What you need to know
- Elon Musk is leaving his role as chief executive officer of Twitter.
- Linda Yaccarino, NBCUniversal's head of advertising, has been named CEO, and she will take over in about six weeks.
- Musk, on the other hand, will become executive chair and chief technology officer.
Elon Musk is leaving his role as chief executive officer of Twitter in the near future, as the "Chief Twit" tweeted that he has found a new executive to take the helm at the social media company.
In a tweet, Musk announced that he has hired a new CEO for Twitter, who will take over in about six weeks. A few hours later, Musk announced in a separate tweet that Linda Yaccarino, NBCUniversal's outgoing chairperson of global advertising and partnerships, is joining Twitter as its new CEO.
I am excited to welcome Linda Yaccarino as the new CEO of Twitter!@LindaYacc will focus primarily on business operations, while I focus on product design & new technology.Looking forward to working with Linda to transform this platform into X, the everything app. https://t.co/TiSJtTWukyMay 12, 2023
Meanwhile, Musk will remain part of the top management at the social networking company. This means that he will assume the roles of executive chair and chief technology officer. He says that Yaccarino will focus on business operations while he oversees product design and new technology.
The Wall Street Journal recently reported that Yaccarino was "in talks" for the position, although Musk did not confirm it immediately.
The announcement doesn't come as a huge surprise in light of Musk's recent tweets, which suggested that he did not intend to stay as Twitter CEO for a long period of time. Last December, he polled Twitter users, asking whether he should remain as the company's CEO and promising that he would abide by the results. The poll gained 57.5% yeas, and Musk is now making good on his promise.
A few other factors may have also influenced Musk's decision to relinquish his role, including his other commitments. Musk is also the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, in addition to his other business interests. Tesla investors felt that he was spread too thin and called for him to relinquish control of Twitter in December, as Tesla's stock price plummeted.
The latest announcement is clearly in response to mounting pressure for him to turn his focus back to Tesla.
However, the executive changes do not mean he will lose control of the company he eventually purchased after a tumultuous acquisition process. We can count on Musk still calling the shots when it comes to Twitter's policies.
