Musk announces resignation as head of Twitter – is this his successor?

At the end of 2022, Elon Musk announced that he was leaving the top post on Twitter – but only after the successor was found. Now there should be a new boss. According to media reports, it is an advertising expert who knows how to deal with dissatisfied advertisers.

Tech billionaire Elon Musk wants to resign his post as head of Twitter after a chaotic six months. A successor has been found and will take over in about six weeks, Musk said in a tweet. Musk initially did not name a name.

According to reports, it should be Linda Yaccarino, the advertising manager of media group NBCUniversal. They would be tasked with mending the relationship with Twitter’s advertisers, which has been damaged by Musk’s sometimes erratic leadership. In the future, as head of technology, he wants to take care of products and software. However, it is unclear how much freedom of action the new top manager will be able to get next to Musk.

Musk bought Twitter in October for about $44 billion, fired all top executives and took control himself. After that, ad revenue collapsed – Twitter’s main source of income. Many advertisers feared a negative environment for their products on the service. In December, following controversy surrounding his leadership style, Musk had Twitter users vote on whether he should quit the top job — and a whopping 57 percent of the 17.5 million participants voted in favor.

After that, initially nothing happened, although Musk had assured that he would abide by the result of the vote. So he said he first had to find someone “crazy” enough to accept the job offer. In February, he announced that he would hand over the post at the end of the year. In April, he then told the BBC that his dog was the head of Twitter.

At the same time, Musk repeatedly emphasized that he was overworked and wanted to give up leadership on Twitter in the long run. The 51-year-old is also the head of electric car maker Tesla and aerospace company SpaceX. There were murmurs, especially among Tesla investors, that Musk was spending too much time on Twitter business.

Controversy surrounding Musk’s decisions

Musk’s six months as “Head of Twitter” were marked by chaos and crisis. After a series of highly controversial decisions, the headwind increased. He recently caused mayhem by deciding to remove the old verification marks the short message service used to authenticate celebrity accounts. The same symbols are now awarded to subscription customers – but without reliable verification of their identity.

Musk’s Twitter purchase aroused suspicion from the start. The multi-billionaire presented the acquisition as a move to strengthen freedom of expression, but critics feared further brutalization of the internet platform. They feared that the change of ownership could lead to rampant hate speech, disinformation and hate speech.

So far, Musk has been unable to address these concerns. On the contrary: with a wave of layoffs, erratic rule changes and other controversial decisions, he shook the online network to its foundations and scared the hell out of advertisers. According to market observers, on the other hand, the subscription trade generates little money.

Possible successor

Shortly after Musk’s tweet, technology journalist Kara Swisher pointed out that advertising expert Yaccarino was the most likely candidate for the Twitter post. Moments later, the Wall Street Journal reported that the manager was in talks about the job. The Hollywood newspaper “Variety” and the website “Puck” followed suit. Musk presented the appointment of a new boss as a fait accompli. An NBCUniversal spokesperson told the Wall Street Journal that Yaccarino is currently rehearsing a presentation for advertisers.

Yaccarino is responsible for NBCUniversal’s global advertising business. The group includes the American broadcaster NBC and the streaming service Peacock. Previously, she worked a lot in the Warner TV business. NBCUniversal recently signed a deal with Twitter for footage from the 2024 Paris Olympics. “Variety” wrote, referring to Yaccarino’s environment, that she had long expressed her admiration for Musk. In mid-April, she interviewed him on stage at an industry conference.

financial failure

The multi-billion dollar Twitter purchase, which Musk threatened to call off in the meantime and ultimately only went through under great legal pressure, has so far turned out to be a major financial bust.

At the recent share issue to employees, the value of the company was only half as high, as Musk confirmed in a BBC interview. At the same time, he claimed in an email to employees that Twitter could be worth $250 billion one day.

Suggestions that the service could become the basis for a super app along the lines of WeChat in China have so far gone no further than mere speculation. About 1,500 of the once 8,000 Twitter employees remain. (sda/dpa)