Musk Hires NBCUniversal's Linda Yaccarino as Twitter CEO

Elon Musk tweeted Friday that he's hired a new CEO at Twitter who will start in six weeks, and later reports confirmed his pick is NBCUniversal global advertising chief Linda Yaccarino.

Key Details: Musk will transition to being executive chair and CTO to oversee software, product, and system operations. He plans to turn Twitter into X, his vision of an "everything app" similar to China's WeChat. As CEO, Musk has been attempting to clean up Twitter's accounts by having the company archive inactive accounts and delete dormant accounts. Yaccarino, a veteran in ad sales, resigned from NBCU Friday amid speculation that Musk picked her.

Key Quote: Musk tweeted, “I am excited to welcome Linda Yaccarino as the new CEO of Twitter! @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.”

For Context: Musk has been facing some criticism from Tesla shareholders, who were unhappy about his devoting time away from the automaker. Musk had announced last fall that he would eventually replace himself as CEO of Twitter, where he has branded himself an advocate of free online speech. Yaccarino interviewed Musk on stage front of hundreds of advertisers last month.

How the Media Covered it: The announcement was covered by sources across the political spectrum, which acknowledged Yaccarino's background in advertising. Associated Press was particularly in-depth in their background on Yaccarino, saying her ad industry prowess could make her "a linchpin in Twitter’s future."