We still don’t know why Linda Yaccarino stepped down as CEO of X on Tuesday.
Her sudden abdication came off the back of a legendarily horrific freakout by the AI Grok, which saw the chatbot make a series of egregiously racist statements, claiming to be “MechaHitler” and praising Nazis over the course of a chaotic day.
But if Yaccarino was fed up with what was going on at the company, she didn’t show it. Her announcement was cheery, and her boss Elon Musk gave a curt thanks for her two years of service.
Clues are starting to emerge, however, that she left on less than stellar terms. New reporting from the Wall Street Journal tells a tale of waning influence for Yaccarino, who was “effectively demoted” once X merged with Musk’s other company xAI, with current and former employees at the company saying that her job seemed increasingly precarious after clashes with management.
And the tensions go way back. Per the reporting, Musk and Yaccarino had conflicting management styles. Yaccarino communicated with polished presentations and emails. Musk liked fast, bullet-pointed communications, and grew frustrated with the CEO’s old-school formality.
Yaccarino also preferred to be diplomatic and businesslike as she tried to win back advertisers who fled the platform after Musk’s takeover flooded it with hate speech — the whole reason she was hired, basically. Musk preferred to tweet nonstop and make off-the-cuff remarks that actively sabotaged Yaccarino’s efforts — like when he memorably told those same advertisers to “go f*ck yourself.”
Just a small disagreement in management styles, like we said. And in the face of it, Musk reportedly still had the gall — in lieu of any sense of self-awareness — to put pressure on Yaccarino to get advertisers back faster.
“Our user growth is stagnant, revenue is unimpressive, and we’re barely breaking even,” he wrote in an email to employees, per the WSJ. (Musk has denied sending the email.)
Yaccarino also clashed with Reza Banki, who was hired as chief financial officer with Musk’s blessing. According to the reporting, Banki often questioned Yaccarino on costs, particularly her deals to pay celebrities to create exclusive podcasts for X. A veteran media executive before she joined Musk’s company, one of Yaccarino’s big pushes was partnering with major entertainment brands, including the NFL and Major League Soccer.
Though the odds were stacked against her, Yaccarino managed to bail out a sinking ship, resuscitating X’s valuation from a measly $10 billion following Musk’s takeover to around $44 billion, equivalent to the outrageous fee Musk paid to buy the social media platform when it was still known as Twitter.
That allowed X to merge with xAI, an essential step towards Musk’s long-term fixation in turning X into an “everything app.” Yaccarino’s reward? The cold shoulder. According to the WSJ, once the merger was sealed, Yaccarino’s “presence in front of investors started to diminish,” symbolized by xAI executives giving a presentation on the company’s growth instead of her.
In all, it sure sounds like Musk was done with Yaccarino as soon as she managed to make his clown show of a company financially stable. And perhaps instead of firing her directly, he iced her out until she finally decided to call it quits.
After Yaccarino announced her departure, her coveted blue checkmark disappeared from her X profile, TechCrunch noticed. Musk has allegedly stripped verified badges as a form of petty revenge in the past. It was restored by Thursday evening.
Yaccarino hasn’t spoken more on the departure since, but did make a single post praising the launch of Grok 4, the chatbot’s “MechaHitler” controversy notwithstanding.
“Insanely good,” Yaccarino wrote.
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