Get 40% Off
🤯 This Tech Portfolio is up 29% YTD! Join Now to Get April’s Top PicksGet The Picks – Just 99 USD

Elon Musk, who runs four other companies, will now be Twitter CEO

Published 10/31/2022, 05:39 PM
Updated 11/01/2022, 01:46 PM
© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Elon Musk's photo is seen through a Twitter logo in this illustration taken October 28, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Elon Musk's photo is seen through a Twitter logo in this illustration taken October 28, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

(Reuters) -Tesla Inc boss Elon Musk said on Monday he will serve as chief executive of Twitter, the social media company he just bought for $44 billion, a move that Wall Street analysts have said could stretch the billionaire thin.

Musk, who also runs rocket company SpaceX, brain-chip startup Neuralink and tunneling firm the Boring Company, fired Twitter's previous chief Parag Agrawal and other top company officials last week, and has proposed revisions to the platform's user verification process, which has been free until now.

Responding to a tweet from author Stephen King that he would not be willing to pay $20 a month to keep the verified badge on Twitter, Musk replied: "How about $8?"

The billionaire said that introducing a price was the only way to defeat trolls and bots on the platform and that Twitter could not entirely rely on advertisers to pay its bills.

Musk announced his Twitter CEO role in a securities filing. In another filing on Monday, Musk revealed that he became the sole director of Twitter as a result of the takeover.

Musk had previously changed his Twitter bio to "Chief Twit" in an allusion to his planned move. Twitter on Monday declined to comment on how long Musk might remain CEO or appoint someone else.

"The following persons, who were directors of Twitter prior to the effective time of the merger, are no longer directors of Twitter: Bret Taylor, Parag Agrawal, Omid Kordestani, David Rosenblatt, Martha Lane Fox, Patrick Pichette, Egon Durban, Fei-Fei Li and Mimi Alemayehou," Musk said in the filing.

Shortly afterward, Musk tweeted that the move to dissolve the board "is just temporary," without elaborating.

Replying to a tweeted question on what was "most messed up at Twitter", Musk tweeted on Sunday that "there seem to be 10 people "managing" for every one person coding."

On Monday, Nick Caldwell, a general manager at Twitter's Core Technologies indicated on his Twitter bio that he was no longer with the company. Caldwell and Twitter did not respond to Reuters' request for comment outside regular business hours.

Since the takeover, which concluded last week, Musk has moved quickly to put his stamp on Twitter, which he had ridiculed for months for being slow to introduce product changes or take down spam accounts.

His teams began meeting with some employees to investigate Twitter's software code and understand how aspects of the platform worked, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Elon Musk's photo is seen through a Twitter logo in this illustration taken October 28, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

Some staff who spoke with Reuters said they had received little communication from Musk or other leaders and were using news reports to piece together what was happening at the company.

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA)'s stock has lost a third of its value since Musk made an offer to buy Twitter in April, compared with a 12% decline in the benchmark S&P 500 index in the same period.

Latest comments

Focus on Mars Elon. This thing is a rats nest.
cracks in his ability and range of his span of control is starting! his management ability is declining! I predict twitter the platform will teach him a lesson or he will dump it after losses!
lol. yeah cause running this company is so hard
Musk does not run any company at all. He's a Hollywood actor.
Meds
Risk Disclosure: Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.
© 2007-2024 - Fusion Media Limited. All Rights Reserved.