Who Could Be The Next Twitter CEO After Elon Musk? A Look At 7 Potential Candidates

Trending across social media Monday morning is news that Elon Musk may step down from the CEO role he took when he acquired Twitter. Here’s a look at the latest and some candidates who could be named the next CEO of the social media platform.

What Happened: Elon Musk is currently serving as the CEO of Twitter, Tesla Inc TSLA and SpaceX. Musk has been a busy man since taking over Twitter in a $44 billion acquisition.

Since purchasing the company, Musk has upset many Twitter users due to his views on free speech and the banning and unbanning of certain accounts on the platform.

Over the weekend, Musk set up a poll asking if he should step down as the CEO of Twitter. Over 57% of those polled voted yes.

Should I step down as head of Twitter? I will abide by the results of this poll.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 18, 2022

Musk said he would abide by the results of the survey. He previously used polls to ask followers if he should buy Twitter, if he should sell Tesla stock, if Twitter should have an edit button and if the account of former President Donald Trump should be unbanned.

If Musk follows the results of the poll and steps down as CEO of Twitter, here are some potential replacements.

Jack Dorsey: Twitter co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey has been linked to a move to come back and lead the social media company. Ahead of a trial against Twitter, texts from Musk revealed many conversations with the former Twitter boss. Dorsey admitted to Musk that he quit as the CEO of Twitter after realizing that a new social media platform was needed.

“It can’t be a company. I believe it must be an open-source protocol, funded by a foundation of sorts that doesn’t own the protocol, only advances it,” Dorsey said.

Dorsey has been open recently about wanting to make Twitter open source and may not be open to stepping back into the CEO role. Dorsey is currently the CEO of Block Inc SQ and was previously criticized for leading two public companies simultaneously. 

Jason Calacanis: One person who is open to being the CEO of Twitter is Jason Calacanis, an investor and entrepreneur. Calacanis appeared frequently in the Musk text log. Among the topics discussed was Calacanis saying he wanted to be the CEO of the social media platform and was excited to see Musk take over the company. Musk asked Calacanis to be a strategic advisor if the Twitter deal was completed. Calacanis also suggested to Musk that Twitter should market to famous YouTuber Mr. Beast, who could help the platform appeal more to Gen Z and Millenial users.

“Board member, advisor, whatever…you have my sword,” Musk told Calacanis.

David Sacks: Investor and entrepreneur David Sacks is similar to Calacanis as a friend of Musk and someone who has been tasked with helping the company after Musk acquired it. Sacks was the former Chief Operating Officer of PayPal Holdings PYPL and is close to Musk thanks to their working together at the payments company. Sacks is also the founder and former CEO of Yammer, giving him experience running a company.

Sriram Krishnan: The Twitter bio for Sriram Krishnan calls himself a Startup helper and also lists him as an advisor and board member for several companies. Krishnan has previously worked for Twitter and also has experience at social media companies Meta Platforms META and Snap Inc SNAP. Krishnan is also connected to Andreessen Horowitz and could help push the payments and crypto integration of Twitter with his connections. Krishnan previously hosted Musk on his Clubhouse show “Good Time Show” and has said that he is “helping” Musk.

Related Link: Jack Dorsey Not Exactly Impressed With Elon Musk's Twitter 

Lex Fridman: Computer scientist and MIT research scientist Lex Fridman has thrown his hat into the ring of potential CEO successors.

“Let me run Twitter for a bit. No salary. All in. Focus on great engineering and increasing the amount of love in the world. Just offering my help in the unlikely case it’s useful,” Fridman tweeted.

Musk replied telling Fridman he “must like pain a lot” to want to be the Twitter CEO.

“One catch: you have to invest your life savings in Twitter and it has been in the fast lane to bankruptcy since May. Still want the job?” Musk tweeted.

Edward Snowden: Former Intelligence contractor Edward Snowden also suggested to Musk that he should be put in charge as CEO of Twitter. Snowden became famous for leaking classified information from the National Security Agency (NSA) and has been living in exile. Snowden offered to be the Twitter CEO and said he takes payment in Bitcoin BTC/USD. Musk previously ran a poll on Twitter to see if followers believed Snowden and WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange should be pardoned by the U.S. government.

Jared Birchall: One of the most trusted people in the Musk circle is Jared Birchall, a board member for the Musk Foundation and CEO of Musk founded Neuralink. Birchall has been considered Musk's right-hand man and a key advisor to the Tesla and Twitter CEO. Birchall was also vocal about Musk acquiring Twitter, and helped secure funding for the deal with his past banking experience. Birchall worked for Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch previously.

Read Next: 'Don't Try To Be A Leader For The Sake Of Being A Leader,' Career Advice From Elon Musk 

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Photo: Courtesy of Shutter stock and Dunk on flickr.