Elon Musk says he has found a new CEO for Twitter and “she” will start in a few weeks. It will most likely be Linda Yaccarino, the current head of advertising and partnerships for NBCUniversal.
However, I do know that Yaccarino has fished for the job and told friends she wants it. The advertising world is definitely gossiping that it is her. She recently hosted Musk at her “Possible” advertising conference in Miami for an exciting interview and has tweeted up a storm, including about how excited she is that NBC is partnering with Twitter for the next Olympics.
In his tweet todayMusk said that once his mysterious new CEO starts in about six weeks, he will “move over to exec chairman and CTO, overseeing products, software and sysops.”
That means his CEO will be almost exclusively focused on the business, for which Yaccarino is certainly qualified. She already runs a multi-billion dollar ad company and is well respected by the cohort of CMOs who need convincing to spend on the platform again. Importantly, I was told that she and Musk agree politically as well.
“She is very strong and she has always wanted this job,” says a former colleague. “It’s perfect.”
If I had to guess, the reason Musk didn’t announce the name is unfortunate timing on the end of Yaccarino. NBCU plans to give its annual Upfront presentation to advertisers on Monday, which Yaccarino is apparently rehearsing for today. Uncomfortable!
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Amrita Khalid contributed reporting.
