Latest news with #Yaccarino
Yahoo
15-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
The CEO who never was: how Linda Yaccarino was set up to fail at Elon Musk's X
In May 2023, when Linda Yaccarino, an NBC advertising executive, joined what was then still known as Twitter, she was given a tall order: repair the company's relationship with advertisers after a chaotic year of being owned by Elon Musk. But just weeks after she became CEO, Musk posted an antisemitic tweet that drove away major brands such as Disney, Paramount, NBCUniversal, Comcast, Lionsgate and Warner Bros Discovery to pause their advertising on the platform. Musk delivered an apology for the tweet later at a conference – which he called the worst post he's ever done – but it came with a message to advertisers, specifically the Disney CEO Bob Iger: 'Go fuck yourselves.' Yaccarino was in the audience of the conference. 'I don't want them to advertise,' he said. 'If someone is going to blackmail me with advertising or money, go fuck yourself. Go. Fuck. Yourself,' he said. 'Is that clear? Hey Bob, if you're in the audience, that's how I feel.' In the two years since, Yaccarino has had to contend with the unpredictability of Musk, ongoing content moderation and hate speech issues on the platform, increasingly strained relationships with advertisers and widespread backlash her boss received for his role in Donald Trump's administration. Her response in some cases was to remain silent; in others, she chose to defend the company. Through it all, however, experts say it was clear Yaccarino was the chief executive in title only. Related: Linda Yaccarino stepping down as CEO of Elon Musk's X 'The reality is that Elon Musk is and always has been at the helm of X,' said Mike Proulx, research director at Forrester VP. 'It was clear from the start that she was being set up to fail by a limited scope as the company's chief executive. Her background and actual authority positioned her more as the company's chief advertising officer, rather than its CEO.' Even in her de facto role as a chief advertising officer, Musk's incessant posting, impulsive decision making and obsession with X and other platforms becoming too 'woke' posed huge obstacles for Yaccarino. 'The only thing that's surprising about Linda Yaccarino's resignation is that it didn't come sooner,' said Proulx. This week alone, Grok, the AI chatbot integrated with X, posted several antisemitic remarks, including some praising Hitler, after the company included new guidelines for the chatbot. In guidelines xAI published, Grok had been instructed not to 'shy away from making claims which are politically incorrect, as long as they are well substantiated'. xAI removed that guideline from its code on Tuesday evening. Yaccarino's tenure as CEO of X was not only bookended with antisemitism scandals – Musk's and Grok's offensive tweets – but was also punctuated with several accusations of antisemitism against her boss throughout her short stint. In 2023, the non-profit watchdog Center for Countering Digital Hate published a report on the prevalence of hate speech, both antisemitic and otherwise, on X as well as the lack of moderation. The company's response was to sue the organization; the suit was ultimately dismissed. Similarly, the non-profit Media Matters for America highlighted the appearance of pro-Nazi tweets alongside branded advertisements in a report that preceded a mass advertiser exodus from the social network. X sued Media Matters. Most notably, Musk was accused of doing back-to-back Nazi salutes at a Trump inauguration rally at the start of 2025. Musk brushed aside the allegations that it was a Nazi salute and posted several Nazi puns on X. At the time, Yaccarino provided no additional comment, but posted a laughing face emoji in response to Musk's jokes. Musk's salute and the ensuing backlash was one of several moments that solidified the overall rightward shift of the social network as droves of users began to flock to alternative platforms like Bluesky, and even Reddit communities began banning X links. When Yaccarino joined X, she set about courting celebrities and partnerships to reinvigorate the social network's brand and repair relationships that Musk's contentious takeover had damaged. Musk had long talked of making X into an 'everything app' that would integrate payments, AI, messaging, livestreaming and other new features alongside the social network's public posting, another task given to Yaccarino. Yaccarino led a delegation of executives, including Musk himself, to meet with industry leaders at the Cannes Lions festival in 2023, and began seeking media figures who could feature on the platform. One of Yaccarino's moves toward making the platform into what she described as a 'global town square' was reaching out to the former CNN host Don Lemon to start a show on X, much as the former Fox News host Tucker Carlson had agreed to put his content on site. Lemon's first interview for the platform was with Musk, in what was intended to be a showcase of how X was shifting and bringing in big-name creators. The plan backfired after Lemon's interview with Musk grew heated over questions about the billionaire's drug use, which was quickly followed by Musk telling Lemon's agent that his contract was