Elon Musk earlier this month promised to resign at the head of Twitter as soon as he finds someone “dumb enough to take the job”.
Musk’s tentative resignation follows a Twitter poll released by the billionaire entrepreneur in which 57.5% of respondents called on Musk to stop running the company. Musk said he will retain control of the software and server departments, important teams that will give him significant control on the functioning of the social media platform.
It remains possible that Musk will reconsider his decision to step down, as he changed his mind about previous Twitter policy decisions, such as a proposed content moderation board, which he ultimately abandoned.
He didn’t share any more details about finding a successor or what traits he’s looking for in one, but that ambiguity hasn’t stopped some candidates from coming forward with their names, including rapper Snoop Dogg and personality. YouTube, Mr. Beast.
Still, a set of viable candidates will likely emerge in the coming weeks or months.
The position brings tremendous challenges. Musk, who admitted to overpaying the platform at the $44 billion purchase price, said last month that the company was losing $4 million a day.
Since Musk retains a major public profile and ultimate authority as owner, the new CEO will need to implement Musk’s vision and cede the limelight, said University of Alabama management professor Peter Harms. who studied business leadership, at ABC News.
“It won’t be your typical CEO,” Harms said.
Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Here is a list of who the next CEO of Twitter could be:
Relatives of Elon Musk
Twitter’s next CEO is perhaps most likely to come from a group of people close to Musk, whether inside or outside the company.
Jason Calacanis, a friend and public supporter of Musk, brings years of experience in technology and media. A former chief executive of Netscape, Calacanis now works as an angel investor with stakes in Robinhood and Uber, among other startup successes.
Another friend of Musk’s, David Sacks, is co-founder and partner of a venture capital firm called Craft, which claims investments in Lyft, Palantir, Slack and Twitter.
Earlier this month, Calacanis tweeted a survey asking users if he, Sacks or a partnership of the two should run Twitter after Musk. The answer that garnered the most support was “Other”, which garnered 39% of the vote.
A few other people in Musk’s orbit have drawn attention since his resignation announcement: Sriram Krishnan, a former Twitter employee brought back by Musk in October to help make improvements; and Steve Davis, the CEO of another Musk venture called The Boring Company, who reportedly snuck into Twitter headquarters with his wife and newborn to help with the acquisition, trade publication The Information reported.
John Legere, CEO and Chairman of T-Mobile, speaks during an interview on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, April 30, 2018.
Bloomberg via Getty Images
Jean Legere
Amid the flurry of requests from half-joking celebrities asking to run Twitter, one experienced candidate has volunteered for the job: John Legere, former CEO of telecommunications company T-Mobile.
Legere, who led T-Mobile from 2012 to 2020, was applauded for saving T-Mobile from tough times and making it the third-largest cellular carrier in the United States.
In a Twitter message to Musk in November, Legere said“You can stop dealing with day-to-day business and ‘content moderation’ and then take over the product/technology, let someone else ‘run’ @Twitter.”
“I’m expensive, but so is what you paid for Twitter,” he added.
Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, a management professor at Yale University who convenes meetings of top CEOs, told ABC News that Legere’s skills are a good fit for the job, since he knows how to resuscitate an established company.
Legere “could parachute tomorrow and do a lot better,” Sonnenfeld said. “This is a turnaround, a recovery, not an entrepreneurial start.”
For his part, Musk appeared to berate Legere’s candidacy. In response to Legere’s post suggesting he was running the company, Musk simply tweeted “no.” However, Musk has reversed his stance on major decisions before, including the acquisition of Twitter.
Jack Dorsey creator, co-founder and chairman of Twitter and co-founder and CEO of Square arrives on stage at Bitcoin Convention 2021, a cryptocurrency conference held at the Mana Convention Center, on June 4, 2021, in Miami.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Jack Dorsey
Another potential candidate to lead Twitter is the former CEO Jack Dorseya friend of Musk who left the company and returned to run it on a previous occasion.
Dorsey, who helped found the social media company, posted the platform first tweet in 2006 and was named CEO a year later. However, his tenure only lasted until 2008. Years later, however, as user growth plateaued and employee morale waned, Dorsey returned to lead the company from 2015 to 2021. .
Currently, Dorsey runs Block, a fintech company formerly called Square, which he co-founded over a decade ago.
The return of a former Twitter CEO, like Dorsey, may be unlikely, as Musk reversed some of the company’s previous policies and sharply criticized others. The company’s decision to ban former President Donald Trump after Jan. 1. 6 attack, one of the most publicized choices under Dorsey, was fact by Musk last month.
Additionally, Musk granted reporters access to internal company documents for a series of stories called “Twitter Files,” in which they allege bias and censorship previously practiced by the platform.
Meanwhile, Dorsey said in May that he didn’t want the role of CEO. When a user predicted that Musk would eventually appoint Dorsey as CEO, Dorsey responded“No, I will never be CEO again.”
Sheryl Sandberg attends the 2022 Women’s Media Awards at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel on Nov. 28, 2022. 17, 2022, in New York City.
Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images
Sheryl Sandberg
Few potential candidates extolling the qualities of Sheryl Sandberg, who resigned as chief operating officer at Meta, Facebook’s parent company, in September.
Faced with a commercial break from big brands, Sandberg could restore the platform’s credibility on Madison Avenue and ensure the company optimizes revenue in other ways.
Sandberg, who joined Meta in 2008, led to a dramatic increase in Facebook’s revenue by revamping its advertising business, turning the operation into an industry powerhouse that helped businesses large and small target users with data collected by the platform. Prior to that, she served as Vice President of Global Online Sales and Operations at Google.
She’s worked closely with Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg for nearly 15 years, navigating a relationship with a tech-focused senior executive that resembles the possible dynamic between a new Twitter CEO and Musk.
But the sources of potential tension between Musk and Sandberg are multiple. Sandberg has her own significant public profile, built in part on “Lean In,” a 2013 book that encouraged women to be assertive in the workplace. A powerful CEO, as Sandberg likely would be, could face disputes with Musk over the direction of the company.
Musk and Sandberg could also clash over their political views, especially as content moderation remains a polarizing issue. Sandberg was a top donor to Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign. In contrast, Musk last month encouraged Americans to vote Republican ahead of the midterm elections.
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