Linda Yaccarino Steps Down as X CEO: A Turbulent Era Ends

X's ad business improved under departing CEO Linda Yaccarino, but it's still tough times ahead | TechCrunch

Former NBCU ad exec Linda Yaccarino's tenure at X may have been fairly short -- just two years from start to finish -- but she did manage to make an impact on the social network's ad business, new data from ad intelligence firm Guideline shows. Yaccarino will be leaving X in a better position with its advertisers than she found it, it says. In the U.S., ad spending was up 62% year-over-year in the first half of 2025, Guideline notes. In addition, Yaccarino previously claimed that 96% of X's advertisers returned to X as of May 2025. However, it took time for X's advertising business to turn around, and it remains a turbulent business. Yaccarino's departure could have a significant impact on X's profitability, as the company is nowhere near ready to rely entirely on other revenue streams. Its X Premium subscriptions, for example, only account for a small portion of its business, and it hasn't yet launched its broader ambitions around an X Money payments service. Yaccarino first joined X in June 2023 after spending nearly 12 years at NBCUniversal, where she had been chairman of global advertising and partnerships. At the time, X (then called Twitter) was facing a critical advertising downturn. Many of the initial cuts to ad spend were prompted by Elon Musk's takeover of the network in October 2022. With cuts to Twitter staff, including its Trust and Safety division, misinformation and hate speech proliferated -- which advertisers wanted nothing to do with. Reuters noted that 14 of the 30 top advertisers stopped all their advertising on the platform, and four advertisers had reduced their spending from 92% to 98.7% around that time. Guideline's data found that 89% of Twitter/X's U.S. ad dollars were eroded in the two years between Q3 2022 and Q3 2024. (These declines had actually begun in Q2 2022, after it was revealed that Musk bought a 9.4% stake in the company, the firm told TechCrunch via email.) By early 2023, reports surfaced that more than 500 of Twitter's advertisers had left the platform, and fourth-quarter revenues dropped by 35%. Citing internal documents, The New York Times reported that the social network's U.S. ad business was down 59% from a year earlier, from the five weeks between April 1 and the first week of May 2023, reaching $88 million. Its weekly sales projections were also down by as much as 30%. X then tried luring advertisers back with ad credits. There were hints that Yaccarino was working behind the scenes to repair things, though. A year after she joined X, the Times reported that 65% of advertisers had returned, citing recordings of internal meetings at the company. In August 2023, Yaccarino claimed that X's operational run rate was close to "break even." But the situation worsened again that year with an advertiser boycott. In November 2023, brands including Apple, Disney, and IBM paused their ad spending on X in the wake of Musk's endorsement of an antisemitic post. The social network was already on track for a nearly 55% year-over-year decline in worldwide ad spending, according to eMarketer estimates, and this boycott threatened to worsen the situation further. Musk had also been a challenge for Yaccarino during her time with the company. The X owner and SpaceX exec famously told X advertisers leaving to "go fuck yourself," calling their departure a form of blackmail. When cursing at them didn't work, X sued instead, saying theirs was an "illegal boycott." (The suit was expanded in early 2025 to include more advertisers, such as LEGO and Shell.) The threat of litigation worked -- companies including Verizon and Ralph Lauren resumed advertising on the platform after receiving legal threats, The Wall Street Journal reported in June 2025. The World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) also suspended the operations of its Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) nonprofit after the lawsuit was filed against it. Guideline's data also indicates that X has seen increased U.S. ad spend since December 2024 -- the first time since Musk bought the company, it says. From Q3 2024 to Q4 2024, spending was up 37.7%, influenced by the U.S. presidential elections. During Yaccarino's time, X also made moves to ensure more brand safety, partnering with adtech companies DoubleVerify and Integral Ad Science (IAS) to warn them if ads were placed around inappropriate content. It also offered brands tools to adjust the sensitivity of where their ads were displayed on the app, where more "relaxed" ad slots would cost less, and those with higher safety concerns would pay more. Later, X introduced ways for advertisers to run their ads next to a curated set of content creators. None of this has stopped X from being a controversial platform with regard to ad safety. This week, for instance, the site's AI bot Grok went off the rails after experiencing antisemitic outbursts requiring X to take it offline. Now, instead of facing another ad crisis, Yaccarino is leaving -- although her decision was reportedly made prior to the Grok incident.

