NBCUniversal's head of advertising 'in talks to become CEO of Twitter'

NBCUniversal’s head of advertising Linda Yaccarino ‘in talks to become the new CEO of Twitter’ as Musk says new female boss will start in six weeks

• Elon Musk on Thursday afternoon announced he had hired a new, female, CEO – but did not name her
• The Wall Street Journal then reported that Linda Yaccarino, the head of advertising for NBCUniversal, was in talks for the role
• Musk, who bought the company in October, said he will become the executive chairman and chief technology officer 

The head of advertising for NBCUniversal is in talks to be the new CEO of Twitter, it was reported on Thursday – hours after Elon Musk announced he had hired a woman for the role, without naming her.

Musk, who bought Twitter in October 2022, tweeted: ‘Excited to announce that I’ve a new CEO for X/Twitter. She will be starting in ~6 weeks! 

‘My role will transition to being exec chair & CTO (chief technology officer), overseeing product, software & sysops.’

Musk has not yet revealed the identity of his new CEO. He has slashed around 70 percent of Twitter’s staff since buying the firm for $44 billion, including its entire executive team.

On Thursday evening, The Wall Street Journal reported that Linda Yaccarino is in talks to become the new CEO.

Yaccarino currently works as chair of global advertising and partnerships at NBCU, has been with NBCU for more than a decade. 

Linda Yaccarino is reportedly in talks to be the new CEO of Twitter

Yaccarino is seen with Elon Musk on April 18 at the POSSIBLE marketing conference in Miami 

Elon Musk announced the news on Twitter, but did not reveal the identity of the new CEO

Twitter CEO Elon Musk says he’s hired a new female CEO to take over from him – but he’s yet to name her 

Yaccarino has played a pivotal role in calling for more effect advertising. 

She played a central role in the launch of NBCU’s ad-supported Peacock streaming service. 

Yaccarino and Musk have not commented on The Wall Street Journal’s report. 

An NBCU spokesman told the paper that Yaccarino is busy preparing a presentation to advertisers. 

Musk is also the CEO of Tesla and rocket maker SpaceX.

Immediately following the announcement, Tesla’s shares jumped more than 2 percent, in a sign that investors were pleased about the move. 

A group of shareholders publicly urged the board in April to ensure that Musk dedicated more time to the company. 

The letter said they had become ‘increasingly concerned with governance and leadership issues at the company.’

When Musk took over Twitter on October 28, he immediately made his mark – but his tenure has not been without controversy.

Changes such as the Twitter Blue subscription and bringing back previously banned users to the platform have been met with widespread backlash. 

He has also laid off thousands of the company’s workforce in an effort to significantly cut costs. 

Tesla shares jumped following Musk’s announcement on Twitter on Thursday

Musk immediately made his mark after taking over as CEO of Twitter on October 28, 2022

He attempted to develop the site’s subscription feature as a means of supplementing its advertising revenue. 

Under the new system, users would have to pay an $8 monthly fee in order to have their account verified – and receive the site’s signature blue tick. 

Previously, the site would award a verified account to notable figures such as politicians, celebrities and journalists. 

However Twitter appeared to partially backtrack on its new model by reinstating some legacy accounts including LeBron James and William Shatner. 

Twitter also suffered a user outage in February that lasted for hours and required an emergency fix, prompting an apology from the company. 

On Wednesday, he announced a new encrypted messaging privacy feature was announced as part of Twitter’s goal to become he ‘most trusted platform on the internet’.

However, on Thursday he warned users that the feature should not be trusted, and that it was ‘not quite there yet’ despite his initial jokes that he could not view messages even with a ‘gun to [his] head’. 

Musk’s announcement came after he pledged in December to step down as the head of Twitter as soon as he found someone ‘foolish enough to take the job.’

It also came days after Musk denied that he had signed a deal with ex-Fox host Tucker Carlson, who revealed that he planned to relaunch his show on Twitter. 

The ousted television host made the announcement in a three-minute video posted to his Twitter page on Tuesday, in which he slammed the mainstream media and said anyone who tries to tell the truth ‘will be fired.’

‘The best you can hope for in the news business at this point is the freedom to tell the fullest truth that you can, but there are always limits,’ Carlson told his fans.

‘If you bump up against those limits often enough you will be fired for it. That’s not a guess, it’s guaranteed.’

He posted the video along with a tweet saying: ‘We’re back.’

But Musk denied any special agreement had been reached with Carlson, and that he was subject to ‘the same rules’ as all content creators. 

‘I also want to be clear that we have not signed a deal of any kind whatsoever. Tucker is subject to the same rules & rewards of all content creators,’ Musk tweeted, in response to Carlson’s video.

‘Rewards means subscriptions and advertising revenue share (still working on software needed for latter), which is a function of how many people subscribe and the advertising views associated with his content.’

Musk added he would like others to follow Carlson’s lead.

‘I hope that many others, particularly from the left, also choose to be content creators on this platform,’ Musk said.

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