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17/11/2022

Elon Musk Has Stated That He Will Find A New Chief For Twitter




Elon Musk Has Stated That He Will Find A New Chief For Twitter
Elon Musk said on Wednesday that he expects to spend less time at Twitter and eventually find a new leader to lead the social media company, and that he hopes to complete an organizational restructuring this week.
 
Musk made the comments while testifying in a Delaware court to defend himself against allegations that his $56 billion pay package at Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) was based on easy-to-attain performance targets and was approved by a compliant board of directors. more info
 
Musk later stated in a tweet that he will continue to run Twitter until it is strong, which will "take some time."
 
Musk's tweet came after former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey stated that he will not accept the position of CEO.
 
When asked if he would take the position of CEO on Twitter, he replied, "nope."
 
Tesla investors have grown increasingly concerned about Musk's commitment to turning around Twitter.
 
"There's an initial burst of activity needed post-acquisition to reorganize the company," Musk said in his testimony. "But then I expect to reduce my time at Twitter."
 
Musk also admitted that some Tesla engineers were assisting in the evaluation of Twitter's engineering teams, but he stated that this was done "voluntarily" and "after hours."
 
The billionaire's first two weeks as the owner of Twitter have been characterized by rapid change and chaos. He quickly fired Twitter's previous CEO and other senior executives, and then laid off half of the company's employees earlier this month.
 
Musk sent an email to Twitter employees early Wednesday, telling them they had until Thursday to decide whether they wanted to stay at the company and work "long hours at high intensity" or accept a three-month severance package.
 
Earlier, James Murdoch, a Tesla Inc director, testified in court on Wednesday that CEO Elon Musk has identified someone as a potential successor to lead the electric carmaker in the last few months.
 
Murdoch was testifying in a trial over Musk's 2018 Tesla pay package, but did not name the potential successor.
 
When a plaintiff's lawyer asked Murdoch if Musk had ever identified someone as a potential successor CEO, he replied, "He actually has," adding that it happened in the "last few months."
 
Some Tesla investors are concerned about Musk's ability to focus adequately on his role as CEO of the world's most valuable carmaker now that he has been running Twitter Inc following a protracted buyout that he attempted to scrap at one point. Murdoch testified that Musk has had some Tesla engineers work at Twitter, which the board is keeping an eye on.
 
Murdoch's testimony was vague about the nature of the conversation about the successor. Antonio Gracias, a longtime Musk friend and Tesla board member from 2007 to 2021, testified that there were discussions about finding a "administrative CEO" who oversees sales, finance, and human resources "so Musk can focus his time as chief product officer, which is his most important role."
 
He did not elaborate on the timing of the discussions, but he did say they couldn't find one.
 
Musk, the CEO of Twitter and Space X, among other companies, stated, "Frankly, I don't want to be CEO of any company."
 
Musk testified that he expected to cut back on his time at Twitter and eventually find a new CEO to lead the social media company.
 
Musk said on Monday that he had worked all night at Twitter's San Francisco headquarters and would continue "working & sleeping here" until the social media platform, which he recently purchased for $44 billion, was fixed.
 
"It's worth noting there's a light year gap between identifying someone and having that someone take the job," Tesla investor Gene Muster tweeted after the news.
 
Musk was asked about his succession plan at Tesla's shareholders meeting in August, and he replied, "I intend to stay with Tesla as long as I can be useful."
 
Musk also stated at the time, "We do have a very talented team here, so I think Tesla would continue to do very well even if I was kidnapped by aliens or returned to my home planet."
 
Murdoch testified that Tesla's audit committee is keeping an eye on the Twitter situation, and that the committee has discussed having some Tesla engineers work for Twitter.
 
"Most of the work my understanding is has been done. It was a short-term deployment," he said, adding the work is "paid for."
 
"The audit committee has said that, if it is taking away from Tesla work, that's something we also have to be very aware of and that we don't want it to be that way."
 
He also stated that Musk asked a few team heads if they were interested in assisting Twitter.
 
Musk admitted in his testimony that some Tesla engineers were assisting in the evaluation of Twitter's engineering teams, but he stated that this was done "voluntarily" and "after hours."
 
(Source:www.reuters.com) 

Christopher J. Mitchell

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