Linda Yaccarino Tried to Tame X. Now She's Out as CEO

Yaccarino announced Wednesday she's stepping down, and it's not clear if the platform's owner, Elon Musk, plans to announce a successor. Linda Yaccarino, who has served as CEO of X since Elon Musk appointed her to the role in June 2023, announced Wednesday that she is stepping down. Her departure comes less than four months after Musk announced that X would be absorbed into xAI, the billionaire's existing artificial intelligence startup. In a post on X, Yaccarino thanked Musk for "entrusting me with the responsibility of protecting free speech, turning the company around, and transforming X into the Everything App." Under her leadership, Yaccarino said that X did "critical early work" to make the platform safe for users, and to "restore advertiser confidence." She pointed to new features like Community Notes, a system for crowdsourcing fact checks of X posts. "Now, the best is yet to come as X enters a new chapter with @xai," Yaccarino wrote. Yaccarino did not say why she was leaving X or whether she had accepted a role at another company. Her announcement comes hours after Grok -- a chatbot developed by xAI that has been integrated directly into X -- began making antisemitic remarks in replies to user queries. Grok seemingly began generating the offensive content after Musk claimed on July 4 that the chatbot had been "significantly" improved and that users would "notice a difference" when asking it questions. X did not immediately respond to a query from WIRED about whether it planned to appoint a new CEO for the social media platform. Musk currently serves as the chief executive of xAI, now the parent organization of X. "Thank you for your contributions," Musk wrote in a reply to Yaccarino's departure announcement. Yaccarino joined X in 2023, less than a year after Musk acquired what was then known as Twitter and assumed the role of CEO. In December of 2022, Musk polled his followers about whether he should step down as Twitter's chief executive. Days after the poll ended and the majority of users answered yes, Musk said that he would resign once he found a replacement. The following spring, Musk announced that Yaccarino, then an advertising executive at NBCUniversal, would be taking over as X's CEO in about six weeks. But even after Musk passed the reins, he remained a central public figure and decision maker at X, as well as the company's chairman and chief technology officer. Prior to joining X, Yaccarino was the head of advertising and chairman of global advertising and partnerships at NBCUniversal. She was also appointed to a presidential sports, fitness, and nutrition council in 2018 during the first Trump administration.

Remember X's CEO? Linda Yaccarino Has Stepped Down

Linda Yaccarino, Elon Musk's pick to help run Twitter/X, has decided to step down as CEO two years after taking the role. On Wednesday, Yaccarino announced her resignation, without explaining why. But in her tweet, Yaccarino said she was "immensely grateful" to Musk, who bought Twitter back in 2022 and still steers the social media platform's direction. Musk's presence on X has been so dominant that some users may have forgotten that Yaccarino was technically the CEO. But in her tweet, Yaccarino hailed various achievements, including "turning the company around, and transforming X into the Everything App." The news suggests X needs to hire a new CEO to replace Yaccarino. But for now, Musk has only thanked Yaccarino for her contributions, without mentioning a succession plan. Yaccarino, a former executive at NBCUniversal, joined X to help the company revitalize its struggling ad business. In her tweet, Yaccarino suggests her team pulled this off, saying: "the historic business turnaround we have accomplished together has been nothing short of remarkable." Yaccarino faced a tough task, especially after Musk told a group of companies to "Go. F -- . Yourself," back in Nov. 2023 after they paused their advertising on X due to his controversial views. Earlier this year, there were signs that advertisers had been returning to X, possibly to curry favor with President Trump, who had been a major ally to Musk. But since then, the Musk-Trump partnership has combusted, with the President even threatening to pull federal funding from Musk's companies, including SpaceX. At the same time, the X platform continues to spark controversial incidents that might alienate some advertisers. On Tuesday, the Grok AI chatbot was spotted making antisemitic posts, including praising Adolf Hitler. Although Yaccarino talked up her achievements at X, traffic to the social media platform appears to remain stagnant or even slightly declining, according to internet traffic monitor SimilarWeb. For mobile users, Mark Zuckerberg's rival platform Threads has been gaining ground against X. But in terms of web visits, which come from desktop computers, X still far outranks Threads, SimilarWeb's data shows.

Yaccarino Caved at X. It Was Inevitable.

From the start, Linda Yaccarino had been trying to save Elon Musk from himself. It was her "interview" with Musk, where she tried to help him reassure a room full of advertising executives, that set the stage for her to become chief executive officer of Twitter, which then became X. Which then, well ... where on Earth do you begin? What matters now for Yaccarino is that the ordeal is over: On Wednesday, she resigned. The timing of her surprise departure coincides with the sudden transformation of X's artificial-intelligence chat bot Grok into a vicious antisemite. On Tuesday, it was calling itself "MechaHitler," repeating and reinforcing the kind of tropes that have gotten people killed. It came days after Musk told users unhappy with Grok's "woke" answers that they would notice a significant difference. They certainly did. "Never a dull moment," Musk wrote of the furor. (The New York Times reported Wednesday that Yaccarino had discussed leaving the job with colleagues earlier this week before Grok's outbursts.)

X CEO Linda Yaccarino is stepping down after two years

Linda Yaccarino is stepping down as CEO of X, apparently effective immediately. She posted the news, naturally, on X, saying "I'm immensely grateful to [Elon Musk] for entrusting me with the responsibility of protecting free speech, turning the company around, and transforming X into the Everything App." She went on to say that "the historic business turn around we have accomplished together has been nothing short of remarkable." Among the many changes that have come to X since Yaccarino took over are decreased moderation, a greater reliance on "community notes" that aren't properly doing what they're intended to do and, most recently, an AI bot that excels in trolling and has gotten increasingly antisemitic after its most recent update. She's also been really mad about a report from a watchdog group that caused a major advertiser pullback on the platform a few years ago, claiming somehow that companies deciding not to run ads on a toxic platform amounted to a "free speech" issue. Later in the saga, X sued advertisers and companies including Mars, Unilever and CVS Health for an "illegal boycott," another example of her staunch commitment to free speech. AI is a big part of X's quest to become whatever the hell an "anything app" is, but another big part of it is X Money, which is supposedly launching in partnership with Visa later this year.

