The entrepreneur and billionaire Elon Musk had announced that he would give up his post at Twitter if the majority of users voted in favor of it in an online vote.

That is exactly what has happened.

Around 17.5 million votes were cast, according to Twitter.

More than 10 million, or 57.5 percent, answered "yes" to the question, "Should I resign as CEO of Twitter?" Now the public awaits the announcement of that resignation.

Musk launched the poll on Sunday evening on his private Twitter account, which has more than 122 million registered followers.

Winand von Petersdorff-Campen

Economic correspondent in Washington.

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Musk had recently held polls on Twitter several times and linked them with an assurance that he would follow the vote.

So far he had kept that promise.

He lifted the ban on former President Donald Trump and lifted the blockade of critical journalists.

In part, however, he allows himself to be approved by Twitter votes for decisions that he had already made anyway.

An appearance in a court case in late November fuels this suspicion.

A Tesla shareholder had sued him for his compensation.

This is not appropriate for a part-time manager.

Musk said at the time that he expected to soon be able to shift his focus away from Twitter.

He doesn't want to be CEO anyway.

It is now speculated that Musk has long since recruited a successor.

The entrepreneur contradicted this interpretation on Twitter.

"The question isn't finding a CEO, it's finding a CEO who can keep Twitter alive," Musk shared.

Nobody who can keep Twitter afloat wants the job: "There is no successor." The former executives who managed the company until Musk joined left the company voluntarily or had been fired.

More than half of the employees were fired, and more left the company after the new boss ordered compulsory attendance.

A new CEO would still be accountable to Musk, who is likely to remain Twitter's primary owner.

Serious financing problems

Why Musk is resigning after only seven turbulent weeks at the helm of Twitter remains all the more unclear without a successor plan.

The financial problems are obviously serious.

Many advertisers put advertising on hold following the acquisition after Musk announced serious changes to the platform's moderation.

SEC documents revealed last week that Musk sold another $3.6 billion worth of Tesla stock.

That adds up to $23 billion in sales this year.

Musk initially announced that he would refrain from further sales, but apparently changed his mind: "At the risk of stating the obvious: beware of debt in a turbulent macroeconomically uncertain environment, especially if the Fed hikes interest rates," he said on Twitter .

The entrepreneur had financed the takeover price of 44 billion dollars with 13 billion in loans, which are now weighing on Twitter.

By selling Tesla shares again, Musk could want to relieve the balance sheet and reduce interest payments.

At the same time, he is apparently trying to persuade other investors to inject capital.

It is unclear whether he was successful in doing so.

New media outlet Semafor reported that Musk's family office attempted to sell Twitter stakes at cost price.

divided attention

Musk, meanwhile, comes under fire from Tesla shareholders.

They react sullenly to the course development and see a connection with the time-consuming Twitter engagement.

The Tesla price has fallen by more than 60 percent since the beginning of the year, significantly more than that of its American competitors Ford and General Motors with around minus 40 percent.

Indonesian billionaire Leo Ko Guan, Tesla's third-largest single shareholder, publicly criticized his boss and called on him to resign.

Musk is also the head of the aerospace company Space X and the tunnel builder Boring Company, both of which he founded.

He is closely associated with Neuralink as an investor and founder.

Musk has recently faced severe criticism after temporarily banning critical journalists from Twitter for allegedly making his location public at various times.

Other accounts were deleted for advertising competing media.

He also lashed out at former Twitter executives and government health adviser Anthony Fauci.

Many user accounts have been reopened after fierce protests.