Elon Musk is in talks to hire Linda Yaccarino, head of publicity at NBCUniversal, as the new chief executive officer of Twitter, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The billionaire was Chirping CEO since the company’s $44 billion acquisition in October, but signaled his position would be temporary. Without naming a successor, Musk tweeted on Thursday: “Excited to announce that I have hired a new CEO for X/Twitter. It will start in about 6 weeks!
He added that he would become executive president and chief technology officer, “overseeing products, software and sysops [systems operations]”.
Two people told the Financial Times that Yaccarino e Moss they were in talks, after The Wall Street Journal reported that he was in talks for the job. Yaccarino did not respond to an email request for comment.
Musk and Yaccarino recently appeared together at a conference in Miami where they gave a keynote address titled “Twitter 2.0: From Conversations to Partnerships.” They seemed to have a good rapport on stage, with Yaccarino showing a knack for showmanship, according to people who watched the presentation.
The announcement comes as shareholders of Tesla, the electric-car maker Musk also runs, has come under increasing pressure on him to turn his attention back to that company, whose stock has fallen 30% over the past year. Shares of Tesla rose about 2% on the news from the Twitter boss.
Twitter investors and bankers also wanted Musk to select new management as soon as possible, according to people familiar with the matter.
Musk said in December he would step down as CEO of Twitter as soon as he found someone “foolish enough to take the job,” after asking users if he should step down. The poll got 17.5 million votes, with 57.5% calling on him to step aside.
His six months at the helm of Twitter have been marked by a significant jolt in which he reduced its headcount by approximately 90%. and relaxed content moderation. The moves have alienated some high-profile users and advertisers, hitting the social media platform’s revenue.
Musk has oscillated between trying to woo advertisers to bolster Twitter’s main revenue source and taking public jabs at marketers for pulling out of the platform over their moderation concerns.
Yaccarino, who has been at NBCUniversal for nearly 12 years according to his LinkedIn page, is one of the few advertising executives to come out on a bat for Musk. In November, shortly after the takeover, he said he “wouldn’t bet against” the billionaire and that people should “give him a minute,” according to reports at the time.
Musk said in March that Twitter’s finances were improving following his cost-cutting efforts, to the point that the company could go back to registering positive cash flows next quarter. It has also announced several new features in recent weeks, including encrypted messaging.
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