Linda Yaccarino Steps Down as CEO of Musk’s X

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Linda Yaccarino resigned Wednesday as CEO of X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, after two years at the helm of the Elon Musk-owned company.

In a statement posted on the platform, she said she had decided to step down following what she described as “two incredible years” leading the company through a major transformation.

No reason was given for her exit, but the resignation came as Musk’s artificial intelligence chatbot Grok was under fire for anti-Semitic comments that praised Adolf Hitler and insulted Islam in separate posts on the X platform.

Yaccarino — a former NBCUniversal advertising executive — took over as X’s CEO in June 2023, replacing Musk who had been serving in the role since his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter in October 2022.

Her appointment came as Musk sought to focus on product development while bringing in an experienced media manager to restore advertiser confidence.

The company has faced significant challenges since Musk’s acquisition, including an exodus of advertisers and concerns over content moderation policies.

Yaccarino’s background in advertising was seen as crucial to rebuilding business relationships.

In her statement, Yaccarino praised the “historic business turn around” achieved by the X team and suggested the platform was entering “a new chapter” with xAI, Musk’s artificial intelligence company.

xAI in March acquired X in an all-stock deal that valued the social media platform at $33 billion, making it a subsidiary of Musk’s AI company.

“X is truly a digital town square for all voices and the world’s most powerful culture signal,” she wrote, adding that she would be “cheering you all on as you continue to change the world.”

During her tenure, X introduced new features including Community Notes, a crowd-sourced fact-checking system, and announced plans for “X Money,” a financial services feature as part of Musk’s vision to transform the platform into an “Everything App.”

It also coincided with Musk’s endorsement and financial backing of Donald Trump, which saw the South African-born multi-billionaire catapulted into the White House as a close advisor to the president, before a recent falling out.

She posted the announcement on X, formerly Twitter , which is owned by Elon Musk:

After two incredible years, I’ve decided to step down as CEO of 𝕏. When @elonmusk and I first spoke of his vision for X, I knew it would be the opportunity of a lifetime to carry out the extraordinary mission of this company. I’m immensely grateful to him for entrusting me with the responsibility of protecting free speech, turning the company around, and transforming X into the Everything App.  I’m incredibly proud of the X team — the historic business turn around we have accomplished together has been nothing short of remarkable.  We started with the critical early work necessary to prioritize the safety of our users—especially children, and to restore advertiser confidence. This team has worked relentlessly from groundbreaking innovations like Community Notes, and, soon, X Money to bringing the most iconic voices and content to the platform. Now, the best is yet to come as X enters a new chapter with @xai. X is truly a digital town square for all voices and the world’s most powerful culture signal. We couldn’t have achieved that without the support of our users, business partners, and the most innovative team in the world.  I’ll be cheering you all on as you continue to change the world.  As always, I’ll see you on 𝕏