A public vote on whether Elon Musk should step down as Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) chief executive has seen over 57% of respondants vote in favour of the move.
Elon Musk had suggested he would take action based on the result of the poll, which he posted on his account to over 122mln followers.
Should I step down as head of Twitter? I will abide by the results of this poll.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 18, 2022
With the vote now having closed, over 57% of some 17.5mln respondants agreed he should step down.
Musk also tweeted that there was no one in line to replace him if he did in fact make the move, responding to his own earlier comment saying: “Be careful what you wish.”
No one wants the job who can actually keep Twitter alive. There is no successor.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 19, 2022
His time at Twitter has been wrapped in controversy, something he may have partially apologised for on Sunday evening in a post outlining that any future major policy decisions would be voted on.
Going forward, there will be a vote for major policy changes. My apologies. Won’t happen again.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 18, 2022
Twitter had moved to effectively ban other social media sites from its platform on Sunday night, but subsequently deleted posts which outlined the new policy.
Since his US$44bn takeover was finalised in October, mass job cuts and major policy changes have been among an influx of headlines discussing the social media.
Musk himself outlined that the company was failing, with bankruptcy “not off the table” as it faced daily losses of US$4mln.
Ending his spell as chief executive would likely come as a relief for Tesla investors, with many suggesting his close involvement with Twitter had thwarted his work with the electric vehicles manufacturer.
“Mr Musk’s split focus is troubling, especially at a time when expectations are that Tesla’s next set of financial results won’t look too pretty,” said AJ Bell analyst Danni Hewson.