He has not provided a time frame for when he will step down and no successor has been named (Picture: Getty Images)
Billionaire Elon Musk said that he would step down as chief executive of Twitter once he finds a replacement.
On Tuesday, Musk revealed his decision in a tweet, adding that he would still run some key divisions of the social media platform.
‘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,’ Musk wrote on Twitter.
Musk’s $44 billion takeover of Twitter in October has been marked by chaos and controversy, with some investors questioning if he is too distracted to also properly run his electric vehicle automaker Tesla, in which he is personally involved in production and engineering.
This is the first time Musk has mentioned stepping down as chief of the social media platform, after Twitter users voted for him to resign in a poll, which the billionaire launched on Sunday evening.
In the poll, 57.5% of around 17.5 million people voted ‘Yes’. Musk had said on Sunday he would abide by the results.
He has not provided a time frame for when he will step down and no successor has been named.
The poll results capped a whirlwind week that included changes to Twitter’s privacy policy and the suspension – and reinstatement – of journalists’ accounts that drew condemnation from news organizations, advocacy groups and officials across Europe.
Wall Street’s call for Musk to step down had been growing for weeks and recently even Tesla investors have questioned his focus on the social media platform and how it might distract him from running his electric car company.
Musk has himself said he had too much on his plate, and that he would look for a Twitter CEO.
On Sunday, he said that there was no successor and that ‘no one wants the job who can actually keep Twitter alive’.
MORE : Elon Musk ‘actively searching’ for new Twitter CEO after disastrous poll
But ‘no one wants the job who can actually keep Twitter alive’.
