Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Sunday, May 28, 2023

NBCUniversal Executive Linda Yaccarino Replaces Elon Musk As Twitter CEO

NBCUniversal Executive Linda Yaccarino Replaces Elon Musk As Twitter CEO

On Thursday, Elon Musk had tweeted that he had found a CEO without naming Yaccarino. One person close to Yaccarino said Musk's tweet may well have accelerated the timetable for her to join Twitter.
Former NBCUniversal advertising chief Linda Yaccarino will become Twitter's new CEO, current chief executive Elon Musk said on Friday in a tweet.

"I am excited to welcome Linda Yaccarino as the new CEO of Twitter!" Musk said. "@LindaYacc will focus primarily on business operations, while I focus on product design & new technology."


Yaccarino modernized the Comcast Corp entertainment and media division's advertising business and had been in talks for the job before NBC announced her departure Friday morning.

Since Musk acquired Twitter in October, advertisers have fled the platform, worried that their ads could appear next to inappropriate content after the company lost nearly 80% of staff. Musk earlier this year acknowledged that Twitter suffered a massive decline in ad revenue.

Twitter's "trajectory will immediately take a 180-degree turn" under her leadership, said Lou Paskalis, a long-time ad industry executive and CEO of AJL Advisory, a marketing consultancy.

Musk axed thousands of employees, rushed the launch of a subscription product that allowed scammers to impersonate major brands and suspended users with whom he disagreed.

"I think (Yaccarino) has climbed every mountain she could at NBCU and did it impeccably well. And there's no greater challenge than restoring order at Twitter," he said.

Yaccarino could not be reached for comment.

Her exit is another big blow to NBCUniversal. Last month, NBC parent Comcast said NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell was leaving after acknowledging an inappropriate relationship with a woman in the company, following a complaint that prompted an investigation.

Advertising President Mark Marshall will step in as interim chairman of NBCUniversal's advertising and partnerships group. Marshall was named president of ad sales and partnerships in 2018, overseeing NBC's broadcast entertainment, sports and advanced advertising sales.

Yaccarino's exit comes at a difficult time for NBCUniversal, which is preparing for its annual upfront presentation to advertisers on Monday at Radio City Music Hall.

Yaccarino joined NBCU in 2011, after 15 years at Turner Entertainment, and has been credited with taking the network's ad sales operation into the digital era.

As broadcast television audiences migrated to streaming, she took to the stage at Radio City Music Hall last year to tell advertisers their brand messages were not an afterthought. She said NBCUniversal incorporated ads in its Peacock streaming service from the outset.

"Twitter needs credibility with the advertising community," said Greg Kahn, chief executive of GK Digital Ventures media consultancy. "Linda has demonstrated her trust, her innovative nature of bringing new partners to the table and a deep bench of relationships."

Musk, the CEO of electric vehicle maker Tesla, completed his purchase of Twitter in October for $44 billion. He said in December that he would step aside as CEO once he found "someone foolish enough to take the job."

On Thursday, Musk tweeted that he had found a CEO without naming Yaccarino. One person close to Yaccarino said Musk's tweet may well have accelerated the timetable for her to join Twitter, which would be a balm to Tesla shareholders.

Shares of Tesla were down 1.3% on Friday, as analysts commented that a CEO hire would allow Musk to concentrate on the EV business. Comcast shares were little changed.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
Close
0:00
0:00
Pfizer, the EU, and disappearing ink - Smoke, Mirrors, and the Billion-Dose Pfizer Vaccine Deal: EU's 'Open Secret
The Sussexes' Royal Rebound: Could Harry and Meghan Markle Return to the UK?
A provocative study suggests: Left-Wing Extremism and its Unsettling Connection to Psychopathy and Narcissism
France Arrests 10 on Suspicion of Failing to Respond in Time to Migrant Drowning
Neuralink Receives FDA Approval for First-in-Human Clinical Study
Is Saudi Arabia the holiest place in the world? Ancient Hebrew Inscriptions from "The Mount Sinai Stand" Discovered in Saudi Arabia
Ukrainian Intelligence Official Admits to Assassination Attempts on Putin
WATCH THIS: democracy in Russia is so bad!
Saudi Arabia and Canada Restore Diplomatic Relations
Bernard Arnault Loses $11.2 Billion in One Day as Investors Fear Slowdown in US Growth Will Reduce Demand for Luxury Products
Russian’s Wagner Group leader: “I am not a chef, I am a butcher. Russia is in danger of a revolution like in 1917.”
TikTok Sues Montana Over Law Banning the App
Ron DeSantis Jumps Into 2024 Presidential Race, Setting Up Showdown With Trump
Steve Jobs introducing Apple's iPhone, exactly 16 years ago.
Banking Behemoth vs Ex-Boss: The PMorgan-Epstein Entanglement
China overtakes Japan as world's top car exporter
Saudi Minister of Finance Mohammed Al-Jadaan on the importance of economic integration among Arab nations
Talks between US House Republicans and President Biden's Democratic administration on raising the federal government's $31.4tn debt ceiling have paused
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad received a warm welcome at an Arab summit in Jeddah
Biden Administration Eyeing High-Profile Visits to China: The Biden Administration is heating things up by looking into setting up a series of top-level visits to Beijing by top officials in the coming months
New evidence in special counsel probe may undercut Trump’s claim documents he took were automatically declassified
A French court of appeals confirmed former President Nicolas Sarkozy's three-year jail term for corruption and influence peddling
Debt Ceiling Crises Have Unleashed Political Chaos
Weibao Wang, a former software engineer at Apple, was charged with stealing trade secrets related to autonomous systems, including self-driving cars
Mobile phone giant Vodafone to cut 11,000 jobs globally over three years as new boss says its performance not good enough
Elon Musk compares George Soros to Magneto, the supervillain from the Marvel Comics series.
Warren Buffett Sells TSMC Shares Over Concerns About Taiwan's Stability
New Study Finds That Secondary Bacterial Pneumonia Is a Major Cause of Death in COVID-19 Patients Who Require Ventilator Assistance
Here are your top headlines for today, May 14, 2023
The official tapes of Trump's deposition in the E. Jean Carroll battery (rape) and defamation case have been released.
King Charles III being crowned.
Newly released video of Donald Trump’s rape trial deposition:
Video: Ukraine MP Punches Russian Representative At Global Meet
El Paso mayor has declared a state of emergency
Russia accused Ukraine of attacking the Kremlin with drones in an attempt to kill Putin
Dutch court orders man who fathered 550 kids to stop donating sperm
Kim Kardashian Lookalike Christina Ashten Dies Of Cardiac Arrest, Hours After Plastic Surgery
Samsung has banned employees from using generative AI services such as ChatGPT
'Godfather Of AI' Geoffrey Hinton Quits Google To Warn Of The Tech's Dangers
A Real woman
This Should Go Viral
Vermont Man Charged with Stalking After Secretly Tracking Woman with Apple AirTag
Elon Musk Statements About Tesla Autopilot Could Be 'Deepfakes,' Lawyers Claim. Judge Evette Pennypacker Does Not Understand How Far and Advanced This Technology Became
Ukraine More Prepared for Counterattack as Reinforcements Arrive
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni Discuss Migration, Defence, and Ukraine
Tucker Carlson is back, soon!
China Unveils Construction Road Map for Lunar Research Station
AT&T's Successful Test of Satellite-Based Phone Call Raises Possibility of Widespread Coverage
CNN: "Joe Biden is asking for four more years — when 74% of Americans think the country is heading the wrong way“
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Cuts Short Live TV Interview Due to Health Issue
×