Former NBCUniversal marketing executive, Linda Yaccarino, has officially assumed the role of CEO at Twitter, succeeding Elon Musk. This announcement comes after Musk hired Yaccarino as the top executive at the social media company a few weeks ago.
Yaccarino expressed her excitement about her first day in a tweet, stating, “It happened — first day in the books! Stay tuned…” She also shared that Joe Benarroch, formerly NBCU’s senior vice president of communications for advertising and partnerships, has joined Twitter in the business operations department.
The New York Times and The Information initially reported Yaccarino’s start as Twitter CEO on Monday, while Twitter declined to comment on the matter.
In May, Musk revealed his decision to appoint Yaccarino, the former chairman of global advertising and partnerships at NBCU, as the CEO of Twitter, focusing on business operations. Musk had previously indicated his intention to find a new leader for the struggling platform.
Musk conducted a poll on Twitter in December, asking users if he should step down as CEO, with the majority of users voting in favor.
Yaccarino’s expertise in the advertising industry is expected to help revitalize Twitter’s declining ad business. According to internal presentations reported by the New York Times, Twitter’s US advertising revenue dropped by 59% year-over-year from April 1 to the first week of May. Additionally, data from market intelligence firm Sensor Tower revealed that only 43% of Twitter’s top 1,000 advertisers in September were still advertising on the platform as of April.
Restoring the ad business will be challenging due to concerns over hate speech, layoffs, and uncertainty surrounding Twitter’s future direction.
Yaccarino’s appointment follows the recent departure of Twitter’s head of trust and safety, Ella Irwin. Additionally, she may face challenges in managing Musk, whose tweets and policy decisions often generate controversy.
Although Musk will no longer hold the CEO title, he will maintain significant control over Twitter as its owner. He will oversee product, technology, software and systems operations, and transition to the role of executive chairman.
Yaccarino’s first day coincided with a Twitter Spaces livestream event hosted by Musk, featuring Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who is known for his anti-vaccine views. Musk discussed Twitter’s strained relationship with advertisers, revealing that the platform lost billions of dollars in advertising revenue due to his approach to content moderation.
Despite the challenges, Yaccarino is determined to bring Twitter back to financial stability. Musk acknowledged the difficulties, stating that Twitter is striving to break even but has not yet achieved that goal.
Source: CNN