X CEO Linda Yaccarino: My Work Here Is Done

Elon Musk responded with just one line: "Thank you for your contributions." Linda Yaccarino announced Wednesday she was stepping down as CEO of X in a tweet that showed no sign of bad feelings toward X owner Elon Musk. But the timing is certainly interesting after Musk's AI chatbot Grok promoted genocidal Nazi ideas on Tuesday, praising Adolf Hitler and suggesting a second Holocaust against Jews was needed. "After two incredible years, I’ve decided to step down as CEO of X," Yaccarino wrote in a tweet Wednesday morning that immediately got flooded with questions about Grok. "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," Yaccarino continued. Yaccarino went on to claim that X had done work to protect children during her tenure, a particularly laughable claim after an incident where a prominent right-wing influencer posted child sexual abuse material, had his account banned, and then was personally reinstated by Musk. Yaccarino was previously the head of advertising at NBCUniversal and was brought on in May of 2023 to help Twitter (it was still called Twitter back then) lure back advertisers that Musk had alienated with some drastic decisions. When Twitter exec Nick Pickles testified about the incident to an Australian Parliament hearing, he defended Musk's actions and said the influencer may have just been trying to raise "awareness" about child abuse. "This team has worked relentlessly from groundbreaking innovations like Community Notes, and, soon, X Money to bringing the most iconic voices and content to the platform. Now, the best is yet to come as X enters a new chapter with @xai," Yaccarino wrote. Community Notes predates Musk's ownership of the platform, though he did rename it from Birdwatch. Predictably, Yaccarino wasn't able to stop Musk from alienating advertisers. The billionaire welcomed back extremists like Nick Fuentes, Kanye West, and Alex Jonesâ€"all people who had been banned previously from the platform. And at one point Musk even said "go fuck yourself" to advertisers who were worried about their brands appearing near extremist content in Nov. 2023. But there are some questions about whether Yaccarino really wanted to make X a less extreme environment in the first place. She seemed to defend Musk at every step of the way and insisted it was all about free speech, something she echoed in her send-off on Wednesday, writing about free speech and the "digital town square." "X is truly a digital town square for all voices and the world’s most powerful culture signal. We couldn’t have achieved that without the support of our users, business partners, and the most innovative team in the world," Yaccarino wrote. It's notable that Musk didn't shower Yaccarino with praise, instead writing simply, "Thank you for your contributions." An endorsement for the ages. CNBC reported that "her exit had been in the works for over a week," according to "a source familiar," but we obviously need to take that with a grain of salt. Yaccarino didn't step down when Musk gave two Nazi-style salutes, but it's entirely possible that she was able to rationalize that moment at Trump's inauguration just like the Anti-Defamation League did when they called it an "awkward gesture." Grok's transition into a full-blown Nazi on Tuesday after Musk promised to "fix" the AI chatbot was likely a bridge too far.

CEO of Elon Musk's X, Linda Yaccarino, resigns

Yaccarino did not give a reason for her resignation from the social media platform that has become increasingly controversial since Musk bought it in 2022. Linda Yaccarino, CEO of Elon Musk's X, announced Wednesday that she is stepping down from the social media platform after two years in the position. Her departure comes a day after the platform's artificial intelligence chatbot launched into an antisemitic tirade Tuesday and invoked Adolf Hitler. Yaccarino, who was hired by Musk after he bought the company formerly known as Twitter in 2022, did not give a reason for her departure Wednesday. "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," Yaccarino said in her Wednesday post. "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." This story is developing and will be updated.

X CEO Linda Yaccarino is now X's ex-CEO - 9to5Mac

Linda Yaccarino has announced that she's stepping down as CEO of X, a little over two years after being tapped by Elon Musk to lead the platform formerly known as Twitter. Here's what she had to say. In a post on X earlier today, Yaccarino reflected on her time at the company, thanking users, business partners, and the team for what she described as "two incredible years" at the helm: Her resignation comes just three months after Musk's AI company, xAI, formally acquired X in a $33 billion all-stock transaction. With X now part of a broader AI-focused organization, it's possible that xAI's leadership had different plans for the next phase of the company. And while it's also worth noting that today's news comes on the heels of a fresh controversy involving Grok, xAI's chatbot, and a new set of toxic outbursts, The New York Times reports that the two events weren't related: "Ms. Yaccarino had discussed her plans to leave with X employees earlier this week, before the incident with Grok, three people familiar with the matter said. X and xAI are largely separate, but Grok's responses are often widely cited -- and criticized -- across the platform." As of now, there's no word on who will replace Yaccarino as CEO, and she hasn't said what she plans to do next. The reasons behind her departure also remain unclear, but at least some of that is bound to surface in the next few days.

The CEO who never was: how Linda Yaccarino was set up to fail at Elon Musk's X

Ex-NBC executive was tasked with building an 'everything app', but billionaire owner was biggest obstacle in her path 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 like 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. "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 era, according to 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 of 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.

X CEO Linda Yaccarino resigns from social media platform

Yaccarino has been CEO of X, Elon Musk's social media platform, since 2023. In her post on X announcing her resignation, Yaccarino did not give a reason as to why she is stepping down. However, since Yaccarino took over as CEO, Musk hasn't made her job easy. "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," Yaccarino wrote in her post. "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." Yaccarino's announcement comes right as Musk's AI chatbot Grok -- which is made by Musk's xAI -- is under fire for reports of antisemitic posts on the app on Tuesday, NBC reported. xAI bought X in March, Reuters reported. In her resignation post, Yaccarino said "the best is yet to come" to the social media platform as it "enters a new chapter" with xAI. "We started with the critical early work necessary to prioritize the safety of our users -- especially children, and to restore advertiser confidence," Yaccarino added in her post. "This team has worked relentlessly from groundbreaking innovations like Community Notes, and, soon, X Money to bringing the most iconic voices and content to the platform." Yaccarino called the work the X team completed together "nothing short of remarkable." Before taking on her role as CEO of X, Yaccarino was chairman of global advertising and partnerships at NBCUniversal.

