Elon Musk Appoints New Twitter CEO.
Elon Musk has appointed Twitter's new CEO just over six months after the company's controversial acquisition of the social media company.
The billionaire said Linda Yaccarino, former head of advertising at NBCUniversal, will oversee the site’s struggling business operations.
He said he would start in six weeks.
Musk will remain involved as chairman and chief technology officer.
“Excited to work with Linda to transform this platform into X, the app for everything,” he wrote on Twitter, sparking speculation by writing that his new boss has been found without revealing his identity. He admitted his decision the day after he incited him.
Musk, who bought the social media platform for $44 billion last year, has pressured him to find someone else to run the company and return his eyes to other businesses owned by electric car maker Tesla and rocket maker SpaceX. It is hung. Fewer than 10 percent of Fortune 500 technology companies are led by women, making Yaccarino one of the rare examples of a woman at the helm of a major tech company, steadily rising through the ranks of some of the nation’s largest media companies. It will be.
Who is Linda Yaccarino?
Yaccarino grew up in an Italian-American family, her father was a police officer and her mother never attended college.
After graduating from Pennsylvania State University, she worked for Turner Entertainment for 15 years before joining NBCUniversal, where she directed nearly 2,000 and helped launch the streaming service.
Her work works closely with major brands to find product placement opportunities and persuade them to advertise alongside TV shows, even those known for their quirky content, such as premieres of Sex and the City. It has been formed by
She has also built new media relationships with companies such as Apple News, Snapchat and YouTube. A 2005 trade publication profile portrayed her as a busy married mother of two children, aged 13 and 9 at the time.
“I have no hobbies at all,” she said at the time.
Linda Yaccarino
Business Insider’s Claire Atkinson has followed Yaccarino’s career for 20 years, and her ad background could prove useful for Twitter, which has seen ad sales plummet since Musk took office. says.
“If Twitter is looking to monetize more than it’s ever been, then that’s the right place to start, and Linda would be the perfect person to make it happen,” said the media’s chief correspondent.
“I think she’s the person Elon Musk needs,” Atkinson added. “It can’t turn.”
In fact, according to The Wall Street Journal in 2012, her negotiating style earned her the nickname “The Velvet Hammer” within the industry.
Yaccarino will face the challenges of running a company that is struggling to make money, while also facing intense scrutiny over how Twitter handles misinformation and hate speech.
When Musk first discussed Twitter’s plans last year, she said she wanted the platform to reduce its reliance on advertising and change how it manages content.
He also said he wants to expand the site’s functionality to include payments, encrypted messaging, phone calls, and turn it into something he calls ‘X’.
But Musk sparked controversy by firing thousands of employees during the acquisition, including those tasked with dealing with abusive posts. Critics say the service will also revamp how it authenticates accounts and charges blue checkmark fees, making it easier for misinformation to spread.
Some of the changes have sparked concerns among advertisers who have stopped spending on the site due to concerns about the risks to their brands.
Mr Musk told the BBC last month that he had seen a “significant” drop in sales, even as the company told the company it would be reopening.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk exits the Philip Barton Federal Building in San Francisco, California.
At an advertising conference last month, Yaccarino interviewed Musk about what he is doing to reassure companies that their brands are not in jeopardy. “People in this space are an accelerated path to profitability,” she said. “But there are quite a few skeptics in this room.”
Skepticism about Yaccarino’s appointment quickly spread on social media, with many seeking clues about her allegedly conservative policies.
Her work at the World Economic Forum, an organization negatively viewed as “globalist” by the right, has been unpopular with some, as has her role in the coronavirus vaccination campaign with Pope Francis.
Others on the left questioned her political involvement in the White House Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition under former President Donald Trump.
Musk has also hired women in leadership roles at SpaceX and Tesla, and is notorious for being an unpredictable and demanding boss.