Sriram Krishnan, Jared Kushner, Sheryl Sandberg: Who could replace Elon Musk as Twitter CEO?

Each day comes with a new Twitter drama. After a poll posted by Elon Musk voted in favour of him stepping down as “chief twit”, he said that he would quit after he finds a suitable replacement.

“I will resign as CEO as soon as I find someone foolish enough to take the job! After that, I will just run the software & servers teams,” he wrote on Twitter.

I will resign as CEO as soon as I find someone foolish enough to take the job! After that, I will just run the software & servers teams.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 21, 2022

Since the poll launched on Sunday, this is the first time Musk has spoken about quitting as the chief of the social media giant .

There has been a growing demand that Musk should step down from his role at Twitter. Tesla Inc bulls have questioned his focus on the social media platform and whether that is distracting him from properly steering the electric vehicle business, where he is central to product design and engineering, reports the news agency Reuters.

But if Musk takes a back seat who could be his replacement? We take a look.

Also read: Elon Musk may step down as Twitter CEO. His replacement will need these qualities

Sriram Krishnan

The India-born technocrat is part of Musk’s inner circle and the most obvious choice to take over the top job. The billionaire has given Sriram Krishnan the responsibility to monetise the microblogging platform.

He has recently invested in crypto startups at Andreessen Horowitz, a venture capital firm in California’s Silicon Valley. This could give him experience helpful to fulfil Musk’s goal of building payment capabilities for Twitter, according to a report on CNN.

“I’m an investor, technologist and engineer… I invest and am interested in the intersection of consumer tech and crypto,” Krishnan says on his website. He runs a podcast and YouTube channel with his wife Aarthi Ramamurthy. Musk and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg have been guests on the podcast which is about those “who have made it from being outsiders to insiders”.

Krishnan has led product and engineering teams at Twitter, Meta, and Microsoft in the past.

His interests include pro-wrestling and he has always loved everything tech. He is a non-controversial choice to run the company which has been in the news for many wrong reasons.

If Krishnan becomes CEO, he will be the second Indian-origin executive after Parag Agarwal to take up the role.

Also read: Explained: Who is Sriram Krishnan, the Indian-origin investor, helping Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover?

Jared Kushner

Former United States president Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner was spotted watching the FIFA World Cup final with Musk over the weekend. Now there is buzz that he could be a possible choice.

The Twitter owner posted the poll just hours after meeting with Kushner at the Lusail Stadium.

Kushner, an American businessman and investor, is married to Trump’s daughter Ivanka. He served as a senior advisor to the former president. He is close to the Saudi royal family, one of Twitter’s largest investors.

Jared Kushner was photographed with Elon Musk at the World Cup Final. In the VVIP box. In Qatar.

There is a very good reason he shouldn’t have been there: https://t.co/VpWQJeyXD9

— Vicky Ward (@VickyPJWard) December 19, 2022

David Sacks

Technology investor David Sacks is also part of Musk’s trusted circle. He and Musk have had a long association; the two have been part of the founding team at Paypal, an American fintech company that operates online payment systems in several countries.

Sacks is seen as a Musk loyalist, recently justifying the fight with Apple. The duo agrees on most things except chess, as Sacks said in a reply to a tweet. Sheryl Sandberg

The former chief operating officer of Meta is one of the most qualified candidates for the job. Known for largely overhauling Facebook’s revenue strategy, she played a key role along with Mark Zuckerberg in fuelling the growth of the world’s largest social media platform.

Sandberg was one of the most prominent executives of the company and the lead architect of its ads-based business model. She joined Facebook when she was 23. After a 14-year-stint, she quit in June to focus on philanthropy.

While she might be best suited for the job, convincing her to step in amid the chaos at Twitter might not be easy.

Jason Calacanis

Jason Calacanis was a tech reporter during the dot com boom. Now he is an investor who has backed companies like Uber.

Calacanis is one of Musk’s closest allies and was reportedly brought in after Musk took over Twitter and fired a majority of the top leadership.

Calacanis too ran a Twitter poll asking his 646.5K followers whether he or Sacks should run the company, separately or together, or whether someone else should take over. Most respondents voted for “other”.

Who should be the next twitter CEO? 😂😂😂

— @jason (@Jason) December 19, 2022

In April, days after Musk offered to buy Twitter, Calacanis texted the billionaire saying, “Twitter CEO is my dream job.”

Sarah Friar

Sarah Friar was the former chief financial officer of Square, the payments company started by ex-Twitter boss Jack Dorsey. Now she is the CEO of Nextdoor, a hyperlocal social network for neighbourhoods. She also sits on boards of Slack and Walmart.

Friar with a robust tech resume might be a good fit. She is considered a “highly regarded" executive in Silicon Valley with an “exceptionally rare mix of proven business skills, and authentic heart and soul”, according to BBC.

The not-so-serious contendors

Many have thrown their hat in the ring, some in jest. Edward Snowden, the National Security Agency whistleblower, tweeted, “I take payment in Bitcoins.”

I take payment in Bitcoin. https://t.co/wW0Qa9NxWi

— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) December 19, 2022

Former T-Mobile CEO John Legere, MIT artificial intelligence researcher Lex Fridman and rapper Snoop Dogg have offered to run the social network platform.

MySpace founder Tom Anderson commented on Musk’s poll, saying “depends on who you get to run it,” with a thinking-face emoji.

With inputs from agencies

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