tech billionaire Elon Musk (51) wants to be in charge after a chaotic six months Twitter hand over. A successor has been found and will take over in about six weeks, Musk announced in a tweet. Musk did not initially name a name.
According to reports, it will be Linda Yaccarino, the head of advertising at media group NBC Universal. They would be tasked with repairing the relationship with Twitter’s advertisers, which has been damaged by Musk’s sometimes erratic leadership. In the future, he wants to take care of products and software as head of technology. However, it is unclear how much freedom of action the new top manager can get alongside Musk.
Musk bought Twitter for around $44 billion in October, fired top management and took over the reins himself. After that, advertising revenue collapsed – Twitter’s main source of income. Many advertisers feared a negative environment for their products on the service. In December, following controversy surrounding his leadership style, Musk let Twitter users vote on whether to vacate the chief post — and a good 57 percent of the 17.5 million participants were in favor of it. Especially under TeslaInvestors have grumbled that Musk spends too much time on Twitter matters. The 51-year-old is, among other things, the head of the electric car manufacturer and the space company SpaceX, whose secret boss has been Gwynne Shotwell (59) for 15 years.
Musk brings in Yaccarino, an advertising expert
Shortly after Musk’s tweet, tech journalist Kara Swisher tipped that advertising expert Yaccarino was the most likely candidate for the Twitter post. A little later, the Wall Street Journal reported that the manager was in talks about the job.
Yaccarino is responsible for NBC Universal’s global advertising business. The group includes the US broadcaster NBC and the streaming service Peacock. Previously, she worked extensively in Warner’s TV business. NBC Universal recently struck a deal with Twitter for footage from the Paris 2024 Olympics. The Hollywood newspaper “Variety” wrote, citing Yaccarino’s environment, that she had long expressed her admiration for Musk. In mid-April, she interviewed him on stage at an industry conference.
Chaos and crises on Twitter
Musk’s time as “Head of Twitter” has been characterized by chaos and crises. After a series of highly controversial decisions, headwinds mounted. Most recently, he caused chaos with the decision to delete the previous verification ticks that the short message service once used to confirm the authenticity of celebrity accounts. The same symbols are now granted to subscription customers – but without reliable verification of their identity.
Musk’s Twitter purchase raised suspicions from the start. The multi-billionaire presented the takeover as an action to strengthen freedom of speech. Critics, however, feared a further brutalization of the Internet platform. They worried that the change of ownership could lead to rampant hate speech, disinformation and hate speech.
The controversial multi-billionaire has not yet been able to dispel these concerns. On the contrary: With a wave of layoffs, erratic rule changes and other controversial decisions, he shook the online network and frightened advertisers. The subscription business, on the other hand, brings in little money according to market observers.
The multi-billion dollar Twitter purchase, which Musk threatened to call off again in the meantime and ultimately only went through under great legal pressure, has so far been a major financial failure. In the recent issue of shares to employees, the company value was only half as high, as Musk confirmed in a BBC interview. At the same time, he claimed in an email to employees that Twitter could one day be worth $250 billion.