Elon Musk has appointed Linda Yaccarino, a former advertising chief at NBCUniversal, as the new CEO of Twitter to address the company’s decline in ad revenue.
Photo/ Linda Yaccarino on Twitter
Musk repositions himself as Executive Chairman and Chief Technical Officer overseeing on product and software development and technological innovation.
I am excited to welcome Linda Yaccarino as the new CEO of Twitter!@LindaYacc will focus primarily on business operations, while I focus on product design & new technology.
Looking forward to working with Linda to transform this platform into X, the everything app. https://t.co/TiSJtTWuky
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 12, 2023
Musk plans to revamp Twitter as “X, the everything app,” which could include peer-to-peer payments. Despite this, Yaccarino’s selection as CEO suggests that digital ads will continue to be a core focus of the platform.
Previously, Musk has fired thousands of Twitter employees, then ran a lot of changes to the platform including the launch of a subscription product called Twitter Blue that costs USD 8 per month to verify accounts and give them verified check marks.
This also comes a way to diversify the platform away from ads, but the product has had limited success.
The subscription also unintentionally allowed scammers to impersonate major brands, and Musk even suspended accounts he disagreed with.
The whole predicament has spooked brands from spending on the platform.
But with Yaccarino’s expertise in modernizing NBCUniversal’s advertising business, boosting ad revenue for Twitter may be a lot easier to handle. She will start in about six weeks according to Musk.
