[Global] Elon Musk announces new Twitter CEO

On May 11, Elon Musk took to Twitter to announce that he has found a new chief executive for the social media giant, without naming his successor, Reuters reports.

Mr Musk said he will transition to the role of Twitter’s chief technology officer (CTO) within the next few weeks.

"Excited to announce that I've hired a new CEO for X/Twitter. She will be starting in ~6 weeks!," the tweet read.

The billionaire has not previously named any prospective candidates and it was unclear who he had named as his successor. However, Blind - an anonymous messaging app for tech employees - was reportedly rife with speculation.

Former YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki, former Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer and a top executive at Mr Musk's brain-chip startup Neuralink, Shivon Zilis, were among the names being discussed on Blind following the tweet, a former employee who viewed the comments claimed.

Linda Yaccarino - NBC Universal chairman of global advertising and partnerships - is now thought to be a frontrunner with multiple media outlets reporting that she has been in talks with Twitter.

Jason Benowitz - senior portfolio manager at CI Roosevelt - reportedly said that top female executives from Musk's other companies, such as SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell and Tesla Inc Chair Robyn Denholm could also be named.

Mr Musk said he will transition to the role of Twitter's executive chair - in addition to the CTO role - where he would oversee product, software & sysops.

Tesla shares closed 2.1 per cent higher on May 11 with analysts reportedly saying the announcement had helped to alleviate some investor concerns around Mr Musk's active involvement at Twitter.

Tesla shares suffered following Mr Musk’s October Twitter takeover. Investors had been concerned that the move could stretch the billionaire thin.

"The boat anchor called Twitter is loosened from Musk's ankle. Now he can get back to spending more time creating value at Tesla," Craig Irwin - an analyst at Roth MKM - said.

In a Twitter poll initiated by Mr Musk in December, 57.5 per cent of users voted for him to step down as CEO.

"I will resign as CEO as soon as I find someone foolish enough to take the job!" Mr Musk said in response to the results.

His first fortnight as the new Twitter owner in October was punctuated by controversial change. He swiftly fired Twitter's previous CEO Parag Agrawal together with other senior leaders and then laid off half its employees in November.

Source: Reuters

(Quotes via original reporting)

On May 11, Elon Musk took to Twitter to announce that he has found a new chief executive for the social media giant, without naming his successor, Reuters reports.

Mr Musk said he will transition to the role of Twitter’s chief technology officer (CTO) within the next few weeks.

"Excited to announce that I've hired a new CEO for X/Twitter. She will be starting in ~6 weeks!," the tweet read.

The billionaire has not previously named any prospective candidates and it was unclear who he had named as his successor. However, Blind - an anonymous messaging app for tech employees - was reportedly rife with speculation.

Former YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki, former Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer and a top executive at Mr Musk's brain-chip startup Neuralink, Shivon Zilis, were among the names being discussed on Blind following the tweet, a former employee who viewed the comments claimed.

Linda Yaccarino - NBC Universal chairman of global advertising and partnerships - is now thought to be a frontrunner with multiple media outlets reporting that she has been in talks with Twitter.

Jason Benowitz - senior portfolio manager at CI Roosevelt - reportedly said that top female executives from Musk's other companies, such as SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell and Tesla Inc Chair Robyn Denholm could also be named.

Mr Musk said he will transition to the role of Twitter's executive chair - in addition to the CTO role - where he would oversee product, software & sysops.

Tesla shares closed 2.1 per cent higher on May 11 with analysts reportedly saying the announcement had helped to alleviate some investor concerns around Mr Musk's active involvement at Twitter.

Tesla shares suffered following Mr Musk’s October Twitter takeover. Investors had been concerned that the move could stretch the billionaire thin.

"The boat anchor called Twitter is loosened from Musk's ankle. Now he can get back to spending more time creating value at Tesla," Craig Irwin - an analyst at Roth MKM - said.

In a Twitter poll initiated by Mr Musk in December, 57.5 per cent of users voted for him to step down as CEO.

"I will resign as CEO as soon as I find someone foolish enough to take the job!" Mr Musk said in response to the results.

His first fortnight as the new Twitter owner in October was punctuated by controversial change. He swiftly fired Twitter's previous CEO Parag Agrawal together with other senior leaders and then laid off half its employees in November.

Source: Reuters

(Quotes via original reporting)