Elon Musk Names Linda Yaccarino as New Twitter CEO

Elon Musk has named Linda Yaccarino, the former advertising chief at NBCUniversal, as the new chief executive of Twitter. 

She is to start at the social media platform in about six weeks. 

The confirmation came after NBCUniversal said Ms Yaccarino was leaving “effective immediately”, after 12 years with the media company.

Mr Musk had posted on Thursday, earlier that he had found a new boss for Twitter but did not reveal their identity.

Mr Musk, who bought the social media platform last year for $44bn, had been under pressure to find someone else to lead the company and refocus his attention on his other businesses, which include electric carmaker Tesla and rocket firm SpaceX.

Mr Musk said he would remain involved at Twitter as executive chairman and chief technology officer. 

At NBCUniversal, Ms Yaccarino oversaw roughly 2,000 people, and was involved with the launch of its streaming service. 

She joined the company in 2011, after 15 years at Turner Entertainment and has been credited with bringing the network’s ad sales operation into the digital future.

She will bring to Twitter a rich background in advertising, which the social media company relies on to make money and which has dropped sharply since Mr Musk’s takeover.

“If Twitter are looking to monetise better than they have been, then that would be the place to start and Linda would be the ideal person to make that happen,” said Claire Atkinson, chief media correspondent at Business Insider, who has followed Ms Yaccarino’s career for two decades. 

“She’s the kind of person that I can imagine Elon Musk needs,” Ms Atkinson added. “She won’t be rolled over.” 

Ms Yaccarino’s departure had appeared to take NBCUniversal by surprise. On Thursday the firm had told news outlets that she was busy preparing for an upcoming conference. 

Kalu Chioma

Follow us on: