Meet Twitter’s New CEO: Advertising Exec Linda Yaccarino

Elon Musk has hired an advertising and media executive to take over as CEO of Twitter. 

Musk today confirmed(Opens in a new window) that Linda Yaccarino, the head of global advertising and partnerships at NBCUniversal, is the new chief executive at Twitter. “Looking forward to working with Linda to transform this platform into X, the everything app,” Musk wrote(Opens in a new window) in a tweet. On the same day, Yaccarino also officially resigned(Opens in a new window) from NBCUniversal.

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The hiring could help Twitter shore up its collapsing advertising base. After Musk bought the social media platform last year, numerous businesses have stopped paying for ads on Twitter, citing the drastic changes at the company. This has included stripping down the content moderation systems, phasing out the legacy blue checkmarks, and reinviting previously banned users, including white supremacists, in an effort to prioritize free speech. 

In his tweet, Musk also noted Yaccarino “will focus primarily on business operations, while I focus on product design and new technology.” So users can expect Musk to maintain a huge influence over the company, despite giving up his CEO title. Musk will stay on as Twitter’s chair and chief technology officer.

As for Yaccarino, she’s been an executive at NBCUniversal for the past 11 years focused on advertising, so she likely has numerous relationships with heavy ad spenders. In addition, she’s also the group chair for YMU, a global talent agency that represents over 1,000 clients. 

However, Yaccarino is already facing a harsh reception from Twitter users for serving as an executive chair for the World Economic Forum since 2019. Her affiliation with the organization has caused some(Opens in a new window) to deride(Opens in a new window) Yaccarino as “elitist,” “woke,” a “globalist insider” and “neoliberal” “social justice warrior,” who supports the COVID-19 vaccine. The terms “She’s a WEF” and “RIP Twitter” were even briefly trending on Twitter on Friday morning.

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Ironically, Musk himself has also criticized the WEF. Back in January, he tweeted(Opens in a new window): “WEF is increasingly becoming an unelected world government that the people never asked for and don’t want.”