How seriously should we take Elon Musk’s promise to leave Twitter?

American Thinker ^ | 12/20/2022 | Andrea Widburg

[SeekAndFind]

The big news today is that Elon Musk has agreed to step down from running Twitter because 57% of over 17 million poll respondents said he should go. There’s no doubt that Musk will keep his promise, but you can be sure he’ll do it in his own time and his own way. After all, he’s already shown that he has a puckish sense of humor and a chaotic but highly effective management style.

The moment Musk took over Twitter, he had the place in an uproar. He instantly fired many people and then fired people he’d initially said he wouldn’t fire. He restored Twitter accounts and banned people only to reinstate them (often in response to a poll). He also cheerfully insulted those leftists whining that it was a “danger to democracy” to allow people other than themselves to have access to Twitter.

And of course, Musk has been releasing to independent journalists tranche after tranche of internal Twitter records showing that, under the old management, political censorship was the name of the game, with Twitter often allowing the FBI to call the shots.

Indeed, that got so bad that rabidly anti-Trump, flamingly gay, hysterically leftist Yoel Roth, the head of Twitter’s politicized “safety” division, got worried that the FBI’s demands were too much even for Twitter.

Many people (usually leftists) have accused Musk of destroying Twitter with his quixotic style. They don’t seem to realize that (a) he’s keeping Twitter constantly in the headlines, driving traffic to the site, and (b) he’s a “chaos manager” who thrives in that environment and has had great results to date.

[SeekAndFind]

It seems a lifetime away, but there was a time when Musk was running Tesla in the same way. When Tesla was so behind on orders for its cars that it looked as if the company would go down in flames (despite a huge reliance on all the climate change giveaways available), Musk seemingly went crazy, sleeping at the factory and bashing his way through “production hell.” If you go back to 2017, you’ll find all sorts of stories about his chaos and cruelty. Except it all worked and, so far as I know, there’ve been no successful lawsuits against him because of that management push. And of course, Tesla, like it or not, is a hugely successful car.

Musk knows that chaos keeps people on their toes. Whenever Musk does something seemingly outrageous at Twitter (firing, banning, unbanning, whatever), it’s covered in both the leftist and conservative media. And every time, it drives traffic to Twitter.

[isthisnickcool]

All he has to do is [post the bot metrics and game over.

[Vermont Lt]

He isn’t going to “leave”, as in not be involved. He will get someone to run it, but they will work for Musk.

Some people have no idea how business works.

[glorgau]

Actually, why would he want to be CEO? He’s come in bought the company, put in a massive change of direction, and overall had a bit of fun.

Now that’s put in place, he can go back to focusing on one of the other very cool things he’s doing. I’m sure he can put some like minded person in place at Twitter.

[DeplorablePaul]

I think the poll was a bot hunt, a sting operation. Right now he’s analyzing the votes and canceling bot accounts. I bet that he puts out new results, minus bots, showing that he won the poll. Lib minds are going to be blown. Too bad Trump couldn’t do the same thing in 2020.

[SeekAndFind]

Ultimately, like Trump, Musk is a showman who combines business with pleasure—and makes pleasure (chaos, jokes, stunts) enhance his business.

It’s true that promised to abide by the poll’s results, but do note that he didn’t give himself a timeline. Additionally, he issued a warning, something that suggests he already has someone in mind who may be a hardline version of himself, albeit with more discipline.

I know he's tweeted that there is no successor, but I don't believe he'll just throw away billions of dollars. He's eccentric, not crazy.

[asinclair]

It's too bad American Thinker isn't thinking. Elon Mush tweeted early on that he was not going to remain as the CEO of Twitter, but would install a hand-picked person to take the helm. That said, the poll he ran was unnecessary. I believe that the poll has another purpose.

[BipolarBob]

https://babylonbee.com/news/elon-to-stay-as-twitter-ceo-after-counting-mail-in-votes?utm_source=The%20Babylon%20Bee%20Newsletter&utm_medium=email

[Codeflier]

So much cluelessness about business. You can still run a company even when you aren’t CEO. CEO is just a person the owner(s) hire, or it can be the owner itself of course.

[SeekAndFind]

What do you make of this subsequent Tweet of His?

[EEGator]

New CEO doesn’t mean leave. Journalists...

[BipolarBob]

Most of the votes to have him step down were cancelled by a ***load of mail-in votes that begged him to stay.

[jimwatx]

The rumor is that Musk posted that in order to catch bots, don’t know if that’s true or not.

[Texas Fossil]

Well, as far as I’m concerned he is a breath of fresh air.

There are things he says that I don’t agree with, but I admire his spunk and determination.

I’ve been on Twitter since 2009, and find it an incredible source of real news, deeply buried under a big pile of Bull manure.

Have no doubt he already knows who he wants to run the company and I hope he moves the entire operation away from CA.

[dfwgator]

My take is Elon really doesn’t want to focus too much on Twitter and will find someone suitable to take over for him.

[DouglasKC]

He’ll still own it. Just not running it on a day to day basis. A difference without any meaning.

[packagingguy]

Kim Dotcom said the same.

[DannyTN]

My guess is he already decided to step back from day to day management before doing the pole and has someone selected to lead the organization. Musk will still own twitter and will have a guiding hand.

[Sertorius]

Ligma Johnson reporting for duty!

[erlayman]

He has said that he wants to be owner but not CEO. Not sure what happened last May to put it on a “fast road to bankruptcy” but anyone would be a step up from Jack Dorsey.