- Elon Musk said Wednesday that he may be able to name his successor as Twitter CEO by the end of 2023.
- “I think I need to stabilize the organization and just make sure that it’s in a financially healthy place and that the product roadmap is set out clearly,” Musk said at the world government summit in Dubai.
- The billionaire indicated late last year that he doesn’t expect to be CEO of Twitter permanently and will eventually hand the reins to someone else.
United Arab Emirates Minister of Cabinet Affairs Mohammad al-Gergawi (L-on stage) speaks to Elon Musk, who is attending the World Government Summit in Dubai virtually on February 15, 2023 at the end of 2023.
Karim Sahib | AFP | Getty Images
Elon Musk said on Wednesday that he may be able to name his successor as Twitter CEO by the end of 2023, but first he needs to “stabilize” his social media company.
“I think I need to stabilize the organization and just make sure that it’s in a financially healthy place and that the product roadmap is set out clearly,” Musk said at the world government summit in Dubai.
“I guess towards the end of this year should be a good time to find someone else to run the company because I think it should be in a stable position towards the end of this year.”
Musk took over as CEO of Twitter in October as part of his $44 billion acquisition of the social media company.
The billionaire indicated late last year that he doesn’t expect to be CEO of Twitter permanently and will eventually hand the reins to someone else.
In December, Musk tweeted a poll asking people if he should step down as head of Twitter. The majority of the 17.5 million votes said yes.
“I will resign as CEO as soon as I find someone stupid enough to do the job! After that, I’ll just lead the software and server teams,” Musk said tweeted after the poll.
Musk spoke about the thinking behind the acquisition versus building his own social media company.
“I thought about creating something from scratch, but I thought Twitter might accelerate progress by three to five years instead of creating something from scratch,” Musk said. “And I think we’re seeing a tremendous technological acceleration right now that’s actually worth a lot in three to five years.”
Discussing his motivations for buying Twitter, Musk said he was “a little concerned about the direction and impact of social media on the world and Twitter in particular.”
“I felt it was very important that there be some kind of digital public space with maximum trust, where people can communicate within countries and internationally with the least amount of censorship allowed by law. Obviously that varies a lot by jurisdiction.”
His comments mirror those he has made over the past few years. He describes himself as an “absolutist of freedom of speech”.
But Musk said Wednesday that social media companies “should abide by the laws of other countries and shouldn’t try to put a thumb on the scales that goes beyond the laws of countries.” He accused Twitter of forcing the “values” of San Francisco and Berkeley, the University of California, which he described as a “niche ideology,” into the way they conduct their businesses.
“I thought it was kind of important to the future of civilization to try and correct that thumb on the scale,” Musk said, describing his motivation for buying Twitter.
Musk has been criticized for supporting freedom of speech while complying with countries’ censorship laws, a fine line he tries to walk, as reflected in his comments.
The latest controversy centered on a BBC documentary criticizing Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Indian government last month ordered internet platforms and social media companies, including Twitter, to block links and videos of the documentary. According to NBC News, Twitter appeared to be complying with the order.
Musk responded to a user in January asking if it was true that Twitter had followed orders from the Indian government.
“First I heard. I can’t fix every aspect of Twitter worldwide overnight while still running Tesla and SpaceX, among others,” Musk replied.