Linda Yaccarino becomes ex-X CEO one day after Grok spouts antisemitic rant

Linda Yaccarino is stepping down as CEO of X (formerly Twitter) after two years at the helm, marking a significant leadership change at the Elon Musk-owned social platform. Yaccarino announced her resignation on Wednesday in a post on X, expressing pride in the company's turnaround and gratitude to Musk for entrusting her with the role. She highlighted the platform's changes, stating, "the historic business turnaround we have accomplished has been nothing short of remarkable." Musk publicly thanked her for her contributions in a social post. Yaccarino did not specify a reason for her departure. However, her exit comes just a day after X's Grok AI chatbot was found posting antisemitic material, reigniting scrutiny over the platform's content moderation policies. While it is unclear if this incident directly prompted her resignation, Yaccarino had faced sustained pressure from the advertising industry amid ongoing controversies involving Musk and the platform's handling of hate speech and misinformation. Major brands including Disney, Apple, and IBM had pulled advertising from X in November 2023 as a direct result of X's proximity to antisemitic content, just months after Yaccarino was appointed. Yaccarino, who joined X in May 2023 after a long tenure running NBCUniversal's ad business, was Musk's first permanent CEO hire after his 2022 acquisition of the platform. She was brought in to restore advertiser confidence and stabilize the business following a period of turbulence and advertiser exodus triggered by Musk's controversial statements and a shift toward less content moderation. Under her leadership, X introduced new features like Community Notes, which allows for users to add more information, supposedly context, to their posts. She also laid the groundwork for the rollout of X Money, part of Musk's vision to integrate financial services into the platform (Musk was part of what Fortune dubbed the "PayPal Mafia," with X.com being Musk's original name for what became PayPal).Yaccarino also extended partnerships with major sports leagues and creators. Despite these efforts, the advertiser exodus of 2023 meant that X's ad revenue was quite depressed. Analysis of third-party data suggested that the private company was generating ad revenue of about half its pre-Musk levels, although 2025 was projected to see growth for the first time in four years. Yaccarino's resignation adds uncertainty to X's future as it continues to grapple with advertiser skepticism. Her efforts to balance Musk's vision of a free-speech platform with the demands of the advertising community and broader societal concerns over online safety were continual. This is a developing story; further updates are expected as X announces its next steps. Here's her announcement post:

CEO of Twitter Suddenly Departing After Grok's "MechaHitler" Crisis

After spending just over two years justifying Elon Musk's disastrous ownership over X-formerly-Twitter, CEO Linda Yaccarino has finally had enough. The former media exec announced her resignation on Wednesday, less than 24 hours after Musk's Grok AI chatbot went on an incredibly racist tirade, calling itself "MechaHitler" and attacking Black and Jewish people in astonishingly hateful terms. "When Elon Musk 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," Yaccarino tweeted. "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." It's a baffling new development, especially considering the timing. While we still don't know the exact reason for her sudden departure, it's entirely possible Grok's latest Nazi meltdown could've been a factor. Since Musk bought the platform for a whopping $44 billion in 2022, the site has become unrecognizable. Twitter, which Musk renamed to X in 2023, opened up the floodgates to hate speech and disinformation by systematically dismantling its already woefully inadequate guardrails and content moderation efforts. Yaccarino, a former NBCUniversal executive, was brought on at a time when the site's ad sales started cratering. Adverstisers were spooked by Musk's repeated antisemitic outbursts and were unhappy being associated with literal Nazis on the platform. The subsequent advertiser exodus left an enormous hole in the company's already precarious finances, culminating in Musk admitting defeat in a January note to staff. "Our user growth is stagnant, revenue is unimpressive, and we're barely breaking even," he wrote at the time. In other words, Yaccarino, brought on as a fixer of broken relationships, had her work cut out to encourage advertisers to return to Musk's hate speech incubator. Mere months into her stint as the company's CEO, colleagues from the advertising industry were already privately advising Yaccarino to jump ship to save herself following Musk's hateful outbursts. "I think the advertising community is now working to save the reputation of a beloved member of our industry who does not share Elon Musk's views and certainly did not know them when she accepted the role of CEO," marketing consultant Lou Paskalis told Axios in 2023. Yaccarino went on to serve as X's CEO for another year and a half, repeatedly siding with Musk throughout numerous crises, many of which were the direct result of the billionaire's own actions. In short, the legacy Yaccarino leaves behind is bizarre and contradictory, much like Musk himself. Last month, Yaccarino claimed that 96 percent of advertising clients prior to Musk's acquisition had come back to the platform, promising that the company would return to its 2022 advertising goals "super soon." But especially now that she has abruptly left the company, and Grok calls for a "second Holocaust," that goal seems as distant as ever.

