Twitter CEO Elon Musk announced he has hired his replacement, and though her identity was not immediately revealed, reports point towards a former NBC executive who just resigned her position. He later confirmed those reports.
In December, the tech billionaire posted a poll on Twitter asking a simple question. “Should I step down as head of Twitter? I will abide by the results.”
The results showed 57.5% of the respondents believed that he should in fact step aside.
Musk at that point responded that he would comply with the poll results “as soon as I find someone foolish enough to take the job! After that, I will just run the software & servers teams.”
Though a successor was not immediately named, the Washington Post said an inside source confirmed that NBCUniversal ad sales chief Linda Yaccarino will take the helm of the social media platform. Later on Friday Musk confirmed that she was indeed his choice.
Watch again: new Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino interviews Elon Musk at the POSSIBLE Miami marketing conference on April 18, 2023 @elonmusk @lindayacc
pic.twitter.com/oPk8TEg5I4— @amuse (@amuse) May 12, 2023
The innovative entrepreneur said Yaccarino “will focus primarily on business operations, while I focus on product design and new technology.” Musk also hinted that the platform will be rebranded as “X,” which would be an all-encompassing app.
The new hire interviewed Musk at an April marketing event and in the process discussed her “work ethic.” Some are speculating that it was this introduction that led to her being hired just a month later to head the social media platform.
During the exchange, she told the audience that “many of you in this room know me and you know I pride myself on my work ethic, but buddy, I met my match.” During the event, she also spoke glowingly of Musk’s attempt to “democratize” Twitter.
A Friday statement announced her resignation from her NBCUniversal position as Chairman of Global Advertising and Partnerships, effective immediately.
She is expected to take control within six weeks.
As for “X,” Musk described it as the “everything app” and a “platform that is so useful that you find it essential to conduct your life.” He previously categorized his dramatic Twitter purchase as an “accelerant to creating X.”
He envisions “X” as providing the means to make payments, engage in private and public communications, and otherwise “be very useful.” It was just in March when he founded X Corp, and the company is the owner of Twitter.
