Elon Musk said he has hired a new CEO for Twitter and its parent company X.
The billionaire disclosed the move in a post on Twitter. He didn’t provide a name, but said, “She will be starting in ~6 weeks!”
Linda Yaccarino, NBCUniversal’s head of advertising, is in discussions to become Twitter’s new chief executive, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
Musk said he will still run the platform as executive chair and chief technology officer. He will oversee product, software, and system operations.
The clock has been ticking on Musk’s time as CEO since December, when a majority of respondents in a poll he held said he should step down as CEO. Musk said in the following days: “I will resign as Twitter CEO as soon as I find someone foolish enough to take the job!”
Whether or not Musk’s stated plans are genuine remain to be seen because Musk is an avid prankster. Twitter’s press email has been set up to reply to inquiries with a poop emoji. Barron’s received the automated email when we reached out to the company for comment for this article.
Since the billionaire acquired the social media platform in late October, a wave of users and advertisers have raised concerns about changes to rules and the impact of mass job cuts at the company. Musk has rolled back enforcement on posts previously deemed hateful. Musk has espoused a “freedom of speech, not freedom of reach” philosophy, though the platform has drawn fire from news organizations for banning prominent journalists on multiple occasions.
Musk’s signature change has been upending how the platform verifies its users. The firm now charges $8 a month for users to have a verified checkmark, though some celebrities and organizations have reported keeping their badges without paying. When the platform first rolled out the paid verified checkmarks in November, a wave of impostors flooded the social media site pretending to be celebrities and large corporations.
Musk told investors in March that revenue and adjusted earnings fell 40% year over year in December, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
Twitter Inc. no longer exists as a Delaware entity. The platform is held by Musk’s Nevada-domiciled X Corp.
During an interview and Q&A hosted by BBC and Twitter in April, Musk was asked if there was some significance to the move.
“There is something more to it,” Musk said. “Like I said, my goal is to create X, the everything app. That’s the goal. That’s what we’re working towards…Twitter is an accelerant to X, the everything app.”
Tesla
stock (ticker: TSLA), Musk’s electric vehicle company, jumped roughly $3 on the news. Shares closed up $3.54, or $2.1%, at $172.08. The
S&P 500
closed down 0.2%. The
Nasdaq Composite
gained 0.2%
Write to Connor Smith at [email protected]
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