NBCUniversal advertising chief
“I am excited to welcome Linda Yaccarino as the new CEO of Twitter!” Musk posted in a tweet Friday after NBCUniversal announced her departure. “Looking forward to working with Linda to transform this platform into X, the everything app.” The billionaire said he will become chief technology officer and executive chairman.
Yaccarino may be in a unique position to deal with the fallout from Musk’s takeover of Twitter last year. Despite a slight uptick in daily users since early 2022, Twitter’s revenue has fallen by 50% since October as a result of a “massive decline” in advertising, Musk said in March. At NBC, Yaccarino helped launch the ad-supported streaming service Peacock and has led partnerships with a variety of tech companies, including Snapchat, YouTube, and, of course, Twitter.
“She’s probably just what Elon needs to establish trust among advertisers,” said
Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion last October and indicated that he’d only be in charge for a limited time to complete the organizational overhaul he thought the company needed to prosper. In December, Musk asked his Twitter followers if he should step down as CEO, and 57.5% said yes.
As the CEO also of of
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Musk has drawn criticism for his abrupt policy changes at Twitter and neglect of his other businesses. He’s also changed the corporate name of Twitter’s parent to X Holdings, an entity that could eventually be the umbrella for all his businesses — an idea he has publicly mused about. Musk has also said he wants to build Twitter beyond social media and into an “everything app,” including financial services.
During his tenure, Musk has slashed thousands of jobs, scaled back the company’s content moderation and allowed accounts previously banned for breaking rules to return. A controversial subscription service plan, Twitter Blue, has been flailing, drawing less than 1% of the user base. Twitter needs to boost sales in order to
“I can say that she would be my first choice, and my only choice, to save the platform from the hands of its owner,” said
Yaccarino will have her hands full from day one on an operational side, but also in dealing with the mercurial Musk, who has almost single-handedly run the company since he took over and
Musk already has a friendly relationship with Yaccarino, who interviewed him last month at a major advertising conference in Miami, and called him “friend” and “buddy” on stage. Recently, Twitter and NBCU expanded their Olympic Games partnership.
Yaccarino repeatedly emphasized in her interview with Musk that what advertisers are looking for from Twitter is protection. At one point, she candidly asked Musk whether he felt he had “de-risked” the platform enough to assure advertisers that their campaigns aren’t going to land in “awful hateful places.”
She wasn’t afraid to drag Musk’s own tweets into that conversation either. In her position at NBC, which has a large distribution partnership with Twitter, Yaccarino said, “Are there days where I see some of your tweets and wish I could say, ‘Stop helping the situation?’” She nodded her head.
Musk tweeted Thursday that he had found a new CEO, but didn’t name the individual. That set off immediate speculation about Yaccarino — at an awkward time for NBCUniversal. The company is scheduled to give its annual presentation to advertisers at Radio City Music Hall in New York on Monday. The so-called upfront events, which span the week, are when major media companies begin selling advertising for the fall TV season. Yaccarino would normally have played a major role in NBCU’s presentations but isn’t expected to appear now, a person familiar with the discussions said.
This year’s presentations were already challenged by a screenwriters strike that could result in major delays in TV production and schedules. NBCUniversal’s event is expected to focus heavily on online advertising, as the company further promotes its lineup of movies and TV shows on Peacock. NBCUniversal, a division of
Mark Marshall will become interim chairman of NBCUniversal’s global advertising and partnerships group, the company said.
“We are grateful for Linda Yaccarino’s leadership of NBCUniversal’s Advertising Sales business, and for the innovative team and platform she has built,” said Comcast President
(Updates with Musk’s announcement of Yaccarino as CEO in second paragraph.)
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Jillian Ward, Molly Schuetz
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