Well, look what we have here! This Friday, Elon Musk announced that he has hired former NBCUniversal executive Linda Yaccarino as the next Twitter CEO!
“I am excited to welcome Linda Yaccarino as the new CEO of Twitter,” Musk, the current Twitter CEO, tweeted this Friday. “@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.”
Miss Yaccarino who previously spent 11 years with NBCUniversal where she served as chairman of global advertising and partnerships at NBCU, wasted no time and resigned from the role earlier Friday morning. She said in a statement, “It has been an absolute honor to be part of Comcast NBCUniversal and lead the most incredible team. We’ve transformed our company and the entire industry.”
This move by Musk is not very shocking. Instead. it’s more so expected, as the billionaire has suggested repeatedly that he does not intend to lead the company permanently. In a Thursday tweet, he said, “My role will transition to being exec chair & CTO, overseeing product, software & sysops.”
RELATED: Elon Musk Will Step Down Within 6 Weeks
Way back in December, Musk brought up the idea of stepping down as Twitter’s CEO while sharing a poll with Twitter followers. Nearly 58% of respondents supported him leaving his role as the platform’s leader.
More On Musk Taking Over Twitter
Mr. Musk initiated an acquisition of Twitter, Inc. on April 14, 2022, and concluded it on October 27, 2022. He initially started buying shares of the company in January 2022, becoming its largest shareholder by April with a 9.1 percent ownership stake.
Musk made an offer to buy Twitter for $54.20 a share, or about $44 billion — a price well above the company’s stock price at the time. At the time, he said his goal was to apply free speech principles to the platform, which he claimed had been mismanaged by the previous team. “The company will neither thrive nor serve this societal imperative in its current form,” he wrote. “Twitter needs to be transformed as a private company.” He added at the time, “Twitter has extraordinary potential. I will unlock it.”
By April 25, Twitter accepted Musk’s offer.
“The Twitter Board conducted a thoughtful and comprehensive process to assess Elon’s proposal with a deliberate focus on value, certainty, and financing,” Twitter’s Independent Board Chair Bret Taylor says in a statement. “The proposed transaction will deliver a substantial cash premium, and we believe it is the best path forward for Twitter’s stockholders.”
Since his takeover, Musk has fired a great portion of the Twitter team. Musk also launched a new feature, charging users $7.99 for access to Twitter Blue — a service that included the platform’s blue checkmark verification.
While Musk tried to share more new ideas to improve the app, social media users haven’t not been feeling his recommendations. Although Musk has stepped down, we’re sure the Tesla founder has more things cooking up in the tech world.