Elon Musk Is Stepping Down as Twitter's CEO — Who Will Be the New CEO? Details
May 12 2023, Updated 11:11 a.m. ET
Since controversial tech billionaire Elon Musk took over as head of Twitter, users of the social media app have been less than impressed by his changes.
At one point, Elon claimed he would let "the people" decide the fate of Twitter via — what else?— informal poll. And he seems to have taken the poll's results to heart.
Is Elon Musk really leaving Twitter? Here's what to know about the situation.
Is Elon Musk leaving Twitter?
On Dec. 18, 2022, Elon posted a poll on his Twitter account, which allowed users to "decide" if he should step down as the head of Twitter. The poll's caption reads, "Should I step down as head of Twitter? I will abide by the results of this poll." When the poll closed, it had 57.5 percent "Yes" votes and 42.5 percent "No" votes.
Shortly after posting his poll, Elon also wrote two cryptic tweets: "As the saying goes, be careful what you wish, as you might get it," and "Those who want power are the ones who least deserve it." Many speculated that Elon already has his successor in mind and that his exit from Twitter was pre-planned long before he decided to post the poll.
Elon later clarified that he would be stepping down as CEO, but would still be in charge of the software and server teams. "I will resign as CEO as soon as I find someone foolish enough to take the job!" he wrote. "After that, I will just run the software & servers teams," he tweeted on Dec. 22, 2022.
In short, Elon decided to step down as CEO, but he is not leaving the company outright.
Who is the new Twitter CEO?
In an announcement on May 11, 2023, Elon tweeted that he chose a new Twitter CEO.
"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," he wrote.
According to CNBC, NBCUniversal global advertising chair Linda Yaccarino is in talks to become Twitter's new CEO. However, her ascension to Twitter CEO has not yet been confirmed by Elon. Users will have to wait and see what happens in the coming months.
