Twitter CEO Musk to step down after successor found

Tesla boss Elon Musk has announced he will step down as Twitter’s chief executive after finding a replacement.

“I will resign as CEO as soon as I find someone foolish enough to take the job!” Elon Musk said in a tweet late on Tuesday. “After that, I will just run the software & servers teams,” he wrote.

His announcement comes after Twitter users voted for him to step down in a poll created by the platform’s billionaire owner.

More than 17.5 million user participated in the Twitter poll, with 57.5% in favour of of Musk's resignation. Musk conducted his poll after Twitter’s announcement that it would no longer allow the “free promotion” of other social media platforms sparked a backlash among users.

Musk, who purchased Twitter in October for $44bn, has courted controversy with his decisions since taking control of the influential social media platform.

Last week, Musk, who also runs Tesla and several other startups, temporarily banned more than half a dozen journalists after accusing the media of putting his family in danger by publicising the location of his private jet.

Since Musk took charge of the social media giant, Tesla’s share price has fallen by one-third, prompting speculation that the billionaire has come under pressure to step back from the social media platform.