Musk Asks Twitter Users If He Should Step Down As CEO—And Most Voters Are Saying ‘Yes’

Topline

Elon Musk on Sunday launched a poll asking Twitter users to decide if he should stay on as the CEO of the social media platform amid growing backlash about recent rule changes and banning of prominent journalists from the platform.

FILE – Elon Musk has asked Twitter users if he should step down as the company’s CEO in a poll.

Key Facts

Musk’s poll, the results of which he promised to abide by, has received nearly 15 million votes as of early Monday morning with more than 57% of respondents calling on him to step down as CEO.

Before sharing the poll, Musk announced that Twitter users will now have the chance to vote on all major policy changes at the platform, as he apologized about Twitter’s latest controversial move that banned users from posting links to other social media sites including Facebook, Instagram, Mastodon and several others.

The policy change, which triggered pushback from Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, appears to have been reversed.

In line with Musk’s promise, the official @twittersafety account is asking users if the platform should go forward with the policy to ban links from competing social media sites.

With more than 180,000 votes cast, more than 86% of respondents are opposed to this policy.

News Peg

Musk’s offer to step down as Twitter CEO comes as several investors at Tesla have questioned his commitment to the electric vehicle company.

Tangent

Tesla’s shares have slumped in value by more than 51% in the past three months and 33% since Musk’s takeover of Twitter in late October. One of the most public pushbacks against the Tesla CEO came from billionaire Leo Koguan, who is a self-professed Elon Musk “fanboy” and claims to be the third largest Tesla investor in the world. Last week, Koguan tweeted Musk had “abandoned Tesla” and the electric carmaker had “no working CEO” while implying that the company’s board should try to replace Musk with a “working full time CEO.” Koguan appeared to soften his stance slightly on Sunday, saying he wished Musk would stay on as Tesla CEO and find someone else to take over the reins at Twitter. In the past twelve months, Musk has sold nearly $40 billion worth of Tesla shares—$7.5 billion of which have been sold since his acquisition of Twitter.

Crucial Quote

Future Fund Managing Partner Gary Black, who is a noted Tesla bull, tweeted: “I have to believe [Tesla] outside directors are putting pressure on Elon to give up his role as [Twitter] CEO. It’s hard to ignore the numbers since [the] Twitter deal closed on 10/27.”

Forbes Valuation

According to our estimates, Musk’s net worth stands at $163.7 billion, which is a steep decline from a peak of $320 billion in November 2021, largely due to the poor performance of Tesla’s stock. Last week, Musk ceded the title of the world’s richest person to Bernard Arnault, CEO of luxury goods conglomerate LVMH—and the gap between their wealth has continued to grow.