Nov 16 (Reuters) – Elon Musk said on Wednesday he hoped to reduce his time at Twitter and eventually find a new leader to run the social media company, adding that he expected to complete an organizational restructuring this week.
Musk made the remarks while testifying in a Delaware court to defend against claims that his $56 billion pay package at Tesla Inc ( TSLA.O ) was based on easy-to-achieve performance targets and be approved by a compliant board of directors. Read more
However, Musk later said in a tweet that he will continue to operate Twitter until it is in a strong place, although “it will take some time.”
Musk’s tweet came after former CEO Jack Dorsey said he will not accept the role of CEO of Twitter. In a response to a Twitter user when asked if he would take up the role of CEO, he said “no”.
Tesla investors have grown increasingly concerned about how much time Musk is spending on changing Twitter.
“There is an initial burst of activity necessary after the acquisition to reorganize the company,” Musk said in his testimony. “But then I hope to reduce my time on Twitter.”
Musk also admitted that some Tesla engineers were helping to evaluate Twitter’s engineering teams, but said it was “on a voluntary basis” and “off-hours.”
The billionaire’s first two weeks as Twitter owner have been marked by rapid change and chaos. It quickly fired Twitter’s previous CEO and other senior leaders and then laid off half its staff earlier this month.
Musk sent an email to Twitter employees early Wednesday, telling them they had to decide by Thursday whether they wanted to stay at the company to work “long hours at high intensity” or receive a severance package of three months of payment.
Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin and Tom Hals; Additional reporting by Akanksha Khushi. Written by Sheila Dang; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama, Richard Chang and Dhanya Ann Thoppil
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Tom Hals
Thomson Reuters
Award-winning reporter with more than two decades of experience in international news, focusing on high-stakes legal battles over everything from government policy to corporate deal-making.