Linda Yaccarino takes charge as new Twitter CEO, hires former NBCUniversal exec to manage business operations

By Divyanshi SharmaLinda Yaccarino will be taking over as Twitter’s new CEO from today, a Wall Street Journal report says. Yaccarino, who earlier worked at NBC, has also hired her trusted advisor Joe Benarroch to build Elon Musk’s ‘Twitter 2.0’. The new Twitter boss welcomed Benarroch via a tweet. As for Musk, he will get more time to focus on his other companies, Tesla and Space X. In a tweet, Musk had earlier said that even though he won’t be Twitter’s CEO, his ‘role will transition to being exec chair and CTO, overseeing product, software and sysops’.

Twitter’s new CEO hires former NBC executive

Benarroch wrote in a LinkedIn post that he is looking forward to bringing his experience to Twitter and working with the team to build Musk’s Twitter 2.0.

He wrote on Sunday, “Tomorrow, I start a different professional adventure at Twitter, taking on a role focusing on business operations. It’s been an absolute honour being at NBCUniversal, where I’ve been able to work with Linda and our leadership team – to champion and scale our business priorities, create meaningful advocacy, and help build incredible partnerships across this entire industry.

“I am looking forward to bringing my experience to Twitter, and to working with the entire team to build Twitter 2.0 together.”

Yaccarino also welcomed her former NBC colleague to Twitter via a tweet.

She wrote, “Welcome to the flock, @benarroch_joe! From one bird to the next. Let’s get to work @Twitter! #timetofly.”

Linda Yaccarino’s appointmet as Twitter boss

Last month, it was announced that Linda will be taking charge as Twitter’s new CEO in a couple of weeks. Even before her formal appointment as the new Twitter chief, reports had suggested that Yaccarino will be assuming the role.

At last, on May 12, Musk confirmed the new Twitter boss and people were quite intrigued. Welcoming Yaccarino to the team, he wrote, “I am excited to welcome Linda Yaccarino as the new CEO of Twitter! @LindaYacc will focus primarily on business operations, while I focus on product design & new technology. Looking forward to working with Linda to transform this platform into X, the everything app.”

Responding to Musk’s tweet of welcoming her to the new role, Linda Yaccarino wrote, “I’ve long been inspired by your vision to create a brighter future. I’m excited to help bring this vision to Twitter and transform this business together!”

In another tweet, she added that she is not ‘as prolific as Musk’ on this platform yet but she is quite committed to building Musk’s Twitter 2.0.

Musk’s takeover of Twitter

Ever since Elon Musk took over Twitter in October 2022, the micro-blogging platform has gone through some radical changes – both internally and externally. For instance, Musk fired around 80 percent employees and a lot of perks for the employees had been cut down in order to bring the costs down. On the other hand, Twitter users who had earned the once-prestigious verification badge lost their legacy blue ticks as Musk introduced Twitter Blue. Musk’s management style has often invited criticism, both from employees and Twitter users. Hence, when the entrepreneur announced that Twitter will soon have a new leader, people were quite excited to find out who it will be.