X chief Yaccarino steps down after two years

Linda Yaccarino resigned Wednesday as CEO of X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, after two years at the helm of the Elon Musk-owned company. In a statement posted on the platform, she said she had decided to step down following what she described as "two incredible years" leading the company through a major transformation. No reason was given for her exit, but the resignation came as Musk's artificial intelligence chatbot Grok was under fire for anti-Semitic comments that praised Adolf Hitler and insulted Islam in separate posts on the X platform. In a short reply to her post on X, Musk wrote: "Thank you for your contributions." Yaccarino -- a former NBCUniversal advertising executive -- took over as X's CEO in June 2023, replacing Musk who had been serving in the role since his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter in October 2022. Her appointment came as Musk sought to focus on product development while bringing in an experienced media manager to restore advertiser confidence. The company has faced significant challenges since Musk's acquisition, including an exodus of advertisers and concerns over content moderation policies. Critics have cited a rise in violent content, racism, antisemitism and misinformation on X. Yaccarino's background in advertising was seen as crucial to rebuilding business relationships. In her statement, Yaccarino praised the "historic business turnaround" achieved by the X team and suggested the platform was entering "a new chapter" with xAI, Musk's artificial intelligence company. xAI in March acquired X in an all-stock deal that valued the social media platform at $33 billion, making it a subsidiary of Musk's AI company. "X is truly a digital town square for all voices and the world's most powerful culture signal," she wrote, adding that she would be "cheering you all on as you continue to change the world." Analyst Jasmine Enberg from Emarketer said that being CEO "was always going to be a tough job, and Yaccarino lasted in the role longer than many expected." "Faced with a mercurial owner who never fully stepped away from the helm and continued to use the platform as his personal megaphone, Yaccarino had to try to run the business while also regularly putting out fires," she told AFP. Yaccarino's sudden exit "suggests a possible tipping point" in their relationship, even if the reasons are for now unknown. During her tenure, X introduced new features including Community Notes, a crowd-sourced fact-checking system, and announced plans for "X Money," a financial services feature as part of Musk's vision to transform the platform into an "Everything App." It also coincided with Musk's endorsement and financial backing of Donald Trump, which saw the South African-born multi-billionaire catapulted into the White House as a close advisor to the president, before a recent falling out.

What analysts are saying about Linda Yaccarino's X tenure: 'It was clear from the start that she was being set up to fail'

X CEO Linda Yaccarino said she's stepping down after two bumpy years running Elon Musk's social media platform. Yaccarino posted a positive message Wednesday about her tenure at the company formerly known as Twitter and said "the best is yet to come as X enters a new chapter with" Musk's artificial intelligence company xAI, maker of the chatbot Grok. She did not say why she is leaving. Musk responded to Yaccarino's announcement with his own 5-word statement on X: "Thank you for your contributions." "The only thing that's surprising about Linda Yaccarino's resignation is that it didn't come sooner," said Forrester research director Mike Proulx. "It was clear from the start that she was being set up to fail by a limited scope as the company's chief executive." In reality, Proulx added, Musk "is and always has been at the helm of X. And that made Linda X's CEO in title only, which is a very tough position to be in, especially for someone of Linda's talents." Musk hired Yaccarino, a veteran ad executive, in May 2023 after buying Twitter for $44 billion in late 2022 and cutting most of its staff. He said at the time that Yaccarino's role would be focused mainly on running the company's business operations, leaving him to focus on product design and new technology. Before announcing her hiring, Musk said whoever took over as the company's CEO " must like pain a lot." In accepting the job, Yaccarino was taking on the challenge of getting big brands back to advertising on the social media platform after months of upheaval following Musk's takeover. She also had to work in a supporting role to Musk's outsized persona on and off of X as he loosened content moderation rules in the name of free speech and restored accounts previously banned by the social media platform. "Being the CEO of X was always going to be a tough job, and Yaccarino lasted in the role longer than many expected. Faced with a mercurial owner who never fully stepped away from the helm and continued to use the platform as his personal megaphone, Yaccarino had to try to run the business while also regularly putting out fires," said Emarketer analyst Jasmine Enberg. Yaccarino's future at X became unclear earlier this year after Musk merged the social media platform with his artificial intelligence company, xAI. And the advertising issues have not subsided. Since Musk's takeover, a number of companies had pulled back on ad spending -- the platform's chief source of revenue -- over concerns that Musk's thinning of content restrictions was enabling hateful and toxic speech to flourish. Most recently, an update to Grok led to a flood of antisemitic commentary from the chatbot this week that included praise of Adolf Hitler. "We are aware of recent posts made by Grok and are actively working to remove the inappropriate posts," the Grok account posted on X early Wednesday, without being more specific. Some experts have tied Grok's behavior to Musk's deliberate efforts to mold Grok as an alternative to chatbots he considers too "woke," such as OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's Gemini. In late June, he invited X users to help train the chatbot on their commentary in a way that invited a flood of racist responses and conspiracy theories. "Please reply to this post with divisive facts for @Grok training," Musk said in the June 21 post. "By this I mean things that are politically incorrect, but nonetheless factually true." A similar instruction was later baked into Grok's "prompts" that instruct it on how to respond, which told the chatbot to "not shy away from making claims which are politically incorrect, as long as they are well substantiated." That part of the instructions was later deleted. "To me, this has all the fingerprints of Elon's involvement," said Talia Ringer, a professor of computer science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Yaccarino has not publicly commented on the latest hate speech controversy. She has, at times, ardently defended Musk's approach, including in a lawsuit against liberal advocacy group Media Matters for America over a report that claimed leading advertisers' posts on X were appearing alongside neo-Nazi and white nationalist content. The report led some advertisers to pause their activity on X. A federal judge last year dismissed X's lawsuit against another nonprofit, the Center for Countering Digital Hate, which has documented the increase in hate speech on the site since it was acquired by Musk. X is also in an ongoing legal dispute with major advertisers -- including CVS, Mars, Lego, Nestle, Shell and Tyson Foods -- over what it has alleged was a "massive advertiser boycott" that deprived the company of billions of dollars in revenue and violated antitrust laws. Enberg said that, "to a degree, Yaccarino accomplished what she was hired to do." Emarketer expects X's ad business to return to growth in 2025 after more than halving between 2022 and 2023 following Musk's takeover. But, she added, "the reasons for X's ad recovery are complicated, and Yaccarino was unable to restore the platform's reputation among advertisers."

