Announcement comes after Twitter users in December voted for Musk to step down.

In a Twitter post on Thursday, Musk said the unnamed woman would take over from him in about six weeks.

Musk added that he would transition to executive chair and chief technology officer “overseeing product, software & sysops”.

While Musk did not name his replacement, the Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the situation, on Thursday reported that NBCUniversal’s head of advertising Linda Yaccarino was in talks for the role.

Musk’s announcement comes after Twitter users in December voted overwhelmingly for the Tesla CEO to step down as head of the social media networks in a poll he conducted himself.

Musk, who also leads rocket company SpaceX, ushered in sweeping changes at Twitter after buying the platform for $44bn last year, including laying off about 80 percent of employees, loosening moderation standards and launching a paid service called Twitter Blue.

Musk’s tenure has been hailed by conservatives as a win for free speech but criticised by many on the left for giving open slather to hate speech and misinformation.

The influential social media platform has also suffered a number of glitches and outages, as well as the loss of some major advertisers, since Musk took charge.

Tesla shares rose by about 2 percent following Musk’s announcement amid concerns among some shareholders that the billionaire’s attention has been divided among too many ventures.

Earlier this week, former Fox News host Tucker Carlson announced he would launch a “new version” of his top-rated show on Twitter, prompting speculation about this relationship with Musk.

Musk said Twitter had not signed a “deal of any kind whatsoever” with Carlson and that the conservative commentator would be subject to the same rules as all other content creators on the platform.