Musk Says He Wants To ‘Stabilize’ Twitter Before Finding A New CEO By The End Of 2023

Topline

Twitter CEO Elon Musk on Wednesday said he expects to have a new person in place to lead the social media company by the end of 2023, a statement which comes nearly two months after Twitter users voted in favor of him stepping down in a poll shared by the billionaire.

Key Facts

Addressing the World Government Summit in Dubai through a video call, Musk said he wants to first “stabilize the organization” and ensure that it is financially healthy before handing over the reins.

Without offering an exact timeline, Musk said sometime around the “end of this year” would be “good timing” for a new CEO to take charge.

Commenting on the state of Twitter’s current state the billionaire said it was “somewhat a startup in reverse” adding that a lot of work was needed to get the company into a stable position.

Musk was more guarded in his comments about free speech saying his goal is to ensure the social platform enables speech with the “least amount of censorship allowed by law… [which] varies a lot by jurisdiction.”

The Twitter CEO added that social media companies should “adhere to the laws of countries” and not “try to put a thumb on the scale beyond the laws of countries.”

Forbes Valuation

According to our estimates, Musk’s current net worth stands at $196.5 billion, making him the world’s second richest person. After a major slump at the end of last year, Musk’s wealth has surged once again as Tesla’s stocks are up more than 93% since the start of 2023.

Key Background

In December, Musk shared a poll asking Twitter users if he should step down as CEO, amid backlash about a series of rule changes implemented by the platform. Musk vowed to abide by the results of the poll and 57.5% had voted in favor of him stepping down. After the poll ended Musk and his followers first alluded that the results had been manipulated by bots—an allegation that the billionaire has used when poll results don’t favor his point of view. However, a day later Musk said he will resign as CEO as soon as he finds “someone foolish enough to take the job,” after which he will “run the software & servers teams.”

Further Reading

Elon Musk Says He Will Step Down As Twitter CEO—After He Finds ‘Someone Foolish Enough’ To Take Over (Forbes)

Musk Asked Twitter Users If He Should Step Down As CEO—Most Voters Said ‘Yes’ (Forbes)