Twitter’s billionaire owner, Elon Musk, said on Tuesday he will step down as chief executive of the social media platform once he finds a successor.

“I will resign as CEO as soon as I find someone foolish enough to take the job,” Mr Musk tweeted.

He said he will still run Twitter’s software and server teams after his replacement is found.

This is the first time Mr Musk confirmed he is leaving the role as chief of the social media platform since Twitter users voted decisively in a poll for him to step down.

The billionaire launched a poll on Sunday evening asking users if he should step down as the head of Twitter.

Mr Musk, 51, promised to abide by the result of the Twitter poll which saw 57.5 per cent of users vote “yes” to him quitting the role. More than 17.5 million users voted, with 42.5 per cent voting no to Mr Musk stepping down.

Before the poll, there had been calls for Mr Musk to step down for weeks. Recently, even Tesla investors questioned whether his focus on the social media platform is distracting him from properly steering the electric vehicle business.

Ross Gerber, CEO of Gerber Kawasaki Wealth Management and a longtime Tesla investor, tweeted about a perceived lack of leadership at the electric vehicle maker and said it’s “time for a shakeup.”

Mr Musk pushed back on the criticism from Mr Gerber saying “as bank savings account interest rates, which are guaranteed, start to approach stock market returns, which are not guaranteed, people will increasingly move their money out of stocks into cash, thus causing stocks to drop.”

Mr Musk completed a $44 billion buyout of Twitter in late October. Since the purchase, there has been a series of highly criticised decisions by Twitter’s new owner. He first banned an account that tracked the location of his private jet and followed it up with a mass suspension of critical journalists who reported on the ban.

The second-richest man in the world introduced Twitter’s paid-for verification feature which was rolled out for a second time last week after its launch was paused. The service costs $8 per month, or $11 for people using the Twitter app on Apple devices, and gives subscribers a “blue tick.” Previously a blue tick was used as a badge of authenticity and was free.

Finding someone to take over the social media platform may be a challenge, according to Mr Musk.