#Twitter ceo free#

There’s also a supremely low probability she (or anyone) can fix Elon’s mess. She is supremely qualified to run the business. I’m also disappointed that she’s already been set up to fail.Įlon Musk announced yesterday the appointment of Linda Yaccarino as Twitter’s next CEO. I’m glad Twitter’s newly-appointed CEO is female.

#Twitter ceo free#

I don’t know Yaccarino, but I’ve seen her speak many times and I’ve always found her to be an impressive leader, communicator and visionary – a true luminary in the traditional media landscape. Twitter will be lucky to have her – and hopefully she’ll get free reign to rebuild the iconic platform. I’ve jumped back and forth between big media (Paramount, Discovery, Ziff-Davis) and start-ups and the transition can be jarring. Yaccarino will be moving from corner offices in the world's most iconic buildings to Twitter’s utilitarian offices in San Francisco’s gritty mid-market district. Hopefully she’ll get her own sleeping bag. ✳ She’s always going to have Musk (who will stay head of product and tech) looking over her shoulder, tweeting and second guessing. It’s difficult for owners and former CEOs to take a backseat to a new leader, and Musk has not traditionally shown much restraint there. Is there anything else I can help you with?” ChatGPT added Tom Rogers (NBC ➡TiVo), but wasn’t much more helpful. ✳ The history of traditional media sales leaders moving into tech and platform CEO roles has been spotty. For every Dan Rosensweig, (Magazines and Yahoo ➡ Chegg), and Meg Whitman (Disney and Hasbro ➡ Ebay), there aren’t many other examples.īing could only come up with Michael Cotia before saying “I’m sorry, but I couldn’t find any more examples of media sales executives who became CEOs of technology companies. ✳ Yaccarino’s NBC team of 2,000 sales and partnership employees is about the same size or bigger than Twitter’s tech-heavy headcount. She’ll need to quickly rebuild the sales and partnership team, because those 5am calls from her ad-agency and brand pals will quickly become tiresome.

It’s also telling that Musk sees traditional advertising – and not community-first creator partnerships – to be the path towards profitability. It’s revenue plain and simple. After gutting Twitter’s ad team, and seeing ad dollars crater, a CEO with all the major ad agency and brand CEOs on speed dial has great value. It’s an interesting hire because it reveals what Elon Musk considers Twitter’s biggest problem: Not moderation. Not free speech. Not creators leaving the platform. Yaccarino will be tasked with fixing the non-product org – from sales infrastructure and content to distribution and partnerships – while Musk leans into product and technology. He also responded to an article about rival Toyota Motor Corp.’s criticism of electric vehicles with a simple “Wow.Twitter just landed a new CEO, Linda Yaccarino, who stepped down as Chairman of Global Advertising and Partnerships at NBC Universal earlier this week.įirst, it’s great to see a woman – and a seasoned media exec - take over the top role in an industry dominated by tech bros. Should I step down as head of Twitter? I will abide by the results of this poll.Īfter losing the initial poll, Musk, who’s also chief executive officer of Tesla Inc., retweeted promotional material for the car company and for Twitter’s Blue for Business service.

In his less than two months at the helm, he has spooked advertisers, alienated Twitter’s most ardent creators and turned the service from a reflection of the news of the day into the main topic. Musk has warned that Twitter is at risk of bankruptcy and instituted a “hardcore” work environment for the remaining workers after a drastic cutback in staff. Musk’s dramatic offer came shortly after he attended the World Cup final match in Qatar, triggering a wave of trending topics such as “VOTE YES” and “CEO of Twitter.” He didn’t identify an alternative leader and went so far as to say anyone capable of doing the job wouldn’t want it.