Twitter's new CEO, Linda Yaccarino
Eko Hot Blog reports that Elon Musk has named a new chief executive of Twitter, just over six months after his controversial takeover of the social media company.
The billionaire said Linda Yaccarino, the former head of advertising at NBCUniversal, would oversee business operations at the site, which has been struggling to make money.
“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,” he wrote on Twitter.
“Looking forward to working with Linda to transform this platform into X, the everything app.”
The Tesla CEO said she would start in six weeks.
Musk will remain involved as executive chairman and chief technology officer.
The billionaire business mogul had been under pressure to find someone else to lead the company and refocus his attention on his other businesses, which include electric carmaker Tesla and rocket firm SpaceX.
Twitter and Elon Musk
With less than 9% of Fortune 500 tech companies headed by women, Yaccarino will become that rare example of a woman at the top of a major tech company, after rising steadily through the ranks of some of America’s biggest media companies.
A graduate of Penn State University who now lives outside of New York City on Long Island, she worked at Turner Entertainment for 15 years before joining NBCUniversal, where she oversaw roughly 2,000 people, and was involved with the launch of its streaming service.
Her work has been marked by close collaborations with big brands, finding opportunities for product placement and convincing them to advertise alongside television shows – even adult ones such as Sex and the City.
Ms Yaccarino brings to Twitter a deep background in advertising, which the social media company relies on to make money and which has dropped sharply since Mr Musk’s takeover.
“If Twitter are looking to monetise better than they have been, then that would be the place to start and Linda would be the ideal person to make that happen,” said Claire Atkinson, chief media correspondent at Business Insider, who has followed Ms Yaccarino’s career for two decades.
“She’s the kind of person that I can imagine Elon Musk needs,” Ms Atkinson added. “She won’t be rolled over.”
Yaccarino would not be the first or only woman running one of Musk’s companies.
Musk previously tapped, Gwynne Shotwell, to run SpaceX. She is president and COO of the company, while he holds the CEO title. But she’s credited by some in the industry as a key to SpaceX becoming the world’s most successful commercial rocket company.
Robyn Denholm also serves as chairman of Tesla. She assumed that role from Musk when the SEC required him to give up the position after a tweet in which he claimed he had funding secured to take the company private, when he had not yet locked up the financing to do so.
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