Elon Musk Settles on Advertising Guru as Next Twitter CEO
Elon Musk’s reign as Twitter’s Chief Executive Officer will come to an end in the next six weeks. The billionaire investor who acquired the social networking giant for $44 billion is poised to step down and transition to the executive chair & Chief Technology Officer (CTO). He will also be responsible for overseeing products and software.
Tesla stock jumped on reports Musk is poised to step down at Twitter, which could see him spending more time steering the electric vehicle company.
Musk Twitter Exit
The change of guard at the helm does not come as a surprise. The charismatic executive had indicated that he would only be at the helm for a limited time. Over the past few months, he has completed a series of organizational overhauls, including mass layoffs. The layoffs were necessary to reduce redundancy and enhance efficiency at a time when the company is battling a significant decline in ad spending from big clients.
Some of the biggest casualties affected by the layoffs were CEO Parag Agrawal, who was let go, and Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal. Part of the changes also included Musk affirming his resolve to restore free speech on the platform and restore some of the accounts that had been banned before. One of the biggest changes still being felt is the push to make subscriptions popular on the network.
Musk is also poised to step down as Twitter CEO after running a poll in which he made it clear that he will abide by its results. In December, he affirmed his resolve to step down on finding someone foolish enough to take over the job after people voted unanimously at 57% for him to quit the top seat.
New Twitter CEO
While Musk has confirmed naming a new CEO, he is yet to reveal the identity. Nevertheless, reports are rife that NBCUniversal’s head of advertising Linda Yaccarino is poised to take over the hot seat CEO. NBCU has already confirmed she will leave the company effective immediately, having been chairman of global advertising and partnerships. She has been with the media company for over ten years, thus bringing lots of advertising experience to Twitter.
Her push to find better ways of measuring the effectiveness of advertising would be a great addition to the social networking giant. Twitter faces its biggest test in modern times amid stiff competition in the lucrative advertising business. While social networks remain a popular destination for advertisers, their effectiveness has always been questioned.
Following Musk Takeover of Twitter, most advertisers paused their spending on the network for fear that he might weaken content moderation. Yaccarino will be looked upon to rejuvenate the network’s advertising fortunes, a key source of revenue and earnings. In 2021 before Musk bid to acquire the company, advertising accounted for about 90% of the company’s revenues. Last year revenue and earnings dropped by nearly 40%
In the first quarter of the year, Twitter suffered a major blow as 37 of its top advertisers spent nothing on the network. In addition, 24 brands reduced their average monthly spending by about 80%. Yaccarino has what it takes to reinvigorate the company’s fortunes in advertising, as she is known for her hard-nosed negotiating tactics.
