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Key Takeaways
- After a drawn-out process to gain control of Twitter, Elon Musk plans to step down as CEO.
- The decision comes after he conducted a poll on Twitter that allowed users to vote on his fate as CEO.
- Musk tweeted that he plans to step down once he finds a replacement.
The deal took months to finalize but Musk did eventually take over Twitter, making it a private company and appointing himself as its CEO. After a few months on the job, he plans to step down.
Let’s take a closer look at how this new development unfolded and what the future really holds for Twitter.
The Twitter takeover story
Elon Musk started his bid for control of Twitter earlier this year. The process began when he purchased 9.2% of the company’s stock, which made him the company’s largest shareholder.
After making his offer to buy the company at around $44 billion, the deal went back and forth for a while. At times, it seemed like they had stalled out. Eventually, Musk and Twitter finalized the acquisition at $54.20 per share.
However, that’s hardly the end of the story. Once Musk became the owner of Twitter, he started implementing big changes.
Twitter’s top executives were fired within days. He also laid off approximately half of the company’s staff and began changing content moderation policies.
What’s happening now?
It seems that Musk is ready to step down as the CEO of Twitter. In a November court hearing, Musk testified in a case brought against him by a Tesla shareholder that his role as Twitter’s CEO was temporary.
Specifically, he stated, “I expect to reduce my time at Twitter and find somebody else to run Twitter over time.”
A few weeks later, Elon Musk created a poll on his Twitter account. He asked Twitter users, “Should I step down as head of Twitter? I will abide by the results of this poll.” The final count of the poll indicated that 57.5% of users wanted Musk out of the big chair.
After the poll results were finalized, Musk tweeted, “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.”
Although the poll results might be one reason Musk is resigning, other factors are likely at play. For one thing, Tesla’s stock has been on a significant downhill slide since Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, took over as Twitter’s CEO.
Since Musk’s priority has always been Tesla and closely related ventures, he might be stepping down to reset his time commitments.
Who will be the new Twitter CEO?
Officially, the search for a new Twitter CEO started a few days ago. While Musk might have some contenders in mind, there are no reliable leads on who is next in line for Twitter’s hot seat.
Media outlets have focused on a few candidates. For example, CNN pointed to Sheryl Sandberg, former COO of Facebook, or Mike Schroepfer, Facebook’s former CTO.
Many other Twitter users have stepped forward to put their hat in the ring. A few include artificial intelligence researcher Lex Fridman and rapper Snoop Dogg.
The more likely candidates are the people who have been helping Musk run Twitter since the takeover. Some potential candidates include Jason Calacanis, entrepreneur and investor; David Sacks, another investor and card carrying member of the “Pay Pal Mafia,” essentially the brat pack of Silicon Valley; and Sriram Krishnan, partner at Andreessen Horowitz and former team lead at Microsoft, Twitter, Yahoo!, Facebook, and Snap.
Currently, only Elon Musk knows which direction he plans to take the company with regard to this new appointment.
Who will be in charge of Twitter?
Elon Musk has promised to appoint a new CEO to Twitter. When this comes to pass, the day-to-day operations will be handed off to someone else.
However, Musk will still be the owner of the company. With that, the CEO of Twitter will report to Musk.
Ultimately, the power dynamics will still leave Musk very much in charge of the future of Twitter. That said, he’ll have more time to dedicate to his other companies, like Tesla and SpaceX.
Investor impacts
The Twitter saga has been a big story over the last year. This is especially true if Twitter is your social media platform of choice. But, as an investor, you don’t have an opportunity to buy Twitter stock.
When Musk purchased Twitter, he took the company private and paid a share price of $54.20 to shareholders. As a result, investors who want to add social media companies to their portfolios will have to look for other options.
Furthermore, if you want to add social media stocks to your portfolio, monitoring the headlines and markets surrounding these giant platforms is a key part of the process.
Not everyone has the time or energy to constantly stay on top of the market. If you want to add tech to your portfolio without watching the moves of eccentric CEOs, then consider enlisting the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI).
Q.ai harnesses AI to monitor market changes for you. Every week, as the market shifts, Q.ai adjusts each Investment Kit in your portfolio based on your goals and risk tolerance.
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Bottom Line
Musk’s Twitter takeover has continued to make headlines. It hasn’t been smooth sailing and it has impacted his other ventures. Only time will tell who will replace him and if his stepping down as CEO will calm the waters for this social media platform.
The only question investors need to decide on is whether or not they believe Twitter will recover and whether they believe the stock is a buy or a sell at its current price.
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Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/qai/2022/12/26/who-will-be-the-new-twitter-ceo-if-elon-musk-actually-steps-down/