Elon Musk, the owner of Twitter, is reportedly in advanced talks to hire Linda Yaccarino, chair of global advertising and partnerships at NBCUniversal, as the social media platform’s new CEO. Although Mr. Musk has not officially confirmed Yaccarino’s appointment, he did announce on Twitter that he had chosen a new CEO and that “she will be starting in ~6 weeks!” He also added that he would continue to be involved with Twitter as executive chair and chief technology officer.
As Twitter’s owner, Musk has made several significant changes to the platform, including eliminating over 75% of its employees and taking it private. He has also made changes to its features and strategy. Despite this, Twitter faces several challenges, including a declining advertising business, which has traditionally been its main source of revenue, and debt payments of around $1.5 billion a year from the sale to Musk.
Yaccarino’s appointment as Twitter CEO would bring in an executive with extensive experience in the media sector and deep ties to the advertising industry. She has overseen a team that generated over $100 billion in advertising sales and brokered major marketing partnerships. She has also been involved in NBCUniversal’s dealings with marquee events such as the Super Bowl and the Olympic Games. However, Yaccarino’s appointment comes at a delicate time as she is scheduled to address NBCUniversal’s biggest clients next week in the annual upfronts pitch to woo advertisers.
Musk’s decision to hire a new CEO for Twitter was announced after he was criticized for some of his decisions at the company. In December, he ran a poll on Twitter asking if he should step down as the head of the company, with 58% of respondents in favor of him stepping down. Musk has previously faced pressure from investors, particularly at Tesla, to move away from day-to-day management of Twitter, which they consider a distraction.
Although Twitter’s workers were not informed of the new CEO appointment, Tesla’s shares rose about 2% in the final minutes of trading on Thursday after Musk’s tweet. If Yaccarino is appointed CEO of Twitter, she will inherit a challenging role with the company facing several issues, including a declining advertising business and debt payments.
