Elon Musk has said that he has identified a successor as chief executive of Twitter.

The former richest man in the world on Thursday said that his successor would start in around six weeks as chief exec of both Twitter and X, Musk’s planned ‘everything app’. He did not put a name to the appointment, only using 'she' pronouns in his tweet announcing the news.

Musk added that he will transition to the role of chief technology officer and executive chair of Twitter in the coming weeks. Rather than overseeing the platform’s overall strategy, Musk will be focused on product, software & sysops.

Earlier on Thursday, the Wall Street Journal reported that NBCUniversal's head of advertising Linda Yaccarino was in talks to take over from Musk, with the timing of the Twitter owner’s announcement seeming to add credence to this report.

Tech industry insiders posting on the anonymous Blind messaging app had previously reported that the likes of former YouTube boss Susan Wojiciciki, former Yahoo chief exec Marissa Mayer and top Neuralink exec Shivon Zilis were being considered for the role.

The billionaire who bought Twitter for an inflated price of $44 billion in October posted a poll in December in which he said he would resign should the platform’s users vote that way. A resounding 57.5 per cent of users voted for him to step down as chief executive officer, though was later coy on publicly addressing the vote.

Since its acquisition by Musk, Twitter has massively downsized its number of employees by slashing thousands of jobs globally including many of its executives such as previous chief exec Parag Agrawal. Since the mass layoffs, Twitter has suffered multiple major outages, while users and pundits have noted increased instability on both the web and mobile apps.

Musk, a self-proclaimed free-speech absolutist, also significantly reduced the level of moderation in the platform and restored the accounts of neo Nazis and far right figures such as Nick Fuentes and twice impeached US president Donald Trump. Despite this advocacy for free speech, Musk notably removed an account which used publicly available information to track his private jet on the grounds that it endangered his safety.

Arguably Musk’s biggest and most controversial decision as owner and chief exec of Twitter has been the introduction of Twitter Blue – a subscription service which provides enhanced features to paying users. These subscribers now have a blue twitter check mark next to their name previously reserved for celebrities, organisations and other noteworthy accounts. So-called ‘legacy’ accounts had their checkmarks removed last month, with figures ranging from Beyoncé and Cristiano Ronaldo to the Pope losing the signifier which was initially introduced to verify they were legitimate.

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