Elon Musk says Twitter should be ready for new CEO by end of year

“I need to stabilize the organization and just make sure it’s in a financially healthy place in that the product roadmap is clearly laid out,” Musk said via video link at the World Government Summit in Dubai, as reported by Bloomberg. “I’m guessing probably towards the end of the year would be good timing to find someone else to run the company.”

“I think it should be in a stable position around the end of this year,” Musk said. He didn’t offer any indication of who could be in line to take the role, but following the interview posted a joke photo of his dog Floki sitting at a desk with the caption “The new CEO of Twitter is amazing.” Various publications including Bloomberg and CNBC have reported that a CEO hunt has been underway in recent months, but potential candidates remain elusive (here are our informed guesses). 

Since conducting a poll on stepping down as Twitter CEO in December, Musk has not previously offered any concrete indication on exactly when he might do so, noting only that he planned to leave the role after he found “someone foolish enough to take the job.” He has said he plans to continue to run Twitter’s software and servers teams after resigning the CEO position.

The World Government Summit also covered Musk’s plans for Twitter more generally, including his ambitions to reduce misinformation on the platform. You can watch the whole interview below, or skip ahead to Musk’s response about stepping down as CEO, which starts at around the 15 minute mark.