Elon Musk Finds New CEO For Twitter, Could Linda Yaccarino?

Linda Yacariano, while interviewed Elon Musk. (photo: twitter @TitterDaily)

JAKARTA - Elon Musk announced on Thursday 11 May that he had found a new CEO for Twitter without naming the person. Furthermore, he will switch to the role of Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of the social media platform in the next few weeks.

"Shocking to announce that I have recruited a new CEO for X/Twitter. He will start in about 6 weeks," Musk said in a tweet.

Musk has never previously mentioned a potential CEO candidate, and it's unclear who was appointed as his successor, although speculation is widespread among technology and media as well as in Blind, an anonymous messaging app for tech employees.

"Linda Yacarino, Comcast's top ad sales executive at NBCUniversal, could be Musk's choice to lead the social media company," said a Silicon Valley executive and former Hollywood executive, who asked to be appointed.

Yacarino, a respected ad industry leader. He briefly interviewed Musk at an advertising conference in Miami last month.

When asked to comment, an NBCUniversal spokesman said "Linda is busy with back-to-back exercises for Upfront," referring to a presentation to be held by NBCUniversal for advertisers in New York on Monday 15 May.

Former CEO Yahoo Marissa Mayer was also proposed in a conversation between Twitter employees last Thursday, according to staff soerang.

Former YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki and top executive at Neuralink, Musk's brain chip startup! She is also on the list of names discussed by Twitter employees in Blind, according to former employees who saw the comments.

Top female executives from other Musk companies, such as SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell and Tesla Inc Chair Robyn Denholm, were also nominated, according to Jason Benowitz, senior portfolio manager at CI Roosevelt.

Musk said he would turn to Executive Chair's role on Twitter, along with the role of CTO, where he will oversee the system's products, software and operations.

Tesla shares closed 2.1% higher on Thursday and analysts said the announcement helped address some of investor concerns about Musk's active involvement on Twitter.

Shares of the electric car manufacturer have been hit after Musk took over Twitter in October and investors have said the move could make it difficult for the billionaire.

"Some of the so-called Twitter loads have been removed from Musk's ankles. Now he can again spend more time creating value at Tesla," said Craig Irwin, analyst at Roth MKM.

Musk has long said he intends to find a new leader for Twitter.

In a Twitter poll started by Musk in December, 57.5% of users chose him to step down from the CEO position of the social media platform.

"I will resign as CEO once I find someone stupid enough to take the job!" Musk said at the time.

Musk's first two weeks as Twitter's new owner in October was marked by rapid changes. He quickly fired the previous Twitter CEO, Parag Agrawal, and other senior leaders, then laid off half of his staff in November.

Musk, an absolute free speech, said he took over Twitter to prevent the platform from becoming an echo space for hatred and division.

He also said he would "beat" spam bots on the platform, the key area of his argument with Twitter's board over his argument over the purchase of the social media worth.