Elon Musk has appointed former NBCUniversal head of advertising Linda Yaccarino as Twitter’s new CEO.
The move comes six months after the Tesla owner acquired the social media firm.
On 12 May, Musk tweeted: “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.”
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/TiSJtTWuky
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 12, 2023
Yaccarino is expected to start in six months, with Musk abdicating his position as CEO and transitioning to an executive chair and CTO position, “overseeing product, software and sysops.”
The former NBCUniversal head of advertising helped launch NBC’s ad tier for its Peacock streaming service and is also said to be an advocate for finding more efficient ways to measure advertising effectiveness, according to The Guardian.
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Since Musk acquired the social media company in October, many advertisers have fled the platform and halted their spending on the app.
In February, former Dentsu chairman Nick Waters claimed that top brands were shying away from advertising on Twitter due to growing fears of a public backlash. Waters, who is now the CEO of brand consultancy Ebiquity, said that the majority of his firm’s clients have elected to step back from advertising on Twitter for the foreseeable future, adding: “I can hardly think of a client of ours who has supported Twitter through this.”
At the beginning of 2023, Standard Media Index (SMI) reported that advertising spending on Twitter plummeted by 71% in December.
In November of last year, Twitter users were able to pay £6.85 ($8) a month to verify and officiate their accounts with ‘blue ticks’. People and pranksters alike capitalised off the back of the change by mimicking big-brand Twitter profiles, producing seemingly authentic accounts and then tweeting out false pieces of information.
While Valve and Apple were among a raft of brands impersonated, a fake Nintendo Twitter account titled ‘@nIntendoofus’ also trolled the social media app by tweeting an image of Mario sticking his middle finger up.
