(Reuters) – Elon Musk said on Wednesday he expects to reduce his time at Twitter and eventually find a new leader to run the social media company, adding that he hopes to complete an organizational restructuring this week.
Musk made the remarks while testifying in a Delaware court to defend against allegations that his $56 billion salary at Tesla Inc. (TSLA.O) On the basis of easy achievement of performance targets and approved by a compliant board of directors. Read more
But Musk later said in a tweet that he would continue to run Twitter until he was in a strong place, though it would “take some time.”
Musk’s tweet came after the former CEO, Jack Dorsey, said he would not accept the CEO role of Twitter. And in response to a Twitter user when asked if he would take over as CEO, he said, “No.”
Tesla investors have been increasingly concerned about the time Musk is taking to shake up Twitter.
“There is initial activity that needs to happen post-acquisition to reorganize the company,” Musk said in his testimony. “But then I expect to reduce my time on Twitter.”
Musk also acknowledged that some Tesla engineers have been helping evaluate Twitter’s engineering teams, but said that was “on a voluntary basis” and “after hours.”
The billionaire’s first two weeks as the owner of Twitter were marked by rapid change and chaos. He quickly fired the former Twitter CEO and other top leaders, and then laid off half of his staff earlier this month.
Musk sent an email to Twitter employees early Wednesday, telling them they needed to make a decision 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 pay.
Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin and Tom Hals; Additional reporting by Akanksha Khushi. Writing by Sheila Dang; Editing by Keizo Nomiyama, Richard Chang, and Dania Ann Thubel
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