Facing backlash against his executive leadership, Twitter’s new owner and CEO, billionaire Elon Musk, conducted an informal 12-hour poll over the weekend asking users of the popular social media platform whether he should keep his new position. “Should I step down as head of Twitter?” the controversial executive asked. “I will abide by the results of this poll.” After more than 17.5 million responses, the results indicate that a majority of users believe Musk should step down from his post (57.5 percent voted in the affirmative). As of press time, it remains unclear what action Musk may take in light of the poll results.

“In court in November, Musk said, ‘I expect to reduce my time at Twitter and find somebody else to run Twitter over time,’” writes CNBC. “However, on Sunday, he wrote in a tweet that there is no possible successor for him at the social media company.”

“The question is not finding a CEO, the question is finding a CEO who can keep Twitter alive,” he tweeted.

The poll was introduced as Twitter continues with a barrage of changes and faces new and renewed challenges since Musk’s October acquisition. Musk has already dissolved the company’s board and several top executives have departed.

“More than 17 million votes were cast in the informal referendum on his chaotic leadership of Twitter, which has been marked by mass layoffs, the replatforming of suspended accounts that had violated Twitter’s rules, the suspension of journalists who cover him and whiplash policy changes made and reversed in real time,” reports CNN.

In addition, “a number of brands have paused advertising on the platform,” notes CNN. “Musk has frequently stated that Twitter’s finances are dire. Twitter is on pace to lose $4 billion a year after the advertiser exodus, estimates Dan Ives, analyst at Wedbush Securities.”

Musk’s management of Twitter is affecting his other ventures as well. According to CNBC, “Musk has sold billions of dollars worth of Tesla shares this year to finance the Twitter takeover. He has also pulled in talent from both Tesla and SpaceX, including executives, engineers and attorneys, to assist him at Twitter.”

“With the Twitter chaos front and center and resulting in a major headache and overhang for the Tesla story, we believe Musk needs to name a permanent CEO of Twitter (and not Musk himself) to end the pain,” said Ives.

Musk has brought in a number of venture capitalists and friends to assist him with Twitter’s new direction, all of whom may be candidates for the CEO position. “The list includes investor Jason Calacanis, Craft Ventures partner David Sacks and Sriram Krishnan, an Andreessen Horowitz general partner focused on crypto and Twitter’s former consumer teams lead,” CNN reports.

On Sunday, AI research scientist Lex Fridman of MIT said he would fill the CEO slot. “You must like pain a lot,” responded Musk, suggesting that Twitter “has been in the fast lane to bankruptcy since May.”

Musk has honored results of earlier polls, “reinstating Donald Trump to the platform and lifting the ban on suspended journalists,” reports Deadline. “Following his most current poll, Musk warned his followers to ‘be careful what you wish, as you might get it.’”

Related:
Elon Musk Is Reportedly Looking for New Twitter Investors – at the Same Price He Paid, MarketWatch, 12/17/22
In Suspending Journalists on Twitter, Musk Flexes His Media Muscle, The New York Times, 12/16/22
Elon Musk’s Twitter Barbs Have New Magnitude, The Wall Street Journal, 12/15/22
Twitter Pulls Its Spaces Group Audio Feature After Musk Run-In with Banned Journalists, TechCrunch, 12/16/22
Twitter Plans to Remove Tweets Promoting Rival Social Media Platforms, The Wall Street Journal, 12/18/22
Elon Musk May Restrict Who Can Vote in Some Twitter Polls After Users Say He Should Step Down, MarketWatch, 12/19/22