Elon Musk, the entrepreneur and CEO of Twitter, announced that he has found someone to replace him as the chief executive officer of the social media platform. In a tweet, he confirmed that he would be staying with the company but in other executive roles. Musk did not reveal the identity of the new CEO but stated that she would be starting in approximately six weeks. The current CEO will take over responsibilities as executive chairman and chief technology officer, overseeing product, software, and system operations.
Linda Yaccarino Takes Over as CEO
In another tweet, Musk revealed that Linda Yaccarino, a longtime media executive, would be taking over as CEO of Twitter. Yaccarino will primarily focus on the business side of things, while Musk prefers to concentrate on products and technologies. She previously worked as the head of advertising and partnerships at Comcast’s mass media conglomerate, NBCUniversal, and spent over a decade there after working as executive vice president and chief operating officer of advertising sales, marketing, and acquisitions at Turner Broadcasting.
Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion in October 2022 and has been running it since, but has always maintained that his role was temporary. After the acquisition, he embarked on organizational restructuring, which included massive layoffs to cut costs. Despite previously stating that he does not want to be the CEO of any company and that he views himself as an engineer, Elon Musk remains the top executive of U.S. electric car maker Tesla and spacecraft manufacturer SpaceX.
In March 2023, the tech entrepreneur registered a company called X.AI Corp, which has him as director. In an interview in April, Musk announced that he plans to create his own artificial intelligence (AI) platform called “Truthgpt” to rival the offerings of tech giants in the field.
While managing Twitter, Musk implemented significant policy changes, some of which have been met with criticism. He has been trying to convince users to become paid subscribers and advertisers to return to the platform. In December, he tweeted that he would resign as CEO as soon as he found someone foolish enough to take the job. This pledge came after the majority of participants in a Twitter poll, which he created himself, asked him to step down.