The founder of the World Economic Forum (WEF), Klaus Schwab, resigned on Monday as chairman of the forum's board.

"Following my recent announcement, and as I enter my 88th year, I have decided to step down from the position of Chair and as a member of the Board of Trustees, with immediate effect," he said in a statement released by the WEF.

The German-born economist did not offer a reason for leaving the Geneva-based WEF, which organizes annual meeting of the international political and economic elite in the Swiss luxury ski resort of Davos.

Vice Chairman Peter Brabeck-Letmathe will serve as interim chairman, with the search for a new chair having begun after Schwab's resignation was accepted at an extraordinary meeting on April 20. 

Schwab established the WEF in 1971 with the aim of creating a forum for policymakers and top corporate executives to tackle major global issues. The first conference was also held in Davos that year, with hundreds attending, including businesspeople, academics and politicians.

Over the decades, however, the WEF and the annual summit started drawing criticism from opponents on both left and right as being too elitist and detached from lives of ordinary people. Schwab himself was targeted by various conspiracy theorists in recent years. One viral controversy links him to the "You'll own nothing. And you'll be happy" quote which was published by the WEF in a 2016 video clip.

The video speculates on the ways the world could change by 2030. Schwab has never said or wrote the words shown on screen, which are actually based on an essay by Danish politician Ida Aukens about possible futures "for better and for worse." However, many have interpreted the video as proof of the WEF working to create a dystopian future without private ownership.

Edited by: Darko Janjevic