Elon Musk confirmed that the new CEO for Twitter will be NBCUniversal鈥檚 Linda Yaccarino, an executive with deep ties to the advertising industry.
鈥淚 am excited to welcome Linda Yaccarino as the new CEO of Twitter!鈥 Musk wrote in a Friday tweet. He added that Yaccarino 鈥渨ill focus primarily on business operations" while Musk will stay closely connected to product design and new technology.
Before that announcement, NBCUniversal said Friday that Yaccarino would step down immediately as chairwoman for global advertising and partnerships.
Musk, who and has been running it since, has long insisted that he would step down as top executive at the company, which is now called X Corp.
Few expect Musk to remove himself from the decision making process at Twitter, however.
鈥淲hile he鈥檚 stepping back from the CEO title, Musk is far from likely to step back from calling the product shots,鈥 said Mike Proulx, research director at Forrester Research.
Yaccarino, with deep roots in the advertising industry, could be a linchpin in Twitter's future.
Luring advertisers is critical for Musk and Twitter after many after his takeover of the social media platform, fearing harm to their brands in the ensuing chaos. Musk said in late April that , but provided no details.
Mark DiMassimo, founder and creative chief of ad agency DiGo, said Yaccarino successfully integrated and digitized ad sales at Comcast and NBC 鈥 and that her track record of cross-selling ads across different platforms could appeal to Musk as he tries to transform Twitter from a social media company to a bigger media platform.
Yaccarino worked at NBCUniversal for nearly 12 years 鈥 with her team generating more than $100 billion in ad sales since 2011, her company bio notes.
According to , Yaccarino previously served as NBC鈥檚 chair for advertising and client partnerships and as president of cable entertainment and digital advertising sales. Prior to her time with NBC, Yaccarino worked at global entertainment company Turner for almost two decades.
Last month, Yaccarino interviewed Musk on a Miami stage last month in front of hundreds of advertisers.
鈥淚f anyone can translate the Musk vision into advantages for marketers she鈥檒l be able to do it,鈥 DiMassimo said Friday, prior to Musk鈥檚 confirmation. 鈥淓ven though there鈥檚 skepticism and all marketers live in the 鈥榮how me鈥 state right now with regard to Twitter, if in fact she does go to Twitter this is a powerfully reassuring move.鈥
Proulx added that advertising is not the only challenge that Twitter鈥檚 new CEO will face 鈥 after all, Musk has 鈥渇undamentally altered鈥 Twitter both as a product and a community, arguably 鈥渇or the worse.鈥
Musk鈥檚 tenure at Twitter鈥檚 helm has been . He began his first day firing the company鈥檚 top executives, followed by , which has meant that Twitter has far fewer engineers to ensure that the site is running smoothly and far fewer content moderators to help rid it of hate speech, animal cruelty and graphic violence.
He鈥檚 upended the platform鈥檚 and has scaled back safeguards against the . It鈥檚 been some of these changes 鈥 along with Musk鈥檚 own penchant for spreading misinformation and engaging with prominent conspiracy theorists and far-right figures 鈥 that analysts say soured many advertisers on the platform.
Regaining advertisers鈥 trust will require stabilizing Twitter and ensuring that key product decisions are made thoughtfully and deliberately and not, as Musk has often been known to do, on the spur of the moment, inspired by a fan鈥檚 tweet or a passing thought. Industry insiders describe Yaccarino as a marketer鈥檚 leader with key advertising expertise, but if she鈥檚 to succeed on the business side, she鈥檒l need Musk鈥檚 buy-in on the product side.
Musk's policy changes have led to divisions among users, some who have left the platform. There was more of that on Friday, but from some of Musk's most boisterous supporters.
Some focused on Yaccarino鈥檚 affliation with The World Economic Forum, an organization that Musk has previously criticized 鈥 suggesting that this could signal movement away from Musk鈥檚 鈥2.0 values鈥 for Twitter. On Thursday, however, Musk said that the platform's 鈥渃ommitment to open source transparency and accepting a wide range of viewpoints remains unchanged.鈥
Others have also questioned Yaccarino's political leanings. In 2018, Donald Trump Yaccarino to serve on his Council on Sports Fitness and Nutrition for two years. As in 2021 and 2022, she also worked with the Biden White House to help create a coronavirus vaccination campaign that reached over 200 million Americans.
Last November, Musk was questioned in court about how he splits his time among Tesla and his other companies, including SpaceX and Twitter. Musk over a shareholder鈥檚 challenge to his potentially $55 billion compensation plan as CEO of the electric car company.
Musk said he never intended to be CEO of Tesla, and that he didn鈥檛 want to be chief executive of any other companies either, preferring to see himself as an engineer. Musk also said at the time that he expected an organizational restructuring of Twitter to be completed in the next week or so. It鈥檚 been nearly six months since he said that.
Bantering with Twitter followers late last year, Musk expressed pessimism about the prospects for a new CEO, saying that person 鈥渕ust like pain a lot鈥 to run a company that 鈥渉as been in the fast lane to bankruptcy.鈥
鈥淣o one wants the job who can actually keep Twitter alive. There is no successor,鈥 Musk tweeted at the time.
_______
AP Business Writers Mae Anderson and Matt O鈥橞rien contributed to this report.
