- Elon Musk has announced his resignation as CEO of Twitter.
- A successor has been found and will take over in about six weeks, Musk said in a tweet.
- As CTO, he wants to take care of more specific business areas such as products and software in the future.
Musk had already announced at the end of 2022 that he wanted to give up the top office – but only once the successor had been settled. He had taken over the top post as part of his approximately $ 44 billion purchase of the Internet platform in October. Musk had always signaled that this was not a permanent solution. He also heads the electric car maker Tesla and the rocket company SpaceX.
Musk’s six months as “Head of Twitter” have been characterized by chaos and controversy. After a series of highly controversial decisions, headwinds mounted. His resignation announcement in December followed a self-initiated Twitter poll in which around 57.5 percent of the participants supported his resignation. Musk had previously assured that he would stick to the result of the vote.
Musk’s takeover of Twitter raised suspicions
Musk’s Twitter purchase raised suspicions from the start. The multi-billionaire justified the takeover as an action to strengthen freedom of speech. However, critics feared a further brutalization of the Internet platform. They worried that the change of ownership could lead to rampant hate speech, disinformation and hate speech.
Legend:
As chief technology officer, Musk wants to take care of more specific business areas such as products and software in the future.
Keystone/RUVIC DATA
So far, Musk has not been able to dispel these concerns. On the contrary: With a wave of layoffs, erratic rule changes and other explosive decisions, he shook the online network and scared off advertising customers – the most important source of income.
financial failure
The $44 billion purchase, which Musk wanted to call off in the meantime and ultimately only went through under great legal pressure, has so far also been a major financial failure. In the recent issue of shares to employees, the company value was only half as high, as Musk confirmed in a BBC interview. At the same time, he claimed in an email to the workforce that Twitter could one day be worth $250 billion.
The suggestions that the service could become the basis for a super app along the lines of WeChat in China have so far not gone beyond mere speculation. Around 1,500 of the 8,000 employees that once existed.
Musk changed Twitter a lot. A major upheaval with still uncertain consequences for the credibility of the platform was the rededication of the blue symbols that once indicated a perfectly verified account.