Elon Musk is in talks to hire Linda Yaccarino, the president of global advertising and partnerships at NBCUniversal, as CEO of Twitter, two experts said.
The talks are at an advanced stage, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the conversations are confidential. Ms. Yaccarino has been in talks with Mr. Musk for weeks, they said. Last month, Ms. Yaccarino interviewed Mr. Musk on stage at an advertising event in Miami.
Mr. Musk had said earlier on Thursday that he had selected a chief executive for Twitter but did not identify the executive. In a tweet he said “she starts in ~6 weeks!” He added that he would remain involved as executive chairman and “CTO,” which typically stands for chief technology officer, and would continue to oversee Twitter’s product and software.
Mr. Musk and Ms. Yaccarino did not respond to requests for comment. The Wall Street Journal previously reported that Ms. Yaccarino was in talks with Mr. Musk.
Mr. Musk, who bought Twitter for $44 billion last year, will keep firm control of the company even if he appoints a CEO. As the owner of Twitter, he made his mark by eliminating more than 75 percent of the company’s 7,500 employees, installing its own leaders, and changing the service’s features and strategy. He also took Twitter private, meaning he doesn’t have to reveal company information to the public.
Every new CEO will inherit a litany of challenges on Twitter. The company faces a slumping advertising business, which has been its main source of revenue, as well as debt payments of about $1.5 billion a year from sales to Mr. Musk. At an investor conference in March, he said Twitter had experienced a 50 percent drop in ad revenue and was heading for bankruptcy within months of the purchase.
Part of Twitter’s advertising woes was related to a broader slump due to uncertainty in the global economy. But Mr. Musk also scared advertisers after buying Twitter by throwing guardrails over what kind of posts would be allowed on the social media service. Brands generally don’t want to run ads next to toxic content.
IPG, one of the world’s largest advertising companies, issued a recommendation through its media agencies in the fall for customers to temporarily pause their spending on Twitter over moderation concerns.
Last month, Musk said in an interview with the BBC that most of Twitter’s advertisers had returned.
In Ms. Yaccarino, Twitter would gain an executive with deep ties to the advertising industry and extensive experience in the media industry. Ms. Yaccarino, whose star has risen over a long career at NBCUniversal, has personal relationships with most of the CEOs of the advertising holding companies, a key constituency for Twitter.
She has been at the forefront of advertising for years, overseeing an extensive team that has forged key marketing partnerships, helped develop NBC Universal’s streaming options, critiqued outdated industry practices, and generated more than $100 billion in ad sales. has generated. She has been heavily involved in the network’s handling of major events such as the Super Bowl and the Olympics. She is also a reliable appearance at dazzling advertising events, such as the Cannes Lions festival in the South of France.
The Twitter CEO talks come at a delicate time for Ms. Yaccarino, who next week will address NBCUniversal’s largest clients in the upfronts, an annual pitch to woo advertisers.
Mr Musk had floated the idea of a CEO for Twitter in December after being criticized for some of his decisions at the company. At the time, he conducted a poll on Twitter asking whether he should resign as head of the company. “I will abide by the results of the poll,” he wrote.
More than 17 million votes were cast in the poll, with about 58 percent of respondents saying they were in favor of his stepping down as CEO. In February, Mr. Musk said at a conference in Dubai that he was aiming to name a new CEO of Twitter by the end of 2023.
According to two employees, Twitter employees had not been notified of a new CEO before Mr Musk’s tweet.
Musk is also under pressure from investors at his other companies — notably electric car maker Tesla — to move away from the day-to-day management of Twitter, which they viewed as a distraction. Shares of Tesla, which were little changed for most of the day, rallied after Mr Musk’s tweet, rising about 2 percent in the closing minutes of Thursday trading.
Mr. Musk has previously relinquished some leadership responsibilities at his other companies. At SpaceX, his private rocket manufacturer, he has delegated much of the company’s leadership to Gwynne Shotwell, the president and chief operating officer. That has freed Mr. Musk to focus on technical and product decisions, as well as move between his various companies.
