Elon Musk’s tenure as CEO of Twitter has been marked by the proliferation of racist rhetoric and a now-infamous kerfuffle over the social media site’s “blue checks.” But the top spot at Twitter is about to be occupied by someone else. The South African-born billionaire announced today (May 11) that he’s stepping away from the role of CEO at the company to take on a more behind-the-scenes job.
“Excited to announce that I’ve hired a new CEO for X/Twitter,” he wrote in a tweet, as seen below. “She will be starting in ~6 weeks! My role will transition to being executive chair and CTO, overseeing product, software, and system operators.” “X” is the new company name Musk has branded the microblogging platform.
Excited to announce that I’ve hired a new CEO for X/Twitter. She will be starting in ~6 weeks!
My role will transition to being exec chair & CTO, overseeing product, software & sysops.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 11, 2023
The news comes almost six months after Musk first shared that he was going to step down as CEO. In December 2022, he ran a poll on his Twitter page asking if he should remain as leader of the company, which resulted in a majority saying he should leave his position.
“I will resign as CEO as soon as I find someone foolish enough to take the job!” he said at the time, as seen below. “After that, I will just run the software and servers teams.”
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.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 21, 2022
Musk purchased Twitter for $44 billion in October and began restructuring the company quickly. In an effort to cut costs, the company has laid off approximately 75 percent of its 7,500-person staff, according to ABC News. He also announced the ability to purchase verification checkmarks on the platform for $8 each month. He’s worked to make the company more profitable and described his actions in a Twitter Spaces interview in December as an “emergency fire drill.” In a March 2023 memo to employees obtained by The New York Times, Musk reported that the company was worth $20 billion, less than half of what he bought it for just a few months earlier.