Musk's First Tweet After 'Resignation Support': "Only Paid Members Should Vote"

"Policy Decisions Only for Twitter Blue Accounts" Changed Statement

[Asia Economy Reporter Yujin Cho] After a majority voted in favor of Elon Musk's resignation in a Twitter poll, he changed his stance and said he would restrict voting rights on major policy decisions to paid members only.

According to Bloomberg on the 20th (local time), Musk responded to a user's tweet suggesting that only paid accounts, 'Twitter Blue' members, should be allowed to participate in policy-related votes by saying, "Good point. Twitter will change in that direction."

This was Musk's first tweet following the resignation poll result, in which a majority voted in favor of him stepping down as Twitter's CEO.

Earlier, from 6:20 PM the previous day for 12 hours, Musk conducted a poll on Twitter asking, "Should I step down as head of Twitter?" Over half of the total respondents (about 17.5 million) ? 57.5% ? voted in favor of Musk resigning from his CEO position.

Musk promised at the start of the poll that he would abide by the results, but he has yet to make an official statement regarding the outcome.

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

On the same day, Musk tweeted, "No one actually wants the position that can keep Twitter alive. There is no successor," and claimed, "Twitter has been speeding toward bankruptcy since May."

However, Bloomberg reported that with the majority vote in favor, numerous candidates are stepping forward to claim the role of Musk's successor.

Jason Calacanis, an investor close to Musk and a podcast host, posted a Twitter poll asking who should run Twitter between himself and David Sacks, a former PayPal executive. Sacks received 31.1%, joint management by Calacanis and Sacks got 21.6%, and 39.1% of respondents chose "someone else."

Calacanis and Sacks are known as Musk's close associates, participating in the 'War Room,' a sort of acquisition committee formed after Musk's Twitter takeover.

Bloomberg stated that they asked Musk whether he would abide by the poll results and who the successor would be, but received no response.

Additionally, Rex Friedman, a prominent AI researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), volunteered to serve as Twitter CEO without pay via his Twitter account, but Musk declined.

A month ago, John Legere, former CEO of the U.S. telecom company T-Mobile, also expressed willingness to take the role, but Musk simply replied "No," Bloomberg reported.

Former Meta Chief Operating Officer (COO) Sheryl Sandberg and former Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of mobile payment service Square, Sarah Friar, were also considered candidates.

However, Bloomberg added that Musk has said the Twitter CEO should be a "technologist" with talent in the company's core business areas such as software and servers.

Since acquiring Twitter at the end of October, Musk warned that the company was at risk of bankruptcy, carried out massive layoffs amounting to half of the entire workforce, and sparked controversy with his dictatorial and impulsive management style demanding intense work from remaining employees.

Furthermore, controversies have escalated over content moderation relaxations, such as restoring former U.S. President Donald Trump's account and political statements, leading to a mass exodus of advertisers and ongoing turmoil.