Elon Musk had told a Delaware court in November that he would reduce his time at Twitter and eventually find a new leader to run the company.
The billionaire had asked his Twitter users Sunday whether he should step down as the leader of the social media site. More than 17 million votes were cast and delivered a clear verdict: 57.5% said he should quit, in a Twitter “poll” that closed after 12 hours on Monday.
Musk had said he would abide by the results of the vote. But hours after the vote closed, there was no acknowledgment from Musk on Twitter.
If he follows through, Musk will be handing over the reins of the company that he bought for $ 44 billion in late October. The turbulent weeks since then have been marked by mass layoffs at the company, falling advertising sales, executive resignations and the suspensions of various high-profile user accounts for infractions of newly invented policy.
On Sunday, Twitter announced a policy to prevent users from sharing links and user names from other social platforms, like Instagram, Facebook and Mastodon, and then apparently curtailed the same policy.
But for some users, the chaotic weekend was a breaking point.
Musk’s latest actions with Twitter were “the last straw,” Paul Graham, a founder of the startup accelerator Y Combinator, tweeted on Sunday. Graham had supported Musk’s takeover, but on Sunday he wrote, “I give up. You can find a link to my new Mastodon profile on my site.” His account was briefly suspended.
Last week, Twitter suspended about two dozen accounts that tracked the locations of private planes, including one that followed Musk’s private jet, justifying the decision with a new policy that banned accounts if they shared another person’s “live location.” The accounts of some journalists from The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN and other outlets, were also suspended last week, and then reinstated after Musk asked users if they should be allowed back on the platform.
After asking users whether he should stay on as chief executive of Twitter, Musk said in another tweet: “No one wants the job who can actually keep Twitter alive. There is no successor.”
There are signs that Musk’s ownership and focus on Twitter are interfering with his other business ventures. Since Musk acquired Twitter, the value of Tesla has sunk. The car company’s share price was $ 225 on Oct. 27, the day Musk completed the acquisition of Twitter. On Monday, Tesla shares ended the day largely unchanged, trading at just below $ 150.
This story first appeared in New York Times
