(CNN) Twitter owner Elon Musk confirmed Tuesday night that he will step down as CEO of the company, but only when he finds a successor, speaking directly for the first time about the Twitter poll he created this week in which millions of users voted in favor of his removal.
In a tweet, Musk said he would resign “as soon as I find someone dumb enough to take the job.”
He added that following his resignation as CEO, Musk will “lead the software and server teams” at Twitter, indicating that he can continue to wield significant influence on the company’s decision-making.
The announcement comes after remaining silent for more than a day regarding the poll result. On Monday, after more than 17 million users voted, 57.5% of whom said Musk should step down, the billionaire addressed the results only indirectly. He suggested that future Twitter polls could be limited to paying users of Twitter Blue, the company’s subscription service.
Musk’s poll asking users whether he should resign as CEO came after massive backlash to Twitter’s abrupt suspension of several journalists covering him, as well as Twitter’s decision to ban, then revoke the ban. ban, links to other social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram and Mastodon, a fast-growing rival to Twitter that has grown eightfold since October.