Linda Yaccarino named new Twitter CEO

Elon Musk announces former NBCUniversal advertising chief Linda Yaccarino as the new CEO of Twitter.

Musk hinted about an unnamed female choice for CEO just yesterday, before officially breaking the news on Twitter Friday afternoon.

“I am excited to welcome Linda Yaccarino as the new CEO of Twitter!,” Musk tweeted to his nearly 140 million followers.

Musk, who plans on transitioning to the role of chief technology officer in a few weeks, said Yaccarino will focus primarily on business operations while he focuses on product, software, and sysops.

Musk also spoke about the two working together to transform Twitter into his next venture – X, the everything app.

The 60-year-old Yaccarino, who some say left NBCU in the lurch after being with the media conglomerate for 12 years, will start her new role in about six weeks, Musk said.

Lou Paskalis, CEO of AJL Advisory, a marketing consultancy firm, believes Twitter's "trajectory will immediately take a 180-degree turn" under Yaccarino's leadership.

"I think (Yaccarino) has climbed every mountain she could at NBCU and did it impeccably well. And there's no greater challenge than restoring order at Twitter," the longtime ad executive said.

Yaccarino, who spent the past few years modernizing NBCUniversal’s advertising business, will have a slew of problems to contend with, including a heavy debt load, an exodus of advertisers, and a severely reduced staff.

Yaccarino was said to have gushed over Musk since interviewing him at the Possible Event held in Miami this March.

Since the billionaire took over the social messaging platform in October, advertisers fled Twitter in droves over concerns their ads might appear next to inappropriate content after the company lost nearly 80% of staff – thousands of them fired by Musk without warning.

Earlier this year, Musk complained to his employees that Twitter suffered a massive decline in value and was only worth half of the $44 billion he paid when he took over the company in October 2022.

Last December, a Twitter poll – posted by Musk himself – revealed nearly 60% of users thought the mogul should step down as CEO.

"I will resign as CEO as soon as I find someone foolish enough to take the job!" Musk said at the time.