Twitter has a new CEO. Publicist Linda Yaccarino will take on the role in six weeks, Elon Musk reported via his own Twitter account.
Yaccarino will focus on commercial operations, while her predecessor, Musk, will be in charge of product design and new technology. The duo's goal is to “transform this platform into X, the everything app,” in the words of the South African entrepreneur.
I am excited to welcome Linda Yaccarino as the new CEO of Twitter!@LindaYacc will focus primarily on business operations, while I focus on product design & new technology.
Looking forward to working with Linda to transform this platform into X, the everything app. https://t.co/TiSJtTWuky
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 12, 2023
Musk had announced that he would leave his position last Thursday and that a woman would be his replacement at the head of the social network. Since then, rumors have been swirling about who might replace the tycoon.
The name of NBC Universal executive Linda Yaccarino was one of the two that Twitter users, workers and technology experts speculated about before it was known who would be chosen. The other was Ella Irwin, Twitter's director of trust and safety.
An NBC publicist is the new Twitter CEO
Linda Yaccarino was the favorite, according to a Wall Street Journal exclusive. NBC Universal's head of advertising had been working for the network for more than a decade in search of new ways to measure advertising effectiveness. She was behind major investments such as the launch of the Peacock streaming platform , which only includes the company's advertisements as advertising content.
She is also in charge of hosting the NBC Upfronts, which this year will take place on Monday, May 15. This event, in which the network presents content to advertisers for the next season of television, could be the stage chosen for the advertising manager to comment on her signing with the social network.
It is not a surprising change. It's no secret that Linda Yaccarino is a staunch Musk supporter. She interviewed him in April of this year during the conference that the tycoon gave in Miami Beach, Fla. At the time, she played journalist and pressed him to respond to his own sometimes controversial tweets. However, at the end of the talk, she praised the tycoon by assuring the following:
Elon has committed to being accessible to everyone for continual feedback. If freedom of speech, as he says, is the bedrock of this country, I'm not sure there's anyone in this room who could disagree with that.