canceled. Future shows with big-name creators never materialized. In the ensuing two years, rather than become a destination for mainstream talent, a streaming powerhouse or the 'everything app' that Yaccarino promoted, X has largely become a megaphone for Musk to air his grievances, boost and then feud with Trump, and promote his companies. Far-right influencers, porn spambots and meme accounts proliferate, while many media outlets have deprioritized the platform or left it altogether. Misinformation and extremism are rampant, sometimes coming from Musk himself. The day before Yaccarino resigned, X became involved in a scandal that epitomized much of what the platform has become. Musk had recently posted that he would be reconfiguring xAI's chatbot, Grok, because he did not agree with the responses it was generating. On Tuesday, users noticed that the chatbot had begun to reply to queries with blatantly antisemitic posts praising Nazi ideology. A flood of users began posting more screenshots of Grok posting rape fantasies, identifying itself as 'MechaHitler' and promoting conspiracies before the company removed the posts. Incidents like Grok's foray into Nazism are some of the many reasons Yaccarino's goal of revitalizing X has sputtered. Although she succeeded in courting a number of major companies to begin advertising again last year, at a time when Musk's connections to the White House were strongest, the platform's ad revenues have never reached anywhere near their pre-Musk levels, according to the research firm Emarketer. The platform also resorted to threats of lawsuits against major companies such as Verizon if they did not buy advertising on the site, according to a Wall Street Journal report that Yaccarino has denied. After more than two years of Yaccarino running damage control for her boss and the platform's myriad issues, Musk issued only a brief statement acknowledging she was stepping down. 'Thank you for your contributions,' Musk responded to Yaccarino's post announcing her resignation. Minutes later, he began sending replies to other posts about SpaceX, artificial intelligence and how his chatbot became a Nazi.
Yahoo
15-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Linda Yaccarino stepping down as CEO of Elon Musk's X
The CEO of X, Elon Musk's social network, announced on Wednesday she would resign. 'After two incredible years, I've decided to step down as CEO of 𝕏,' Linda Yaccarino wrote. Musk replied to her tweet: 'Thank you for your contributions.' The outgoing CEO said, '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.' Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, purchased Twitter in 2022 for $44bn and later renamed it X. The billionaire hired Yaccarino the following year, after he fired much of the platform's staff and announced major changes such as ending content moderation policies. Before joining X, Yaccarino had been a longtime executive at NBCUniversal who focused on advertising and partnerships. In March, Musk's artificial intelligence company xAI acquired the social networking company. Over the course of Yaccarino's tenure as CEO, she frequently had to put a positive spin on public relations disasters and Musk's belligerent behavior. A few months after hiring Yaccarino, Musk gave a public appearance in which he told advertisers to 'go fuck yourself' and leave the platform after backlash to his promotion of an antisemitic post. Yaccarino defended his conduct and the company in interviews. Yaccarino's own output on X often reflected the more congenial side of the platform and contained earnest retweets of celebrity birthdays or events. The CEO was often forced back into damage control mode, however, including denying reports from the Wall Street Journal earlier this year that X had strong-armed companies to advertise on the platform by threatening lawsuits against them. Under Yaccarino, the company did sue advertisers who had pulled back their spending after Musk's acquisition and outbursts. The platform's issues continued right up until Yaccarino announced her departure. The day before she stepped down, Musk's Grok chatbot began to post rape fantasies, endorsements of Nazi ideology and identify itself as 'MechaHitler' before the company intervened and X took down the posts, apologizing for the 'inappropriate' tweets. Musk has found himself embroiled in controversy outside of X in recent months. His political alliance with Donald Trump, which began during the 2024 campaign and resulted in Musk's appointment as a special government employee and the creation of the so-called 'department of government efficiency', imploded in June in full public view. The two men clashed over the US president's sweeping tax bill, which Musk called an 'abomination'. The tech tycoon has committed to starting an independent political party dedicated to ousting Republican members from Congress who voted for the bill, which successfully passed. Meanwhile, Tesla, the source of the majority of Musk's wealth, has seen its sales fall precipitously in response to his political activities, with prospective buyers and current owners alike shying away from the controversial CEO. SpaceX, Musk's rocket company, has struggled with its latest rocket, the massive Starship, which has repeatedly exploded after liftoff.
