Elon Musk jokes that he will quit SpaceX and Tesla to become an influencer

Mr Musk has repeatedly used memes to influence his companies - for better and worse

(AP)

Elon Musk has tweeted that he is thinking of “quitting [his] jobs and becoming an influencer full-time”.

The chief executive sent the message on Thursday without any context. It is unclear if the billionaire, who heads Tesla and SpaceX, was being serious.

Mr Musk has previously said that he “hate[s]” running the electric car company, but that it would “die without him”. In a conference call in January, he also said that he expected to lead Tesla for several years.

Nevertheless, Mr Musk has repeatedly used viral memes to further his own interests - for better or worse.

Infamously, US financial regulators had to probe his Twitter activity after he said he would take Tesla private at $420. The number is a reference to marajuana use.

He also sold ten per cent of his Tesla shares after apparently losing a Twitter poll. “Much is made lately of unrealized gains being a means of tax avoidance, so I propose selling 10% of my Tesla stock”, he tweeted last month. The results were split - 58 per cent in favour of the sale, 42 per cent against it.

While it might appear that he did so because of the result of the poll, Mr Musk had already indicated that he would sell a large block of Tesla stock. I have a bunch of [stock] options that are expiring early next year, so that’s a huge block of options we’ll sell in Q4,” he told journalist Kara Swisher, as reported by TechCrunch.

Elon Musk has used his Twitter account to alter markets in significant ways before. In recent times, he has lashed out at short sellers during GameStop’s prominence and tweeted memes about cryptocurrencies such as DogeCoin to inflate their prices.

In February this year, Mr Musk said he had “some pretty kickass meme dealers” and that “memes … can be very insightful. Throughout history I think the symbolism has positively affected people”.