Twitter: Elon Musk invites a “foolish enough” CEO to succeed him!
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Maverick innovator Elon Musk, 51, whose net worth as the world’s wealthiest man until a few weeks ago is plummeting, has said he will resign as Twitter’s CEO as soon as he finds a successor.
In a tweet on Wednesday, he said, “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 & servers teams.”
On Monday, Musk held a poll on Twitter asking users whether he should step down as the CEO: “Should I step down as head of Twitter? I will abide by the results of this poll.”
Fed up with months of chaos and daily controversies around the microblogging platform, 57.5 percent of 17.5 million Twitterati voted yes. Only 43 percent want Musk as Twitter CEO, the media reported on Wednesday.
In his reply, Musk said on Monday, “No one wants the job who can keep Twitter alive. There is no successor.” Last month, he said he did not want to be the CEO of any company, be it Tesla or Twitter.
His announcement came when the Tesla and SpaceX CEO’s net worth on Tuesday tumbled by USD 7.7 billion. In all, he lost USD 122.6 billion this year, which is more than what he gained in 2021 when his wealth rose to rank among the biggest in history. Musk’s net worth is now USD 147.7 billion, the lowest in over two years, the reports said.
Ever since he acquired Twitter in October, Musk has been facing a myriad of issues ranging from banning journalists and other social media platforms amid Tesla stock nosediving. He is also pushing to get more investors for Twitter at the original USD 54.20 per share price, at which he acquired the company for $44 billion.
Musk lost his status as the world’s wealthiest person to luxury tycoon Bernard Arnault on December 13. The Tesla CEO’s fortune primarily comprises this company’s stock and options. The electric automaker’s spiraling shares pose a particular risk for Musk, who leveraged more of his position to finance his acquisition of Twitter.
Tesla shareholders have expressed increasing alarm over Musk’s preoccupation with Twitter, which he’s attempting to lead through a messy and public turnaround.
Both for Musk and Twitter, the outgoing year 2022 has been tumultuous. He began building up shares in the company in January 2022 and his USD 44 billion (£36 billion) bid to buy the platform was accepted in April. He then tried to pull out of the deal in July, and faced legal hurdles, before finally taking ownership in October. Since then he has made – and sometimes walked back – numerous changes to the popular platform. He has been criticized and abused, both online and in real life.
Under pressure from investors, Musk has been selling billions in Tesla stock and its share price is down by over 60 percent this year.
But finding his successor as Twitter’s CEO might prove difficult as the newcomer would likely want his confidence, independence, and assurances to take decisions freely about the direction of the business—with Musk remaining the majority owner.
Musk paid USD 44 billion to buy it, perhaps twice what it was worth as the platform was running losses. He borrowed huge sums and sold large tranches of Tesla stock to help fund the acquisition. But he could now face interest payments to lenders of up to USD 1 billion a year unless Twitter’s financial health can be turned around. These are the brutal facts a new leader must confront.
Although very useful worldwide, Twitter, unlike Facebook or Instagram, cannot deliver billions of users to potential advertisers. Many prominent advertisers left the site apparently after Musk’s chaotic decision-making. The new CEO will have to be imaginative enough to turn Twitter into a viable not-for-profit organization, one that has enormous utility and value, if not the ability to easily make money for its owners and advertisers.
A key task for the new CEO will be to recognize what sort of business Twitter is and decide whether it is a conventional for-profit business at all.
Provided Musk finds someone “foolish enough” to step into his shoes!