Hindustan Times
13-07-2025
- Automotive
- Hindustan Times
Elon Musk Is Back at Work and Burning Through Executives
The sun is shining bright again in the Elon Musk business empire. Don't get burned. The billionaire entrepreneur may still be pining for a political revolution with talk of starting his own third party to punish spendthrift Republicans, but recent high-profile departures at his companies underscore that the Boss is back. 'Thank you for your contributions,' Musk—who has a way with goodbyes—told his outgoing chief executive at X, Linda Yaccarino, on Wednesday. She announced her departure after two years on the hot seat, running the billionaire's social-media platform. Yaccarino's role was largely about trying to revive advertising for a guy who seems allergic to the art of the sale. Just days earlier, it was revealed that Omead Afshar, who was heading sales and manufacturing for Tesla in North America and Europe, had left Musk's electric-car company. Both departures reflect an old saying among Musk alum: to survive with the mercurial leader is to avoid flying too close to the sun. Musk being the sun. Finding shade was easier when his Department of Government Efficiency effort was churning 120 hours a week for the Trump administration. That came to an end for him in late May. Now Musk is burning hot (if not always 100% focused). The latest executive departures also underscore Musk's complicated relationship with the sales functions at his companies. He's the ultimate salesman of the future vision. But he tends to churn through sales leaders responsible for moving today's inventories—whether that's ad spots or electric sedans. And, these days, Musk is acting like the AI chatbots and cars will sell themselves. That Yaccarino stayed as long as she did beat the guesses of some Madison Avenue insiders. They had privately speculated she wouldn't last long under Musk. She surprised the industry by leaving her cushy gig at NBCUniversal in 2023. Together, she and Musk were seen as a real-life Odd Couple. Musk has long shown disdain for traditional sales methods, arguing over the years that quality products should sell themselves. Meanwhile, Yaccarino was Ms. Sales—whether it was her polished image or pitch that Twitter-turned-X was a safe place for brands. That last part could be hard to swallow. Musk's own actions could promote contentious content on the platform and his 'Go F— Yourself' ways could be off-putting to big brands worried about negative associations. This past week, 'MechaHitler' trended on X after Musk's chatbot, Grok, generated antisemitic content. That only renewed concerns about safeguards. When Musk took over Twitter, he said he didn't want to be CEO. It was a common refrain from him over the years, something he has said about Tesla where he has led the company since taking the reins in 2008 during financial difficulties. He has often complained that the company can't find somebody to run things for him, unlike at his rocket company, SpaceX. There, he has long had a strong No. 2 to handle the parts of the business that interest him less—like sales. Despite his objections to being X CEO, he clearly wanted to be the Boss. This point was driven home when his xAI startup acquired X earlier this year. Yaccarino's role was largely diminished as part of a company more broadly aiming to use Grok to compete against AI rivals such as OpenAI and Alphabet. Over the years, I've often heard insiders talk about how it has grown increasingly hard to recruit seasoned business leaders to work for Musk because of his reputation for burning through people. During one stretch at Tesla, the company saw more than 50 vice presidents or higher depart in a relatively short period. In some cases, a high-profile hire would join only to quietly leave a few weeks later. Some of the churn was natural attrition as options vested. Some of it was Musk growing tired of people. Some of it was employees growing tired of his grueling pace. In 2023, amid investor concerns that Musk was too distracted from Tesla's day-to-day with his then-recent purchase of Twitter, he presided over an unusual investor meeting. Sixteen executives flanked him on stage to discuss their areas of the car company. It was as if Musk was trying to show that Tesla was more than just him. 'We obviously got significant bench strength here,' Musk said at the time. Flash forward two years, many are gone. That includes the then-CFO, who was seen as a potential replacement for Musk if the board needed it. These days, it's rare for Tesla to highlight its bench far beyond Musk. And again, Tesla, and now X, are down key deputies when Musk faces major challenges across his companies. Tesla recently launched a limited robotaxi service amid a car-sales slump. A few weeks ago, Musk was in a three-hour-plus meeting that ran well past midnight at his brain-implant startup, Neuralink, when his SpaceX rocket blew up, according to biographer Ashlee Vance, who was with him. 