Linda Yaccarino Leaves Elon Musk's X Following Grok 'MechaHitler' Debacle - Decrypt

X CEO Linda Yaccarino is stepping down from her post, one day after the platform's artificial intelligence chatbot Grok took on an antisemitic persona and started calling itself "MechaHitler." Yaccarino served two years in the role after being hired by owner Elon Musk. "When Elon Musk 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," Yaccarino posted on X. "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." Editor's note: This story is breaking and will be updated with additional details.

X CEO Linda Yaccarino calls it quits less than 24 hours after the platform's AI-powered chatbot Grok anoints itself 'MechaHitler' and starts posting antisemitic messages and graphic descriptions of sexual assault

Yaccarino said her tenure has been "nothing short of remarkable," and she's not wrong. Two years after taking the reins as CEO of Twitter -- now known as X -- Linda Yaccarino has announced that she is stepping down. While Yaccarino did not share a reason for her surprise resignation, it comes less than 24 hours after X's AI-powered chatbot Grok posted messages including praise for Adolf Hitler and descriptions of violent rape. "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," Yaccarino wrote in her resignation post. "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. I'm incredibly proud of the X team -- the historic business turn around we have accomplished together has been nothing short of remarkable." "Remarkable" is certainly a word for it, although perhaps not quite as it was intended. Yaccarino became CEO of X in June 2023, not quite a year after Elon Musk, after spending months trying to wriggle out of it, bought the platform for $44 billion. The company's valuation dropped precipitously in the wake of Musk's purchase -- financial services company Fidelity estimated in September 2024 that X's value had shrunk by an astonishing 79% -- as did its reported usage: X, Musk, and Yaccarino have stridently denied such claims, but European Union Digital Transparency Act reports filed by X itself (via Music Ally) indicate a significant dropoff in EU users. As advertisers were driven away by Musk's erratic behavior, Yaccarino helped spearhead the company's "war" against X's erstwhile clients, saying in August 2024 that she was "shocked by the evidence uncovered by the House Judiciary Committee that a group of companies organised a systematic illegal boycott against X." X's valuation began to tick back up in 2025 following the election of Donald Trump as US president, and rebounded fully when Musk sold X to xAI, his own AI company, in a deal worth $45 billion. Because when you're selling to yourself, it becomes materially easier to agree a price, I imagine. Anyway, it hasn't been smooth sailing. But Yaccarino has dutifully posted through it all. What ultimately pushed her out the door is a matter of mystery right now but, as I noted earlier, the 'I quit' comes less than a day after Musk's AI chatbot started posting stuff like this: There's more -- the sexual assault content, reported by The Independent, is too graphic to share -- but you get the idea. Those posts have since been deleted, and although X has not issued any formal apology, it did say on July 8: "xAI has taken action to ban hate speech before Grok posts on X." Musk himself basically brushed the whole thing off. The timing of Yaccarino's resignation is hard to overlook, not to mention its suddenness, but there may not be a connection between those posts and her decision to jump ship. After all, Yaccarino has held firm through a barrage of controversies, and notably did not resign when Musk threw what sure looked like a Nazi salute during Trump's inauguration festivities. No mention of her motivations is made in the resignation statement, only a look back on the past two years that seems disconnected from reality, and an equally fanciful expression of confidence that "the best is yet to come." "X is truly a digital town square for all voices and the world's most powerful culture signal," Yaccarino wrote. "We couldn't have achieved that without the support of our users, business partners, and the most innovative team in the world." Musk acknowledged Yaccarino's resignation in a single sentence thanking her for her contributions.

