Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of Twitter, has announced that he has appointed Linda Yaccarino as the new chief executive officer of the social media platform. Yaccarino, who was previously the chairman of global advertising and partnerships at NBCUniversal, will take over from Musk, who will remain as executive chair and chief technology officer of Twitter.
Musk said on Friday that he was excited to welcome Yaccarino as the new CEO of Twitter and that she will focus primarily on business operations, while he will focus on product design and new technology. He also said that he looked forward to working with Yaccarino on transforming Twitter into X, the “everything app”.
Yaccarino, who has nearly 19,000 followers on Twitter, is a veteran media executive who played a key role in launching NBC’s ad-supported Peacock streaming service. She also interviewed Musk on stage at an advertising conference in Miami last month, where she asked him about his controversial views and tweets.
Yaccarino will face a number of challenges as the new CEO of Twitter, including an advertiser exodus, service disruptions, regulatory scrutiny and a growing list of rivals. She will also have to deal with Musk’s unpredictable and sometimes provocative behavior, which has alienated some longtime Twitter users and sparked lawsuits.
Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion last October after former CEO Jack Dorsey stepped down amid pressure from activist investors. Musk said in December that he would step down as CEO as soon as he found someone “foolish enough to take the job”. He confirmed Yaccarino’s appointment on Thursday after NBCUniversal announced that she had left the company.