Musk declines former tech CEO's offer to run Twitter for him
Former T-Mobile CEO John Legere offered to 'run' Twitter's day-to-day operations while Elon Musk can focus on product and technology
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New Twitter owner Elon Musk curtly declined an offer by the former CEO of T-Mobile to "run" his new social media platform.
John Legere, who helmed T-Mobile for seven years before stepping away from the company in 2020, tweeted that Musk could support product and technology while Legere manages the day-to-day operations.
"I’m expensive but so is what you paid for twitter," Legere tweeted.
"No," Musk responded, before following up by saying that "Twitter at its core is a software & servers company" and the "technology needs to evolve rapidly, which requires a technologist."
Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk walks next to a screen showing an image of Tesla Model 3 car during an opening ceremony for Tesla China-made Model Y program in Shanghai, China. (REUTERS/Aly Song//File Photo / Reuters Photos)
After the rejection, Legere asked Musk to "please consider" his "free advice."
"I believe [Twitter] can be the marketplace for transparent free speech AND a profitable growth company. That will require vision but also leadership and management," Legere tweeted.
Musk, who closed his $44 billion deal to purchase Twitter last month, has shaken up the company's top brass, immediately firing former CEO Parag Agrawal, chief financial officer Ned Segal, and policy chief Vijaya Gadde. A slew of other executives have exited the company in recent days, including Yoel Roth, the former head of trust and safety at the platform.
The Twitter logo is seen on a sign on the exterior of Twitter headquarters in San Francisco, California, on October 28, 2022. (CONSTANZA HEVIA/AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)
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The Tesla CEO has also rolled out other changes, launching a revamped premium service in which users can pay $8 a month to receive a verified blue check and other benefits.
That service was temporarily offline over the weekend as Twitter dealt with a deluge of imposter accounts, including of Eli Lilly & Co., Nintendo, Lockheed Martin, and others.