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Elon Musk names Linda Yaccarino as new Twitter CEO

May 12, 2023

Musk had earlier vowed to step down as Twitter's chief executive. Yaccarino had previously worked as the advertising chief at US media giant NBCUniversal.

https://p.dw.com/p/4RHix
A picture of Linda Yaccarino
Linda Yaccarino has extensive experience in the media and ad industryImage: Cindy Ord/Getty Images for The Female Quotient

Twitter owner Elon Musk on Friday named Linda Yaccarino as the new chief executive of the social media platform.

"I am excited to welcome Linda Yaccarino as the new CEO of Twitter!" Musk said. Yaccarino will "focus primarily on business operations, while I focus on product design & new technology," he added.

Yaccarino was the chief of global advertising at the US media and entertainment group, NBCUniversal.

She left the company earlier on Friday, sparking rumors that she might have been tapped by Musk for the top job at Twitter.

US media outlets like the New York Times and CNBC reported that talks between Musk and Yaccarino had been going on for weeks.

Yaccarino bring years of experience working in the media world

Yaccarino brings with her extensive experience in the advertising and media world, an avenue that has proved especially challenging for Musk.

She worked at NBCUniversal for nearly 12 years, with her team generating more than $100 billion (€92 billion) in ad sales since 2011, according to her company bio.

According to LinkedIn, Yaccarino previously served as NBC’s chair for advertising and client partnerships and as president of cable entertainment and digital advertising sales.

Prior to her time with NBC, Yaccarino worked at global entertainment company Turner for almost two decades.

Yaccarino interviewed Elon Musk in Miami last month in front of hundreds of avertisers.

Twitter under Musk: Threat to activists worldwide?

Musk and the turmoil at Twitter

Musk bought Twitter last year in October for $44 billion (€40.4 billion) after months of legal wrangling over the company.

But in the months following the takeover, avertisers pulled their ad dollars over fears that their ads could appear next to offensive content that began appearing a lot more on the site.

Musk earlier this year acknowledged that Twitter suffered a massive decline in ad revenue.

He then rolled out a number of new features, like Twitter Blue, to make up for the loss, but faced criticism over management of the site.

Twitter Blue, which is the paid subscription service, briefly hit pause last year in November, after misleading information or misinformation flooded the social media site.

Musk, who is also the owner of SpaceX and CEO of Tesla, has more than 139 million followers on Twitter. Shares of Telsa rose about 2% after Musk made the announcement.

rm/wd (AFP, AP, Reuters)