Elon Musk has stated that he does not want to be the CEO of Twitter or any other company

 In testimony at a trial challenging his massive pay package at Tesla, Musk stated that he does not want to be the CEO of any company and that he would eventually appoint a new CEO at Twitter.

Elon Musk does not appear to want to be the CEO of any company.

So he claimed in testimony at a trial on Wednesday challenging his massive pay package at Tesla. Musk, the CEO of several companies, most recently Twitter, was responding to questions from Tesla's lawyers when he made the casual remark.

“I frankly don’t want to be the CEO of any company,”

he said.

The trial, which began on Monday, is centred on whether Tesla's board acted appropriately when it approved a pay package for Musk worth approximately $52 billion at current share prices, and whether Musk wielded undue influence over that decision.

But Musk's testimony also covered his titles, how he spends his time, and, most importantly, whether he was drunk when he crowned himself "technoking" of Tesla in 2021. (He claimed to be sober, but his lilt indicated otherwise).

He explained why he dislikes the title of CEO at his various companies, stating that he does not see himself as a traditional CEO.

“At SpaceX, it’s really that I’m responsible for the engineering of the rockets and Tesla for the technology in the car that makes it successful,” he said. “So, CEO is often viewed as somewhat of a business-focused role, but in reality, my role is much more that of an engineer developing technology and making sure that we develop breakthrough technologies and that we have a team of incredible engineers who can achieve those goals.”

“My role is much more that of an engineer developing technology”

He also stated that he does not intend to remain CEO of Twitter indefinitely. Musk took over the company two weeks ago and has since laid off half of the employees, launched and withdrawn multiple new product ideas, and overseen the departure of several established advertisers.

“I expect to reduce my time at Twitter and find somebody else to run Twitter over time” he said. 

(Musk previously told investors that he only expected to be Twitter's CEO for a limited time).

According to James Murdoch, a former Tesla board member, Musk is considering stepping down as CEO of Tesla. Later in the day, Murdoch testified that Musk has specifically mentioned who he wants to succeed him as CEO of Tesla — but was not asked by lawyers for the plaintiffs to name that person. In his pre-trial deposition, Murdoch stated that Musk had not specifically mentioned a successor, but had done so in the intervening time.

According to James Murdoch, Musk is considering stepping down as CEO of Tesla.

When asked how he spent his time in 2017 while the pay package was being put together, Musk said he split his time between Tesla and SpaceX, with less time spent on his tunnelling and brain chip ventures — though, by the end of the year, he spent almost all of his time at Tesla, which was in the midst of its so-called "production hell" with the Model 3.

Investors are concerned about Musk's ability to multitask and whether the billionaire is taking on too much to legitimately run so many companies. Musk testified that the majority of his time is spent "wherever the crisis is".

This is not to say that Musk isn't thinking about the long term. When asked about the Tesla Roadster that is currently in space, Musk described it as an "art piece that will last millions of years".

Tesla Roadster in space is “an art piece that will last millions of years” Musk said.

When asked about his combative approach with regulators, particularly the Securities and Exchange Commission, Musk doubled down.

“In general, I think the mission of the SEC is good but the question is whether that mission is being executed well,” he replied. “In some cases, I think it is not. The SEC fails to investigate things that they should and places far too much attention on thing that are not relevant.”

Musk then brought up the “recent FTX thing,” in which the cryptocurrency exchange declared bankruptcy. “Why was there no attention given to FTX?” Musk asked. “Investors lost billions. Yet the SEC continues to hound me despite shareholders being greatly rewarded. This makes no sense.”

Despite a 2018 settlement with the SEC establishing oversight over his public communications following his failed attempt to take Tesla private, he reiterated that no one approves his tweets before he posts them. He has since gone to court to challenge the consent decree, claiming he was coerced into signing it.

“The consent decree was made under duress,” 

Musk said in court today. 

“An agreement made under duress, is not valid, as a foundation of law.”

Musk was also questioned about an offensive tweet he sent in July 2020, in which he stated, “SEC, three letter acronym, middle word is Elon’s”. 

Under oath, Musk said he meant for it to stand for “Save Elon’s Company” but that it was misinterpreted.