rumor confirmed
Musk names Linda Yaccarino as new Twitter boss
May 12, 2023 at 6:42 p.m
Elon Musk took over as head of Twitter last fall. As a result, the short message service’s advertising revenue plummeted. Now the billionaire is making way for a fresh face at the helm of the company.
Tech billionaire Elon Musk puts the top post at Twitter in the hands of an advertising expert. Musk announced in a tweet that he welcomed Linda Yaccarino as the new CEO, confirming recent US media reports. The new managing director of the short message service was most recently in charge of the advertising business at the media giant NBC Universal.
Yaccarino’s decades of experience could help Twitter bring some calm to key advertisers that Musk scared off with his erratic leadership style. In the future, he wants to take care of products and software as head of technology. It is unclear how much freedom of action the new manager will have alongside Musk.
Musk had announced the day before that he wanted to give up the boss job soon. A successor has been found and will take over in about six weeks, he wrote in a tweet. He didn’t mention a name. Media reports quickly came to the conclusion that it was Yaccarino who was negotiating with Twitter. NBC Universal announced that she is leaving the company effective immediately.
Majority voted for Musk to resign
Yaccarino was responsible for the global advertising business at NBC Universal. The group includes the US broadcaster NBC and the streaming service Peacock. Previously, she worked extensively in Warner’s TV business. NBC Universal recently struck a deal with Twitter for footage from the Paris 2024 Olympics. “Variety” wrote, citing Yaccarino’s environment, that she had long expressed her admiration for Musk. In mid-April, she interviewed him on stage at an industry conference, showing sympathy for his views and stated goals.
Musk bought Twitter for around $44 billion in October, fired all top managers and took over the reins himself. After that, advertising revenue collapsed – Twitter’s main source of income. Many advertisers feared a negative environment for their products on the service. In December, following controversy over his leadership style, Musk had Twitter users vote on whether he should vacate the post – and a good 57 percent of the 17.5 million participants voted in favor.
After that, nothing happened at first, although Musk had assured that he would stick to the outcome of the vote. So he said he first had to find someone “crazy” enough to accept the job offer.