Longtime NBCUniversal advert gross sales chief Linda Yaccarino is in talks to depart the corporate and succeed Elon Musk as Twitter’s CEO, in keeping with a supply aware of the matter.
Earlier on Thursday, Musk—who purchased the social media platform final October and two months later vowed to step down as Twitter CEO when he discovered “somebody silly sufficient to take the job”—indicated that he had settled on a alternative.
He tweeted, “Excited to announce that I’ve employed a brand new CEO for X/Twitter. She will probably be beginning in ~6 weeks! My position will transition to being exec chair & CTO, overseeing product, software program & sysops.”
The Wall Avenue Journal first reported that Yaccarino, NBCUniversal’s chairman of world promoting and partnerships, was in talks for the Twitter CEO position.
The information comes simply days earlier than Yaccarino and NBCUniversal are set to kick off upfront week, holding their conventional Monday morning presentation at Radio Metropolis Music Corridor.
NBCUniversal and Twitter didn’t share any further particulars about Yaccarino’s new place. “Linda is in again to again rehearsals for Monday’s upfront,” stated Joe Benarroch, evp, international communications, NBCU. As regular, Adweek’s inquiry to Twitter’s press division—which Musk disbanded—acquired an auto-reply containing a poop emoji.
Yaccarino has been a public advocate for Musk’s possession of Twitter for the reason that billionaire purchased the platform in October. The duo appeared onstage collectively in April throughout the inaugural Attainable advertising and marketing occasion in Miami for a keynote round “Twitter 2.0.”
NBCUniversal has additionally expanded its Twitter partnership beneath Musk. Twitter didn’t placed on an official NewFronts promoting occasion this 12 months, because it has in previous years. However the firm held a smaller presentation throughout the week for purchasers, and introduced expanded Olympics and Paralympics partnerships with NBCUniversal across the 2024 Paris Summer time Video games.
Yaccarino has lengthy been considered one of promoting’s most dynamic forces. She joined NBCUniversal in 2011 after spending twenty years at Turner. Initially, she was accountable for cable and digital gross sales, however inside two years was elevated to go up all of the cable and broadcast networks beneath a single portfolio—a then-revolutionary shake-up that was finally adopted by nearly all of her opponents.