Elon Musk addressed the Twitter poll he created earlier this week, in which millions of users voted for his departure as Twitter CEO.
He confirmed he will step down, but only when he identifies a suitable successor.
Musk added that upon stepping down, he would remain involved in the company by running the software and servers teams.
The announcement comes after more than a day of silence about the poll following its outcome. On Monday, after more than 17 million users had voted — 57.5% of whom said Musk should resign — the billionaire executive addressed the results only indirectly. He suggested that future Twitter polls could be restricted to paid users of Twitter Blue, the company’s subscription service.
Musk’s poll asking users whether he should resign as CEO came after a massive backlash to Twitter’s abrupt suspension of several journalists who cover him, as well as Twitter’s decision to ban and then un-ban links to other social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram and Mastodon, a fast-growing Twitter rival that has octupled in size since October.
Musk’s brief tenure as CEO has resulted in sweeping, occasionally erratic shifts at one of the world’s most influential social media companies.
Since taking ownership of Twitter, Elon Musk has caused major disruption. He has laid off a large proportion of the staff, caused concern amongst advertisers, and allowed former President Donald Trump to rejoin the platform following the Capitol riots in January.
Internal communications about Twitter’s operations prior to Musk’s ownership were released to journalists, and Musk made all remaining employees pledge to become ‘extremely hardcore’ in their work.
To top it off, a paid verification feature was swiftly exploited by satirical accounts and was eventually removed.
The criticism ultimately resulted in a poll on Sunday, which served as a referendum on Musk’s handling of the company. The outcome of the poll remains to be seen.