Elon Musk says he is stepping down as chief executive officer (CEO) of social media platform Twitter and will transition to a new product and technical development role.
Musk added that he has found a new CEO to run Twitter, but declined to provide details on that person other than to say the new leader is a woman and she will takeover in about six weeks.
In a series of tweets, Musk said that he plans to transition to an executive chairman and chief technology officer role, overseeing product and software development at Twitter.
Shares of electric vehicle maker Tesla (TSLA), another company that Musk runs, jumped more than 2% on the Twitter news.
Investors have been concerned that Musk is distracted and paying less attention to Tesla following his $44 billion U.S. acquisition of Twitter last October.
In April of this year, several Tesla shareholders publicly urged Tesla’s board to ensure that Musk dedicate more of his time to the automaker.
Musk has shaken up Twitter since purchasing the social media site less than a year ago. He took the company private, fired top executives, and laid off hundreds of employees.
Under his leadership, Twitter’s advertising business has declined sharply. Several companies withdrew their ad dollars as the social messaging service saw an increase in offensive speech and hate rhetoric.
Musk has tried to make up for the shortfall in ad revenue with a new subscription service called “Twitter Blue” that offers features such as the ability to compose longer tweets.
Twitter has also removed blue check marks from non-paying users whose identities had been verified, opening the door to potential impostors of celebrities, CEOs, and politicians.
Musk has also allowed previously banned users back onto Twitter, including former U.S. President Donald Trump.
The social media platform has endured several technical problems and outages since Musk took over, some of which coincided with staff layoffs.
On several occasions, Musk has said that he hopes to turn Twitter into an “everything app,” and that he wants to return the company to the stock market once its financial health improves.
Musk has also said that Twitter was on the verge of bankruptcy when he bought the company, requiring the changes he has made at the social media site.
