Twitter Inc. faced new uncertainty after a majority of respondents voted in an online poll for Elon Musk to step down as chief, amid broader concerns about how the billionaire is managing his businesses.
In the 12-hour poll, which Mr. Musk initiated and which closed after 6 a.m. ET Monday, 58% of the more than 17 million Twitter users who voted said he should leave as head of Twitter. Mr. Musk had said when he launched the Twitter poll on Sunday that he would abide by the results.
The result shows how Mr. Musk’s ownership of Twitter has put him in a bind. He has embroiled himself in a series of controversial statements and decisions at the social-media platform that have alienated some users and advertisers, compounding financial problems at a company he bought in a deal valued at $44 billion in late October. Meanwhile, some shareholders in Tesla Inc., which he also runs, have complained that he is distracted by Twitter at the same time the electric-vehicle maker’s share price has been falling and he has been selling parts of his stake.
Mr. Musk now must find someone to take a job running Twitter that he has said no contenders seem qualified for—and even if he finds such a person, Mr. Musk would remain unavoidably involved as the company’s owner.
There is little precedent for Mr. Musk relinquishing control at his major businesses, although he has a deputy at his SpaceX rocket company, where he is chief executive. With Twitter, most of the prior leadership was either fired or left after he took over.
“No one wants the job who can actually keep Twitter alive. There is no successor,” Mr. Musk tweeted Sunday.
Twitter didn’t respond to a question on the poll’s outcome.
Mr. Musk on Monday responded to someone on Twitter who had suggested the results might have been rigged. “Interesting,” Mr. Musk tweeted.
Mr. Musk has warned about Twitter’s financial condition, saying last month that the company had suffered “a massive drop in revenue” and was losing more than $4 million a day. He later raised the possibility of bankruptcy.
Irrespective of whom Mr. Musk might appoint to be the titular head of the company, his own massive financial stake in the business means he remains closely tied to stemming losses at a company that the new owner himself has said he overpaid for.
Mr. Musk’s team this past week reached out for potential fresh investment for Twitter at the same price as the original $44 billion deal, a Twitter investor said.
Some Tesla shareholders have complained that Mr. Musk’s recent focus on Twitter is hurting the auto maker. This month he sold more than $3.5 billion of Tesla stock in his second round of sales since buying Twitter. It wasn’t clear what prompted Mr. Musk to sell additional Tesla stock.
Meanwhile, concerns are growing that Twitter’s problems might infect other parts of Mr. Musk’s business empire. Oppenheimer
The billionaire’s leadership at Twitter has been tumultuous and weighed on sentiment toward his other businesses, particularly car maker Tesla. Shares in the auto maker have fallen more than 56% this year, frustrating some individual investors who partly blame Mr. Musk’s focus on Twitter for the decline. Mr. Musk’s Twitter involvement also has dented Tesla’s brand image.
Tesla shares initially advanced on Monday after the suggestion that Mr. Musk would stop running Twitter, although they closed lower along with the broader market.
There have been questions since Mr. Musk first showed interest in buying Twitter about how he would juggle running the company while also pursuing all his other endeavors.
Bill Nelson, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s administrator, said this month he had asked SpaceX President
Mr. Musk said last month that he had too much work on his plate.
“I expect to reduce my time at Twitter and find somebody else to run Twitter over time,” he testified at a trial about his Tesla pay package last month. He also said he has been spending most of his time of late focusing on Twitter. At the time, he wrote on Twitter, “I will continue to run Twitter until it is in a strong place, which will take some time.”
The outcome of the poll adds another disruption at the top of Twitter, which has suffered waves of leadership upheaval. Co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey handed over running the company a little over a year ago after a bruising battle with an activist investor. His successor, Parag Agrawal, lasted less than a year and was fired by Mr. Musk immediately after he took over the company in October. Mr. Musk also ousted several other top Twitter executives, and more have left since.
Mr. Musk has been the driving force at Twitter for nearly two months, with many advertisers having paused spending, mass layoffs and resignations, and content-moderation actions that have been abrupt and controversial among many users. This past week has been another one full of twists. Twitter suspended the accounts of several journalists, prompting criticism from some lawmakers and officials before Mr. Musk said Saturday that Twitter would begin reinstating the accounts.
Earlier Sunday, Twitter made another sudden change to its content-moderation rules, saying it would no longer allow “free promotion of certain social media platforms.” That also fueled criticism and questions, including from Mr. Dorsey, who previously endorsed Mr. Musk’s takeover. “Doesn’t make sense,” Mr. Dorsey tweeted Sunday.
The policy also irked Paul Graham, a well-known venture-capital investor who called it “the last straw” and signaled he was decamping Twitter for rival social-media platform Mastodon. Soon after, his account was suspended, before being restored.
Late Sunday, the tweets from @TwitterSupport and a note on the company’s website announcing the policy against promoting other social-media platforms appeared to have been deleted. Twitter’s head of trust and safety, Ella Irwin, said Monday that the company removed the new policy “in response to user feedback.” Ms. Irwin said that links to other social-media sites will be allowed until Twitter determines whether or not to implement a new policy prohibiting them.
Mr. Musk, who has said he intends to make the platform a bastion of free speech, appeared to acknowledge some concerns about the recent, abrupt content-policy changes. “Going forward, there will be a vote for major policy changes. My apologies. Won’t happen again,” he tweeted shortly before posting the poll about his leadership Sunday.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) on Sunday sent a letter to Tesla’s board chair, Robyn Denholm, suggesting that Mr. Musk’s involvement with Twitter could be to the detriment of the auto maker’s shareholders. The senator has battled before with Mr. Musk.
Tesla didn’t respond to a request for comment about the share sale or the senator’s letter.