'Meeting ended,' Vance posted on X. 'I assume that's when he learned about it. And then … he went back to work.' Hours after Yaccarino's departure announcement Wednesday, Musk was leaning into the wonky side of AI to sell xAI's newest model, Grok 4. During a near hourlong reveal streamed online, Musk talked about the AI's advanced book smarts and practical applications. One demonstration included a voice AI with an English accent being asked to write and sing an opera about Diet Coke, Musk's preferred beverage: 'Oh, Diet Coke Thou elixir divine With bubbles that dance In a sparkling line Thy crisp, cool kiss On lips so fine …' As Musk sat on the dark stage flanked by young xAI employees dressed in black T-shirts, he wound things down, asking: 'Anything you guys want to say?' One engineer, near Musk, quickly applied a sort of sunscreen, blurting out: 'It's a good model, sir.' The UV index is high. Write to Tim Higgins at
Mint
13-07-2025
- Automotive
- Mint
Elon Musk is back at work and burning through executives
The sun is shining bright again in the Elon Musk business empire. Don't get burned. The billionaire entrepreneur may still be pining for a political revolution with talk of starting his own third party to punish spendthrift Republicans, but recent high-profile departures at his companies underscore that the Boss is back. 'Thank you for your contributions," Musk—who has a way with goodbyes—told his outgoing chief executive at X, Linda Yaccarino, on Wednesday. She announced her departure after two years on the hot seat, running the billionaire's social-media platform. Yaccarino's role was largely about trying to revive advertising for a guy who seems allergic to the art of the sale. Just days earlier, it was revealed that Omead Afshar, who was heading sales and manufacturing for Tesla in North America and Europe, had left Musk's electric-car company. Both departures reflect an old saying among Musk alum: to survive with the mercurial leader is to avoid flying too close to the sun. Musk being the sun. Finding shade was easier when his Department of Government Efficiency effort was churning 120 hours a week for the Trump administration. That came to an end for him in late May. Now Musk is burning hot (if not always 100% focused). The latest executive departures also underscore Musk's complicated relationship with the sales functions at his companies. He's the ultimate salesman of the future vision. But he tends to churn through sales leaders responsible for moving today's inventories—whether that's ad spots or electric sedans. And, these days, Musk is acting like the AI chatbots and cars will sell themselves. That Yaccarino stayed as long as she did beat the guesses of some Madison Avenue insiders. They had privately speculated she wouldn't last long under Musk. She surprised the industry by leaving her cushy gig at NBCUniversal in 2023. Together, she and Musk were seen as a real-life Odd Couple. Musk has long shown disdain for traditional sales methods, arguing over the years that quality products should sell themselves. Meanwhile, Yaccarino was Ms. Sales—whether it was her polished image or pitch that Twitter-turned-X was a safe place for brands. That last part could be hard to swallow. Musk's own actions could promote contentious content on the platform and his 'Go F— Yourself" ways could be off-putting to big brands worried about negative associations. This past week, 'MechaHitler" trended on X after Musk's chatbot, Grok, generated antisemitic content. That only renewed concerns about safeguards. When Musk took over Twitter, he said he didn't want to be CEO. It was a common refrain from him over the years, something he has said about Tesla where he has led the company since taking the reins in 2008 during financial difficulties. He has often complained that the company can't find somebody to run things for him, unlike at his rocket company, SpaceX. There, he has long had a strong No. 2 to handle the parts of the business that interest him less—like sales. Despite his objections to being X CEO, he clearly wanted to be the Boss. This point was driven home when his xAI startup acquired X earlier this year. Yaccarino's role was largely diminished as part of a company more broadly aiming to use Grok to compete against AI rivals such as OpenAI and Alphabet. Over the years, I've often heard insiders talk about how it has grown increasingly hard to recruit seasoned business leaders to work for Musk because