Elon Musk Appoints Linda Yaccarino as Twitter’s New Chief

Linda Yaccarino, NBCUniversal’s promoting chief, was making ready to interview Elon Musk, Twitter’s proprietor, onstage at a convention final month when she obtained an e-mail from a peer within the promoting trade.

Rob Norman, a former government on the advert large WPP, wished to know if Ms. Yaccarino had seen the op-ed he wrote after Mr. Musk took over Twitter final 12 months. Mr. Norman’s column mentioned the tech billionaire’s amplification of misinformation on Twitter and its chilling impact on advertisers.

Ms. Yaccarino stated she had and that she deliberate to lift such considerations, Mr. Norman stated. But the primary focus of her speak with Mr. Musk could be on one thing else: His efforts to revamp the social community into “Twitter 2.0.”

Now Ms. Yaccarino is ready to grow to be the face of Twitter 2.0. Mr. Musk stated on Friday that he has chosen Ms. Yaccarino, 60, to grow to be the corporate’s chief government. Hours earlier, NBCUniversal had introduced that Ms. Yaccarino was leaving, efficient instantly, with out saying the place she was headed.

“I am excited to welcome Linda Yaccarino as the new C.E.O. of Twitter,” Mr. Musk tweeted. He stated she would primarily deal with enterprise operations whereas he would proceed to work on product design and know-how.

In choosing Ms. Yaccarino, Mr. Musk is signaling what he’s prioritizing at Twitter: the corporate’s promoting enterprise, fairly than social media know-how. Ms. Yaccarino has been considered one of Madison Avenue’s energy brokers for many years. And Twitter, which makes the majority of its income from advertisements, has been struggling to develop that enterprise, particularly after Mr. Musk spooked advertisers final 12 months.

“Linda’s a force,” stated Joe Marchese, the previous head of advert gross sales at Fox Networks Group, the place he competed with Ms. Yaccarino for advertising and marketing {dollars}. “She has one of the biggest jobs in advertising, and the ad market is as hard as it’s ever been.”

Yet Ms. Yaccarino should do greater than deal with Twitter’s promoting woes. The San Francisco firm has been severely slimmed down since Mr. Musk slashed 75 % of its work pressure and has grappled with gaps in experience and technical glitches. Twitter is also weighed down by a $13 billion debt load that it took on to allow Mr. Musk to purchase the corporate.

Most considerably, Ms. Yaccarino must cope with a mercurial and unpredictable boss within the type of Mr. Musk. Mr. Musk, 51, has a monitor report of firing executives who don’t obtain his targets. He generally tweets news about his corporations, together with the electrical carmaker Tesla, with out warning. And as Twitter’s proprietor, Mr. Musk retains absolute energy on the firm.

Lou Paskalis, a longtime advert government and pal of Ms. Yaccarino’s, likened her transfer to Twitter to taking a “step into the lion’s mouth.”

“With her stature in the industry as probably one of the most beloved and trusted people on the revenue side, I question why she would subject herself to that kind of potential reputational risk,” he stated. “If she fails in the role, then there’s probably no way that Twitter will survive as an ad-supported platform.”

Ms. Yaccarino didn’t return requests for remark, however stated in NBCUniversal’s assertion that working on the firm “has been an absolute honor.”

This is a creating news story and shall be up to date.

John Koblin contributed reporting from New York.