Linda Yaccarino steps down as X CEO after two years

The former NBCUniversal advertising chief joined the company less than a year after Musk purchased Twitter in a tumultuous deal. X CEO Linda Yaccarino is leaving the company two years after being appointed to the position. While news of her departure follows the latest incidence of xAI's chatbot Grok sharing bigoted and antisemitic comments on the social media platform, sources told the New York Times that the CEO had been discussing her plans to leave prior to the incident. Announcing the decision in a post on X, Yaccarino said, "I'm immensely grateful to him (Elon Musk) for entrusting me with the responsibility of protecting free speech, turning the company around and transforming X into the everything app." She did not share the reason for her departure. While Musk replied to the post, thanking her for her contributions. Yaccarino, the former advertising chief at NBCUniversal, was tapped to join X in 2023. She was hired to the position less than a year after Musk purchased Twitter in a bumpy $44bn takeover. The company rebranded to X soon her the new CEO took the helm. Hiring Yaccarino was viewed as a smart decision for X, which was bleeding advertisers after a rise in hate speech immediately following Musk's purchase. Around the time, The Platformer reported that the company's daily revenue was down 40pc year-over-year, while The Information said more than 500 of Twitter's top advertisers had halted spending since Musk took over. The new CEO was tasked with the difficult job of fixing the broken relationship X had with advertisers, all while Musk was openly - and often with expletives - criticising them for halting their ad spending. In 2024, the company took an aggressive approach by suing ad organisations, accusing them of illegally boycotting the social media platform. In a post on X, Musk declared "war" against large advertisers, including CVS Health and Mars. The move was largely seen as a burning-the-bridge moment for the company. Although, according to recent court filings, the defendants asked a judge to dismiss the lawsuit. The companies argued that Musk failed to prove that they acted together, rather, they made individual decisions about where to spend their money. "X Corporation's suit is an attempt to use the courthouse to win back the business X lost in the free market when it disrupted its own business and alienated many of its customers," the companies told the court. X has gained momentum in recent months following the US presidential elections, with Musk acting as an aide to Donald Trump - a role he recently quit. Also in recent months, xAI, Musk's AI start-up, acquired X in a deal that valued the social media platform at $33bn. Since then, reports suggest that xAI is in talks to raise new financing which could value the company at more than $120bn. During her tenure in the company, Yaccarino said that more than 96pc of X's top advertisers have returned to the platform. Moreover, before her departure, she was discussing plans to more closely integrate X and xAI's staff and technical resources. Don't miss out on the knowledge you need to succeed. Sign up for the Daily Brief, Silicon Republic's digest of need-to-know sci-tech news. Linda Yaccarino at the World Economic Forum in Davos, 2019. Image: The World Economic Forum/ Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

X CEO Linda Yaccarino resigns after two years at the helm of Elon Musk's social media platform

NEW YORK (AP) -- X CEO Linda Yaccarino said she's stepping down after two years running Elon Musk's social media platform. Yaccarino posted a positive message Wednesday about her tenure at the company formerly known as Twitter and said "the best is yet to come as X enters a new chapter with" Musk's artificial intelligence company xAI, maker of the chatbot Grok. Musk hired Yaccarino, a veteran ad executive, in May 2023 after buying Twitter for $44 billion in late 2022. He said at the time that Yaccarino's role would be focused mainly on running the company's business operations, leaving him to focus on product design and new technology. In accepting the job, Yaccarino was taking on the challenge of getting big brands back to advertising on the social media platform after months of upheaval following Musk's takeover. A number of companies had pulled back on ad spending -- the platform's chief source of revenue -- over concerns that Musk's thinning of content restrictions was enabling hateful and toxic speech to flourish. Two years later, those concerns have not subsided. A recent update to Grok led to a flood of antisemitic commentary from the chatbot this week that included praise of Adolf Hitler. "We are aware of recent posts made by Grok and are actively working to remove the inappropriate posts," the Grok account posted on X early Wednesday, without being more specific.

Elon Musk appointed X CEO Linda Yaccarino officially steps down

Linda Yaccarino, the X CEO that Elon Musk appointed following his takeover of then-Twitter, has now officially resigned from her position as CEO. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. TweakTown may also earn commissions from other affiliate partners at no extra cost to you. After spending two years at the helm of what is probably the most contentious social media platform in the world, Linda Yaccarino has officially stepped down as CEO of X. In a recent X post, the now former CEO of the Elon Musk-owned social media platform announced her departure from the helm of the company, writing that when she accepted the position two years ago she knew it "would be the opportunity of a lifetime." Yaccarino added that when she first discussed Elon Musk's vision for X, she knew it would be an incredible opportunity for her to be entrusted with the responsibility of carrying out his vision, protecting free speech, turning the company around, and creating what is now considered to be the "Everything App." X owner Elon Musk responded to the departure message from Yaccarino by writing, "Thank you for your contributions." Musk has yet to announce the next CEO for the company. As for other X-related news, Grok was recently updated and began spilling antisemitic remarks across the platform, causing xAI to respond by taking the AI chatbot offline. These remarks came after Musk said that Grok's responses were too "woke" and that users can expect a change in the behavior of the AI chat when the next update is rolled out. It seems the update loosened the guardrails on the chatbot far too much, as Grok even went as far as to describe itself as the "MechaHitler."

