Elon Musk says he will find a new leader for Twitter

(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

Tesla investors have been increasingly concerned about the time Musk is taking to shake up Twitter.

Tesla shares fell 3% at midday.

“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 senior leaders, and then laid off half of Twitter’s 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; Writing by Sheila Dang; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Richard Chang

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