May 12 (UPI) — Current Twitter CEO and owner Elon Musk announced Friday that Linda Yaccarino will take over as CEO.
Twitter has faced a number of technical issues and an exodus of adverting dollars since Musk bought the company for $44 billion in November and fired nearly half its workforce his first week. The firings resulted in a nearly immediate class-action lawsuit from employees alleging wrongful termination.
Prior to purchasing the company, Musk said he hoped to transition the platform into a new “everything app” called “X.”
“I am excited to welcome Linda Yaccarino as the new CEO of Twitter!” Musk tweeted 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.”
On Thursday, Musk tweeted that a new CEO would be starting in about six weeks.
Yaccarino previously served as sales chief for NBCUniversal, she also served on former President Donald Trump’s Council on Sports and Nutrition.
NBCUniversal confirmed that Yaccarino will leave the company and said that Mark Marshall, president of advertising sales and client partnership, will take on the role of interim chair of the company’s advertising and partnerships group.
“We are grateful for Linda Yaccarino’s leadership of NBCUniversal’s advertising sales business, and for the innovative team and platform she has built,” NBCUniversal President Mike Cavanaugh said.
In December, Musk tweeted that he would either step down or stay on as CEO based on a Twitter poll, which ended with 57% of respondents saying he should step down.