella Irwin, said the company removed the new policy “in response to user feedback.”

Ms Irwin said that links to other social-media sites will be allowed until Twitter determines whether or not to implement a new policy prohibiting them.

Mr Musk, who has said he intends to make the platform a bastion of free speech, appeared to acknowledge some concerns about the recent, abrupt content policy changes.

“Going forward, there will be a vote for major policy changes. My apologies. Won’t happen again,” he tweeted shortly before posting the poll about his leadership.

Mr Musk has warned about Twitter’s financial condition, saying last month that the company had suffered “a massive drop in revenue” and was losing over $US4m a day. He later raised the possibility of bankruptcy.

Mr Musk’s team this past week reached out for potential fresh investment for Twitter at the same price as the original $US44bn deal, a Twitter investor said.

Democrat Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts on Sunday sent a letter to Tesla’s board chair, Robyn Denholm, raising questions about Mr Musk’s involvement with Twitter, suggesting it could be to the detriment of the automaker’s shareholders and create conflicts of interest. The senator has spared before with Mr Musk.

Tesla didn’t respond to a request for comment about the share sale or the senator’s letter.

– With Peter Stiff

The Wall Street Journal