Elon Musk says new Twitter CEO hired

Elon Musk announced Thursday that he had found a replacement to become Twitter's new CEO. 

"Excited to announce that I've hired a new CEO for X/Twitter. She will be starting in ~6 weeks!" Musk tweeted. "My role will transition to being exec chair & CTO, overseeing product, software & sysops." 

Musk became the owner and chief executive of Twitter in late October. He tweeted in December that he would step down as CEO "as soon as I find someone foolish enough to take the job." 

Twitter Inc. shares closed higher on Thursday due to Musk's announcements. Investors have grown concerned that Musk's active management of Twitter has steered his attention away from his other prominent businesses — electric car company Tesla and space exploration firm SpaceX.

How has Musk managed Twitter as CEO?

The South-African born billionaire's stint at the helm of Twitter has been characterized as chaotic.

Musk fired much of the company's staff, including then CEO Parag Agrawal, upon his takeover. He also vowed to loosen moderation guidelines, leading to criticism that the platform is becoming a hub for hate speech and misinformation. 

Another new policy introduced by Musk was that of "Twitter Blue," where users would pay $8 (€7.3) a month to verify their accounts with the coveted blue checkmark.

Twitter users who were verified with the check mark under the earlier system lost their status after the introduction of "Twitter Blue," and were instead coaxed into paying the monthly fee. This ultimately meant verified status began to lose its meaning, with impersonations of celebrities, businesses, government organizations and others soon inundating the platform.       

Musk, a self-proclaimed "free speech absolutist," has also posted tweets alluding to conspiracy theories, such as the unfounded claim that a recent deadly shooting in Allen, Texas was a "psyop."  

wd/kb (Reuters, AFP, AP)