Elon Musk has introduced his alternative as Twitter’s CEO.
Regardless of solely taking on the position in October, Musk promised late final yr that he would step down as soon as he had discovered “somebody silly sufficient to take the job”. The choice got here after he polled Twitter customers over whether or not he ought to stop as CEO, to which 57.5 per cent of respondents voted sure.
Yesterday (Might 11), Musk revealed he had discovered somebody to take over the reins of the social community, who he stated could be beginning in round six weeks’ time. He confirmed, as deliberate, that he would keep on the firm in a special position, “being exec chair & CTO, overseeing product, software program & sysops [system operations]”.
Earlier at the moment (Might 12), he then confirmed in one other tweet the brand new CEO’s identification as Linda Yaccarino. She is ready to “focus totally on enterprise operations”, in accordance with Musk, whereas he turns his consideration to product design and new expertise.
Musk additionally confirmed {that a} rebrand of Twitter to X was imminent. “Wanting ahead to working with Linda to rework this platform into X, the all the pieces app,” he concluded.
Excited to announce that I’ve employed a brand new CEO for X/Twitter. She might be beginning in ~6 weeks!
My position will transition to being exec chair & CTO, overseeing product, software program & sysops.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) Might 11, 2023
I’m excited to welcome Linda Yaccarino as the brand new CEO of Twitter!@LindaYacc will focus totally on enterprise operations, whereas I give attention to product design & new expertise.
Wanting ahead to working with Linda to rework this platform into X, the all the pieces app. https://t.co/TiSJtTWuky
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) Might 12, 2023
For the final decade, Yaccarino has labored as chairman of world promoting and partnerships at NBCUniversal. She confirmed her departure in an announcement hours earlier than she was introduced as Twitter’s new CEO.
“It has been an absolute honour to be a part of Comcast NBCUniversal and lead essentially the most unimaginable staff,” she stated. “We’ve remodeled our firm and all the trade.” [via The Independent].
Musk’s time as Twitter’s CEO has been mired in varied controversies since his acquisition of the platform. He has fired a number of prime executives at Twitter and half of its workers since he purchased the web site final October for a staggering $44billon (£36.5bn). Earlier this yr, the CEO stated the social media platform’s workforce had decreased from 8,000 staff to 2,300 following his acquisition.
Hate speech additionally reportedly spiked on the positioning after his takeover, whereas customers have been suggested to archive their Twitter historical past after hypothesis the platform may collapse again in November.
Entry to the verified blue tick through Twitter Blue additionally sparked an inflow in parody and pretend accounts posing as companies.
In the meantime, Musk stated final month that Twitter will roll out a brand new function that will permit media publishers to “cost customers on a per-article foundation”.