Elon Musk quits as Twitter CEO, hires female replacement
The outspoken business magnate announced the new CEO of Twitter and how she’ll transform the social media platform into ‘X’, the everything app.
Elon Musk announced top ad executive Linda Yaccarino would take over as CEO of Twitter as he fights to reverse fortunes at the struggling platform he bought for $44 billion last year.
In a tweet, Musk said he would remain in charge of design and technology at Twitter, with Yaccarino focusing primarily on business operations and turning Twitter into an “everything app” called X.
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.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 12, 2023
Looking forward to working with Linda to transform this platform into X, the everything app. https://t.co/TiSJtTWuky
The top advertising executive stepped down from NBCUniversal on Friday after Musk on Thursday said he has hired a woman to replace him as boss of Twitter and its newly named X Corporation parent.
A statement from NBCUniversal said Yaccarino, their global advertising chief, had resigned from her role as global ad sales chief “effective immediately”.
Yaccarino’s departure from the company that owns NBC, Universal and Telemundo came a few weeks after she interviewed Musk at a marketing conference in Miami on April 18.
According to the company’s website, at NBCUniversal she led a team of 2,000 people and “reengineered the advertising business for the 21st century.”
Yaccarino is one of the advertising industry’s most respected executives, but will face an uphill battle trying to attract major companies to come back to the platform.
Musk responded to concerns Twitter’s censorship and shadowban regime will return given Yaccarino’s public support for the left-wing ideology of Twitter’s previous leadership.
“I think people from both sides of the political spectrum will find Linda to be smart, fair and reasonable,” Musk said.
Musk has fully owned Twitter since late October and has repeatedly courted controversy as CEO, sacking most of its staff, readmitting far-right figures to the platform, suspending journalists and charging for previously free services.
The hiring belatedly fulfills the promise he made to honour the results of his Twitter poll in December.
A total of 57.5 per cent of more than 17 million accounts voted for him to step down.
Wall Street had grown frustrated that Twitter was luring Musk away from his other businesses, and share prices in Tesla rose on news he had found a CEO.
ELON MUSK QUITS AS TWITTER CEO
Elon Musk has announced that he has hired someone to replace him as boss of Twitter and its newly named X Corporation parent.
“Excited to announce that I’ve hired a new CEO for X/Twitter,” Mr Musk said in a tweet on Friday morning, adding that she would start in the job in about six weeks.
Twitter users in December voted to oust owner Musk as chief executive in an unscientific poll he organised and promised to honour, just weeks after he took charge of the social media giant.
“My role will transition to being exec chair & chief technology officer, overseeing product, software & system operations,” the billionaire tweeted.
Mr Musk’s running of Twitter has been criticised as taking the billionaire’s attention away from his jobs running Tesla and SpaceX.
If Mr Musk follows through on the announcement, he would belatedly fulfil a promise he made at the end of last year to honour the results of a poll he conducted at Twitter.
A total of 57.5 per cent of more than 17 million accounts voted for him to step down.
“I will resign as CEO as soon as I find someone foolish enough to take the job!” Mr Musk tweeted at the time.
Excited to announce that I’ve hired a new CEO for X/Twitter. She will be starting in ~6 weeks!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 11, 2023
My role will transition to being exec chair & CTO, overseeing product, software & sysops.
Mr Musk has fully owned Twitter since late October and has repeatedly courted controversy as CEO, sacking most of its staff, readmitting far-right figures to the platform, suspending journalists and charging for previously free services.
He recently made the tech firm part of an “X” shell corporation, getting rid of the Twitter company name but continuing to use it for the platform.
The controversial billionaire has talked publicly of using Twitter to build an all-purpose “X” application that combines messages, payments and more.
He this week announced encrypted direct messages at Twitter, and that audio and video calls are going to be added to the platform.
The San Francisco-based company, which generates most of its revenue from advertising, is set to earn less than $3 billion in 2023, down from $4 billion in 2022, according to Insider Intelligence.
More Coverage
Electric dreams: Is the grass really greener?
My Victa lawn mower ran on fossil fuels but was reliable, lasting more than 40 years. When it finally stopped working, I joined the Ryobi One electric cult. That was a big mistake.
Xi readies army of tech hotshots to take on US
The Chinese president spoke to the bosses of the largest technology companies, such as Huawei and DeepSeek, asking them to step up at this ‘prime time’.