of his reputation for burning through people. During one stretch at Tesla, the company saw more than 50 vice presidents or higher depart in a relatively short period. In some cases, a high-profile hire would join only to quietly leave a few weeks later. Some of the churn was natural attrition as options vested. Some of it was Musk growing tired of people. Some of it was employees growing tired of his grueling pace. In 2023, amid investor concerns that Musk was too distracted from Tesla's day-to-day with his then-recent purchase of Twitter, he presided over an unusual investor meeting. Sixteen executives flanked him on stage to discuss their areas of the car company. It was as if Musk was trying to show that Tesla was more than just him. 'We obviously got significant bench strength here," Musk said at the time. Flash forward two years, many are gone. That includes the then-CFO, who was seen as a potential replacement for Musk if the board needed it. These days, it's rare for Tesla to highlight its bench far beyond Musk. And again, Tesla, and now X, are down key deputies when Musk faces major challenges across his companies. Tesla recently launched a limited robotaxi service amid a car-sales slump. A few weeks ago, Musk was in a three-hour-plus meeting that ran well past midnight at his brain-implant startup, Neuralink, when his SpaceX rocket blew up, according to biographer Ashlee Vance, who was with him. 'Meeting ended," Vance posted on X. 'I assume that's when he learned about it. And then … he went back to work." Hours after Yaccarino's departure announcement Wednesday, Musk was leaning into the wonky side of AI to sell xAI's newest model, Grok 4. During a near hourlong reveal streamed online, Musk talked about the AI's advanced book smarts and practical applications. One demonstration included a voice AI with an English accent being asked to write and sing an opera about Diet Coke, Musk's preferred beverage: 'Oh, Diet Coke Thou elixir divine With bubbles that dance In a sparkling line Thy crisp, cool kiss On lips so fine …" As Musk sat on the dark stage flanked by young xAI employees dressed in black T-shirts, he wound things down, asking: 'Anything you guys want to say?" One engineer, near Musk, quickly applied a sort of sunscreen, blurting out: 'It's a good model, sir." The UV index is high.
Economic Times
13-07-2025
- Business
- Economic Times
Linda Yaccarino's two years at X were about restabilising a platform in crisis
Shortly after Elon Musk bought Twitter and overhauled the microblogging site into a more politicised platform X, he roped in Linda Yaccarino to head its business operations while he focussed on product and technology. She stepped down from this role on July 9 after a little over two years in the role. This comes days after Grok, the chatbot created by Musk's xAI, was embroiled in controversy around its antisemitic comments. This is only the last of a series of controversies Yaccarino waded through during her time at Musk's social media platform. Time of crisis When she joined the recently rebranded X, it was undergoing a major policy shift under Musk's leadership. It was going from a social media app to an "everything app", on track to integrate audio-video calls, job search and long-form was also facing a drop in global usage and a fall in advertising revenue, mainly driven by controversial statements made by Musk. Many brands threatened to (and some did) pull ads from the platform due to concerns over content moderation and brand safety. On the cusp of the generative AI (GenAI) boom, the platform, like other social media platforms, was riddled with misinformation and scrambling to deal with it. Musk had also gotten rid of legacy Twitter features, with profile verification turned into a subscription service. Musk was also in the headlines for suspending journalist accounts, hurting sentiment among brands, and garnering advertiser distrust. What Yaccarino was bringing to the table When he hired Yaccarino, Musk said her strong background in advertising from her time at NBCUniversal, would help prop up what had become a shaky future for X's ad sales. But soon after she took the reins, Musk made matters more difficult for her, publicly rebuking advertisers for boycotting X, telling them to f**k embraced Musk's vision of the "everything app". Under her leadership, X focussed on developing new product offerings such as Community Notes, a user-driven fact-checking feature, and X Money, a financial services initiative slated to launch did not disclose her next move but indicated she will continue to engage with the platform's community. 'I'll be cheering you all on as you continue to change the world,' she wrote. 'As always, I'll see you on X.'
