Working for Elon Musk can be the definition of precarious employment. Tesla Supercharger employees had to learn this the hard way when they worked together dismissed with little explanation.
Now it is Joe Benarroch’s turn. The former head of global business activities at X– who was personally hired by CEO Linda Yaccarino just days after taking office – is out after barely more than a year, according to his profile At LinkedIn.
And the former head of global advertising at NBCUniversal could, according to a report by Financial Times on Sunday. Quote According to anonymous informed sources, Yaccarino felt pressured to shake up her management team and fired Benarroch for allegedly failing to adequately warn customers in advance that X would soon allow consensual sharing of porn, citing three sources at the company. (Pornography has long existed on Twitter, but it was not officially allowed until now.)
While Benarroch’s alleged blindside to his customers could clearly have negative effects, Musk himself has also provided reasons for their confusion. Musk tried to lure popular streamers away from Twitch by calling out the Amazon competitor for failing to screen its own platform for adult content. His backtracking just weeks later and officially recognizing pornography as acceptable content was bound to be controversial.
NUDE PHOTOS IN BIO
— Dream (@dreamwastaken) May 20, 2024
In response to the speech by Assets X responded to one comment with the automated statement “Busy now, please check back later.” Benarroch did not respond to X’s request for comment.
Musk’s social media platform has been struggling with heavy losses since he raised costs by $1 billion in annual interest to finance his $44 billion acquisition in late October 2022.
Although X remains a private company, its problems threaten to spill over into Tesla, as the electric car maker is Musk’s main source of income and stock sales have been used to fund his Twitter venture. Tesla stock has fallen 50% since Musk’s involvement with the social media platform became public in April 2022.
In September, Yaccarino said that X could actually Make a profit in early 2024. But an investigation by a nonprofit organization provided evidence that X placed ads next to pro-Nazi posts triggered an exodus of advertisers from companies like Disney and sparked new concerns about a possible financial collapse. Instead of diplomacy, Musk opted for the attack, threatening in order to name the advertisers in the event of X’s insolvency.
Direct threat to Yaccarino’s authority
Musk seems to be dissatisfied with the pace of improvements at X and tapped His Boring Company CEO, Steve Davis, should take a closer look at the company’s cost base, which Yaccarino’s confidants told the FT was a direct challenge to their authority.
Yaccarino herself was constantly confronted with speculation that she was little more than a Puppet CEO installed on release the heat Musk’s management of the company and, if necessary, fall on any grenades for the hundred-billionaire.
When she spoke last week about the difficulties she had overcome, Imposter Syndrome– a feeling of not really deserving his status and position – she was asked what the best news she had ever received from him was.
Welcome to the herd, @benarroch_joe! From one bird to the next.
Let’s go to work @Twitter! #Time to fly
– Linda Yaccarino (@lindayaX) June 4, 2023
Instead of giving an example of how he builds them up or encourages them to do their best, the first thing that came to Yaccarino’s mind was the day Musk announced their employment– nothing of what has happened in the 13 months since then.
Yaccarino’s room for maneuver was already limited in the face of ongoing losses, and now she must also bear the blame for personally vouching for her former advisor Benarroch.
Unless Yaccarino can better tap into her extensive address book to regain her contacts in the advertising industry, Benarroch may not be the only former NBCUniversal executive who needs to update her LinkedIn profile.