Elon Musk says he will resign as Twitter chief executive

Billionaire says he will step down once a replacement is found

Elon Musk said he will resign as chief executive of Twitter once he finds a replacement. AFP

Elon Musk says he will resign as Twitter chief executive once he finds someone who is "foolish enough to take the job".

The billionaire made the announcement on the social media platform after promising to abide by the result of a 12-hour Twitter poll.

Nearly 58 per cent of more than 17.5 million Twitter users polled voted for him to quit.

Mr Musk said he will focus on running software and server teams at the company once he steps down.

Mr Musk's tenure at Twitter has been marred by controversial decisions, including implementing new rules and suspending accounts that he deemed too critical — which goes against claims from the self-proclaimed "free speech absolutist".

The company has also reversed several decisions. Last week, Mr Musk suspended the accounts of journalists who were tracking his flights, only to quickly reinstate them — after asking users in yet another poll.

And Twitter appeared to have reversed a policy change on Sunday that prohibited users from linking to the company's rival platforms. The tweet announcing the decision and the page announcing the change no longer exist.

Mr Musk completed his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter in October after tumultuous months of back and forth during which he questioned the actual numbers of users on the social media platform but finally gave in as a drawn-out litigation process neared.

Mr Musk also runs several other companies including Tesla and SpaceX.

Shares of the EV maker are down about 66 per cent since the start of this year with Tesla's market cap falling to under $500 billion, well below the $1 trillion value it hit in late October 2021.

The electric carmaker was removed from the S&P 500 ESG Index earlier this year.

On Monday, US Senator Elizabeth Warren sent a letter to Tesla’s board asking if Mr Musk is fulfilling his legal obligations to the company and its shareholders after his purchase of Twitter.