Linda Yaccarino, a former NBCUniversal marketing executive, this week officially took over the CEO role at Twitter from Elon Musk. Her first day comes just a couple of weeks after the billionaire announced hiring her as CEO of the social media company.
“It happened — first day in the books!,” Yaccarino tweeted late Monday. “Stay tuned…”
It happened — first day in the books!
Stay tuned…
— Linda Yaccarino (@lindayacc) June 6, 2023
The appointment came after Elon Musk ran a poll in December, asking users whether he should step back as Twitter’s CEO. The majority of users votes in favour of him stepping down.
Musk then announced in May that Yaccarino, formerly chairman of global advertising and partnerships at NBCU, would be taking over as CEO of Twitter. He said that she would a focus on business operations, in the hopes of generating more revenue for the struggling platform.
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However, it has been a turbulent few months at Twitter and Yaccarino’s first week is unlikely to be a quiet one.
Her takeover comes just days after the resignation of Twitter’s head of trust and safety, Ella Irwin, who confirmed her exit in a tweet Friday.
Yaccarino may also struggle to rein in Musk, whose tweets and policy decisions often generate negative media attention and controversy.
Musk last month told CNBC he “didn’t care” if his controversial tweets drew the ire of Twitter advertisers or Tesla shareholders. “I’ll say what I want to say, and if the consequence of that is losing money, so be it,” he said.
However, even without the title of CEO, Musk will retain significant control over Twitter as its owner. In his new role as executive chairman, he will oversee wider operations and developments.
It will be interesting to see how the company evolves in the coming months.
