Welcome Linda Yaccarino as Twitter’s new CEO. Yaccarino’s focus will be on commercial operations. I myself will focus on the areas of brand design and new technologies.
Looking forward to working with Linda to turn this platform into X, the app that encompasses everything.
Musk also said:
I think people from both sides of the political spectrum will find Linda smart, fair and just.
Yaccarino is an executive with deep ties to the advertising industry and many years in the media industry.
Yaccarino has been with NBCUniversal for nearly 12 years — her team has generated more than $100 billion in ad sales since 2011. Yaccarino previously served as NBC’s director of advertising and client partnerships, as well as president of cable entertainment and digital advertising sales, according to information on LinkedIn. Prior to joining NBC, Yaccarino worked for Turner, a globally recognized entertainment company, for nearly two decades.
Last month, Yaccarino interviewed Musk at an event in Miami in front of hundreds of advertisers.
New CEO will help boost Twitter’s ad business
Attracting advertisers was crucial to Musk and Twitter, who fled the company in the early months after he took over, fearing damage to their brand image in the ensuing chaos. Advertisers had returned, Musk said in late April, but gave no details.
Mark DiMassimo, founder and creative director of advertising agency DiGo, believes that Yaccarino’s appointment as CEO is expected to help restore advertisers’ confidence in Twitter. He pointed to Yaccarino’s successful integration and digitization of ad sales at NBC — her track record of cross-selling ads on different platforms could appeal to Musk as he tries to transform Twitter from a social media company into a larger media platform. According to DiMassimo:
If anyone can translate Musk’s vision to marketers’ advantage, she can. While advertisers remain skeptical of Twitter and all marketers are sitting on the sidelines for now, if she does go to Twitter, it would be a powerful reassurance.
Analysts following Twitter welcomed the news. Twitter’s advertising business has taken a hit under Musk’s erratic management.
On Thursday, with the new CEO still unknown, Insider Intelligence analyst Jasmine Enberg said:
A new CEO is the only way out for Twitter.
Musk is the biggest problem for Twitter’s ad business. As he recedes into the background, Twitter can begin to strip Musk’s persona from its corporate image and try to regain the trust of advertisers. The success of these efforts will depend on who takes over, but it’s hard to imagine a new CEO being more controversial or more disruptive to Twitter’s ad business than Musk.
Mike Proulx, research director at Forrester Research, said on Thursday that the advertising business is not the only challenge that Twitter’s new CEO will face-after all, Musk has fundamentally changed Twitter’s products and communities, which can be said to be the “worst case.” Case”.
Tesla shares rose about 2% on Thursday after Musk announced that he had found a new CEO. Shareholders of the electric car company have been concerned that he is paying too much attention to Twitter.
After taking over Twitter, Musk spent a lot of time and energy on Twitter instead of Tesla, and Tesla’s stock price plummeted, prompting many Tesla shareholders to call on Musk to give up the post of CEO of Twitter as soon as possible and focus on Twitter. Tesla.
At that time, Tesla investor Ross Gerber, who supported Musk’s acquisition of Twitter, directly “returned the water”. He tweeted:
Wake up Tesla (Board) – what’s the plan? Who is running Tesla? When is Elon coming back?
We’re in the best period in Tesla’s history, and it’s being completely destroyed by Twitter, and I think just saying ‘Elon is no longer the CEO of Tesla’ will make Tesla stock go up a lot. But now I don’t want that. I just want him back at Tesla HQ.
Musk replied, “I will ensure that Tesla shareholders benefit from Twitter in the long run.”
Goldman Sachs analysts wrote in a report late last year that they lowered their price target on Tesla:
We believe Tesla’s brand equity is tied to the company’s leadership in clean energy and advanced technology. In our view, it is important to bring consumer attention back to the core attributes of sustainability and technology if Tesla is to meet or exceed investor long-term expectations for Tesla.
Gary Black, a Tesla investor and managing partner of the Future Fund, has called on Tesla’s board to pressure Musk to find a new leader for Twitter so he can refocus on Tesla .
In addition, investors are also worried that Musk may continue to sell Tesla shares to fund Twitter.