Elon Musk Taps Linda Yaccarino To Be the Next CEO of Twitter: Who Is She?

An alumna of Penn State University, Linda Yaccarino has a degree in liberal arts and telecommunications.

Currently, Linda Yaccarino is the head of advertising and partnerships at Comcast's NBCUniversal.

(Photo Courtesy: LinkedIn/Linda Yaccarino)

Elon Musk, Twitter’s current CEO, announced that he would be stepping down from the position on Friday, 12 May. He has long insisted that he will not be the social media company’s permanent boss. 

“Excited to announce that I’ve hired a new CEO for X/Twitter. She will be starting in ~ 6 weeks! My role will transition to being exec chair & CTO, overseeing product, software & sysops,” Musk had initially tweeted.

Later in the day, Musk confirmed the identity of the new 'Chief Twit'. "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," he said in a tweet.

"Looking forward to working with Linda to transform this platform into X, the everything app," Musk added.

With the buzz around Yaccarino and her new position at Twitter, the internet is eager to learn more about her and the future of the app. Here's what you need to know about her.

Who Is Linda Yaccarino?

Yaccarino heads advertising and partnerships at NBCUniversal, an American multinational media company. She has been a part of the organisation since 2011. In September 2022, NBCUniversal Media LLC named her as one of the Top 100 Female Executive Heroes.

Yaccarino hosted Musk at the “Possible” advertising conference in Miami last month where she praised the chief twit's work ethics.

Although most of the previous Twitter CEOs have traditionally had a tech background, Yaccarino would be the first one from a non-tech industry to lead the company, if officially announced as CEO.

Educational Background & Professional Journey

An alumna of Penn State University, Yaccarino has a degree in liberal arts and telecommunications.

After her education, she spent almost two decades at Turner Entertainment as the executive vice president and COO of Advertising Sales, Marketing and Acquisitions.

Following this gig, she was hired at NBCUniversal, which is owned by Comcast CMCSA, and has worked there for 11 years and seven months. According to The Wall Street Journal, she has been an industry advocate and activist in finding better ways to measure advertising’s effectiveness.

Her position at NBCUniversal included overseeing global, national, and local ad sales, partnerships, marketing, ad tech, data, measurement, and strategic initiatives. One of her most notable contributions was launching NBCUniversal's ad-supported streaming service – Peacock.

According to her LinkedIn bio, she and her team have generated more than $100 billion in ad sales. The Wall Street Journal reported that she oversees roughly $13 billion in ad revenue yearly. With a tough business disposition during negotiations, some media buyers nicknamed her “the velvet hammer,” according to the WSJ.

Before this, she also worked in the company’s cable entertainment and digital advertising sales division.

(With inputs from The Wall Street Journal.)