Ms Yaccarino had been in talks for the job earlier than NBC introduced her departure immediately.
Former NBCUniversal promoting chief Linda Yaccarino will turn out to be Twitter’s new CEO, present chief govt Elon Musk mentioned on Friday in a tweet.
“I’m excited to welcome Linda Yaccarino as the brand new CEO of Twitter!” Musk mentioned. “@LindaYacc will focus totally on enterprise operations, whereas I concentrate on product design & new expertise.”
I’m excited to welcome Linda Yaccarino as the brand new CEO of Twitter!@LindaYacc will focus totally on enterprise operations, whereas I concentrate on product design & new expertise.
Wanting ahead to working with Linda to remodel this platform into X, the the whole lot app. https://t.co/TiSJtTWuky
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) Could 12, 2023
Yaccarino modernized the Comcast Corp leisure and media division’s promoting enterprise and had been in talks for the job earlier than NBC introduced her departure Friday morning.
Since Musk acquired Twitter in October, advertisers have fled the platform, nervous that their advertisements may seem subsequent to inappropriate content material after the corporate misplaced almost 80% of workers. Musk earlier this yr acknowledged that Twitter suffered a large decline in advert income.
Twitter’s “trajectory will instantly take a 180-degree flip” beneath her management, mentioned Lou Paskalis, a long-time advert business govt and CEO of AJL Advisory, a advertising and marketing consultancy.
Musk axed 1000’s of staff, rushed the launch of a subscription product that allowed scammers to impersonate main manufacturers and suspended customers with whom he disagreed.
“I believe (Yaccarino) has climbed each mountain she may at NBCU and did it impeccably nicely. And there is no larger problem than restoring order at Twitter,” he mentioned.
Yaccarino couldn’t be reached for remark.
Her exit is one other large blow to NBCUniversal. Final month, NBC dad or mum Comcast mentioned NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell was leaving after acknowledging an inappropriate relationship with a lady within the firm, following a grievance that prompted an investigation.
Promoting President Mark Marshall will step in as interim chairman of NBCUniversal’s promoting and partnerships group. Marshall was named president of advert gross sales and partnerships in 2018, overseeing NBC’s broadcast leisure, sports activities and superior promoting gross sales.
Yaccarino’s exit comes at a troublesome time for NBCUniversal, which is getting ready for its annual upfront presentation to advertisers on Monday at Radio Metropolis Music Corridor.
Yaccarino joined NBCU in 2011, after 15 years at Turner Leisure, and has been credited with taking the community’s advert gross sales operation into the digital period.
As broadcast tv audiences migrated to streaming, she took to the stage at Radio Metropolis Music Corridor final yr to inform advertisers their model messages weren’t an afterthought. She mentioned NBCUniversal integrated advertisements in its Peacock streaming service from the outset.
“Twitter wants credibility with the promoting neighborhood,” mentioned Greg Kahn, chief govt of GK Digital Ventures media consultancy. “Linda has demonstrated her belief, her modern nature of bringing new companions to the desk and a deep bench of relationships.”
Musk, the CEO of electrical automobile maker Tesla, accomplished his buy of Twitter in October for $44 billion. He mentioned in December that he would step apart as CEO as soon as he discovered “somebody silly sufficient to take the job.”
On Thursday, Musk tweeted that he had discovered a CEO with out naming Yaccarino. One individual near Yaccarino mentioned Musk’s tweet might nicely have accelerated the timetable for her to hitch Twitter, which might be a balm to Tesla shareholders.
Shares of Tesla have been down 1.3% on Friday, as analysts commented {that a} CEO rent would permit Musk to focus on the EV enterprise. Comcast shares have been little modified.
(Aside from the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV workers and is printed from a syndicated feed.)