By
Svetlana Soroka
April 18th, 2024
Before the poll closed, Musk wrote that no one wanted his job. He added that “there is no successor.” However, some people have indicated a willingness to run the social media networking platform.
Already, there are a few volunteers to take over from Elon Musk as Twitter CEO if the billionaire decides to walk away from the top position. The new Twitter owner has triggered mixed reactions since he took over the social networking service company about two months ago. Many criticize his actions since the takeover, starting with reshuffling the company’s structure, implementing new policies, firing employees, banning several accounts, and more. He posted a poll on Twitter, asking whether he should step down as the company’s CEO. More than 17.5 million people engaged in the poll, with 57.5% voting “yes” and 42.5% voting “no’ to Musk’s questions.
Fingers are crossed, and expectations are high on whether Musk will honor the poll result. If he does not, it is safe to say that the pressure from Tesla’s investors will keep mounting. These investors have been showing concerns since Musk became the new owner and CEO of Twitter. The EV company has been amassing losses since the businessman’s latest acquisition, losing about 34%. And since the beginning of 2022, Tesla stock has dropped over 52% and shed 51.46% over the last three months. The electric vehicle maker continues to record losses, losing almost 7% in the last five days.
Potential Candidates to Succeed Musk as Twitter CEO
Before the poll closed, Musk wrote that no one wanted his job. He added that “there is no successor.” However, some people have indicated a willingness to run the social media networking platform. They include MIT artificial intelligence researcher Lex Fridman, rapper Snoop Dogg, and ex-T-Mobile CEO John Legere. MySpace co-founder Tom Anderson also commented on the poll about Musk stepping down as Twitter CEO, saying that it “depends on who you get to run it,” adding a thinking face emoji. The MIT researcher suggested to Musk, saying:
“Let me run Twitter for a bit. No salary. All in. Focus on great engineering and increasing the amount of love in the world. Just offering my help in the unlikely case it’s useful.”
When asked by Musk if he still wanted the job, considering that it may cost him his life savings and the company could go bankrupt, he replied,” Yes. We’ll turn it around.”
Additionally, some committed individuals have been working with Musk since the takeover. If the current head steps down, these are potential candidates for a new Twitter CEO. The shortlist includes Sriram Krishnan, David Sacks, and investor Jason Calacanis. Calacanis was one of the topics discussed in the Musk text log, and he showed interest in becoming Twitter CEO. David Sacks is also a friend of Musk and the former COO at PayPal Holdings (NASDAQ: PYPL). He has also offered help to the company under the new leadership.