TIMELINE: Musk to step down as Twitter CEO once he finds successor

Billionaire Elon Musk said he will step down as chief executive of Twitter Inc once he finds a replacement, but will still run some key divisions of the social media platform.

Check the entire timeline that led to Elon Musk announcing that he would step down as Twitter CEO. (REUTERS)

Billionaire Elon Musk said he will step down as chief executive of Twitter Inc once he finds a replacement, but will still run some key divisions of the social media platform. The latest move by Musk, the head of electric-car maker Tesla Inc, comes after Twitter users voted decisively in a poll for him to step down as CEO of the microblogging platform. Below is a snapshot of Musk's moves in the Twitter takeover saga.

April 4: Musk discloses over 9% stake in Twitter

April 5: Twitter says Musk will join company's board

April 10: Musk says he will not join Twitter board

April 14: Musk offers $54.20/share, a 38% premium to Twitter's April 1 closing price

April 15: Twitter adopts poison pill to protect company from takeover

April 21: Musk lines up $46.5 billion in financing for the deal

April 25: Twitter board accepts Musk's offer

April 29: Musk sells Tesla shares worth over $8 billion in a bid to finance takeover

May 5: Musk discloses $7.14 billion funding; sources tell Reuters Musk could temporarily lead Twitter after deal closes

May 11: Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey says he will not return as CEO if offered

May 13: Musk says Twitter deal on hold pending review of spam and fake accounts. Later tweets he remains committed to the deal

May 25: Twitter investors vote against re-electing Elon Musk ally to board Musk pledges more equity to fund Twitter deal, scraps margin loan

May 26: Musk sued by Twitter investors for stock 'manipulation' during takeover bid

May 27: The SEC looks into Musk's Twitter stake purchase

June 6: Musk threatens to walk away from the deal if Twitter fails to provide data on spam and fake accounts

July 8: Musk says he is terminating the deal as Twitter breached provisions of the merger agreement

July 11: Twitter fires back at Musk, accusing him of "knowingly" breaching an agreement to buy it

July 12: Twitter sues Musk for violating his $44-billion deal

July 15: Musk files a motion opposing Twitter's request to speed up a trial over his plan to terminate the deal

July 19: Twitter will get an October trial in its legal fight to hold Musk to his $44 billion takeover

July 22: Twitter blames battle with Musk and weakening digital ad market for surprise fall in Q2 revenue and loss

July 29: Musk confidentially countersues Twitter, escalating his legal fight against the company over his bid to walk away from the deal August Twitter rejects Musk's claims in a Delaware 4 court filing that he was hoodwinked into signing the deal, saying it was "implausible and contrary to fact"

August 6: Musk says if Twitter could provide method of sampling 100 accounts and how it confirmed the accounts are real, his deal should proceed

August 9: Musk sells $6.9 billion worth of shares in Tesla saying the funds could be used to finance a potential Twitter deal if he loses the legal battle

August 23: A whistleblower complaint by former Twitter head of security Peiter "Mudge" Zatko becomes public. It alleges the company misled regulators and investors about security and data privacy

September: Delaware judge Kathaleen McCormick allows Musk to add the whistleblower claims to his countersuit against Twitter but denied request to delay the trial

October 4: Musk proposes to go ahead with his original offer of $54.20 per share to take Twitter private, according to two sources

October 5: Apollo Global Management and Sixth Street Partners are no longer in talks with Musk to finance Twitter deal, according to sources

October 6: Judge halts Twitter lawsuit vs Musk until Oct. 28 to permit deal closing

October 13: Musk is under federal investigations, Twitter says in court filing

October 25: Musk informs co-investors he plans to close Twitter deal by Oct. 28, according to a source

October 27: Musk begins his Twitter ownership with firings, declares the 'bird is freed'

October 31: Musk says he will serve as chief executive of Twitter

November 1: Twitter will charge $8 a month for its Blue service, which includes its sought-after "verified" badge, Musk said

November 10: Twitter lays off half its workforce, as 4 advertisers pulled spending November Musk raises the possibility of the social media platform going bankrupt

November 11: Twitter pauses its recently announced $8 blue check subscription service as fake accounts mushroomed, and Musk brought back the "official" badge to some users

November 28: Musk accuses Apple Inc of threatening to block Twitter from its app store without saying why in a series of tweets that also said the iPhone maker had stopped advertising on Twitter

December 10: Twitter says it will relaunch a revamped version of its subscription service Twitter Blue at a higher price for Apple users

December 16: Twitter suspends the accounts of several journalists who recently wrote about Musk

December 17: Musk reinstates the Twitter accounts of the journalists that were suspended for a day

December 19: A poll by Musk on whether he should quit as Twitter CEO shows 57.5% votes were for "Yes", while 42.5% were against the idea

December 21: Musk says he will step down as Twitter CEO once he finds a replacement, but will run some key divisions of the company