Yaccarino exit from X lets Musk shun ads, put focus on AI

Linda Yaccarino's exit as chief executive officer of X follows a long and contentious effort to win over advertisers dismayed by the platform's direction under Elon Musk's ownership. Her departure paves the way for X to lean harder into a new identity as a source of data for artificial intelligence training, supporting xAI's chatbot Grok, and spend less time and attention on wooing advertisers who may be skittish about their messages appearing alongside potentially damaging content. X, previously known as Twitter, has long been dependent on advertising for the majority of its revenue. Before Musk's takeover in 2022, advertising made up roughly 92% of total revenue at the company. The main part of Yaccarino's job since she was hired in 2023 has been to convince advertisers that X is a safe place to market their brand and spend their money. Musk, though, made that job infinitely harder. The X owner has dabbled in misinformation, antisemitism and bullying, setting an example for others to follow and an expectation for what you may find on X. At one point he told marketers to "go f-" themselves from a conference stage; nearly three years into his ownership, X is still facing major brand safety problems. Just this week, X had to remove posts from the service after Grok's account started spewing antisemitic rants. Musk's pledge to uphold free speech has been at odds with a platform that makes the bulk of its revenue selling brand advertising. Social media executives, including Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, have long wrestled with the conundrum: Advertisers won't show up unless you police user speech, and policing user speech is not always in line with the idea that you can say anything you want. Josh Earnest, the former Obama press secretary who now runs communications and advertising for United Airlines Holdings Inc., said the company hasn't advertised on X since Musk's takeover. "It's not about taking a moral stand. It's about brand safety concerns," Earnest said Wednesday. "Our decision not to dedicate ad dollars to that outlet is a firm one in my mind." Even though advertising revenue for X is expected to rise this year to $2.3 billion globally, it's still a fraction of what it was before Musk took over. Earlier this year, X combined with Musk's artificial intelligence startup xAI to create a new company that's mostly focused on AI. Advertising may not be worth the trouble for a company already burning through $1 billion per month on data centers and other expenses associated with building large language models. Some of the advertisers who still spend on X say they're doing so to avoid getting in Musk's crosshairs. X has gone so far as to sue advertisers who aren't spending money on the platform, exposing its own complicated relationship with upholding "free speech." If Yaccarino is replaced, the type of executive Musk chooses may indicate whether he considers advertising and all the headaches that come with it a key focus moving forward. Given X's recent merger with xAI, it seems possible that the social network's main business purpose at this point is to provide training data for chatbots, which increasingly rely on real-time information to stay relevant and answer user questions. A spokesperson for X didn't respond to requests for comment. After Musk merged his two companies in March, venture capitalist and "All In" podcast host Chamath Palihapitiya called X's dataset "the most complete corpus of scaled, real-time information on the Internet." Putting a product or engineering executive atop X could signal a new direction. When Musk hired Yaccarino from NBC Universal two years ago, it was a sign that he was still committed to advertising - a commitment he reinforced by showing up at Cannes Lions in 2024 to speak at the conference alongside WPP Plc's Mark Read. Someone with a different background, especially an AI background, would send a very strong message. At Cannes Lions this year in the South of France, X's presence was largely subdued compared with years past. In fact, Musk didn't show up at all.

Linda Yaccarino Steps Down as CEO of X

Musk, replying to Yaccarino's post, wrote: "Thank you for your contributions." Yaccarino did not give a reason for her departure. The move comes one day after Grok, the AI chatbot that is tied in with X, made several antisemitic comments, even referencing Hitler, when asked about the Texas flooding. The Grok team has since said it is working to remove the offensive posts and is taking action to ban hate speech before the AI posts on X. (Musk addressed the issue at 1:51 a.m. Wednesday, posting "never a dull moment on this platform" on X.) NBC reports Yaccarino's departure was in the works for weeks and had nothing to do with yesterday's AI controversy. Before joining Twitter (as it was called in 2023), Yaccarino ran ad sales for NBCUniversal. Almost immediately after coming on board, she began meeting with advertisers to showcase tools that were meant to ensure advertisers could be certain their posts did not appear near specific keywords. That seems to be how the partnership went: Yaccarino watched over business affairs, and Musk oversaw product and design.

X CEO Linda Yaccarino to Step Down in Surprise Move

Yaccarino, 61, made the announcement in a post on X It was unclear when the CEO's resignation would take effect. "Thank you for your contributions," Musk wrote on X Linda Yaccarino, one of Elon Musk's top deputies as CEO of his X social media site, is exiting the company in a surprise move just months after the platform was acquired by the billionaire's AI startup, xAI. Yaccarino, 61, made the announcement in a post on X suggesting it was her decision, though Musk has a history of dismissing deputies suddenly. "I've decided to step down as CEO of X," Yaccarino wrote. Her departure adds to turbulence in Musk's sprawling business empire, including falling sales at his electric vehicle maker Tesla and AI-related controversies. Musk has been embroiled in a war of words with former ally President Donald Trump. Yaccarino, an advertising industry veteran, held the post for two years after being brought aboard to help revitalize X's reputation among marketers, who had been fleeing the platform over concerns about a rise in hateful or otherwise toxic content. She did not give a specific reason for her departure and both X and Yaccarino did not immediately respond to requests for comment. It was unclear when the CEO's resignation would take effect. "Thank you for your contributions," Musk wrote on X replying to Yaccarino's resignation post. While wooing marketers, Yaccarino sued some advertisers and a major industry group known as the World Federation of Advertisers, alleging they had colluded to deny X ad dollars, including through a boycott of the platform. Yaccarino's resignation comes one day after Grok, the AI chatbot developed by xAI, posted content on the platform with antisemitic tropes and praise for Adolf Hitler. The posts were deleted following a public backlash and Yaccarino wrote she was working to restore advertiser confidence and prioritize safety on X. Analysts said Yaccarino's task was difficult, given Musk's reputation and the more prominent placement of extreme content on X that had repelled some advertisers. "Yaccarino had to try to run the business while also regularly putting out fires," said Emarketer vice president Jasmine Enberg, who added that with X's ad business expected to show growth in 2025, she "accomplished what she was hired to do." Yaccarino, previously chair of global advertising and partnerships at Comcast's NBCUniversal, may have left as "a result of a lack of fit between her approach and Elon Musk's style," said Gil Luria, analyst at D.A. Davidson. "This may have come to a head when the embedded AI chat Grok started responding to AI posts in an increasingly offensive manner yesterday." In March, Musk's AI startup xAI acquired the social media platform in a $33-billion all-stock deal. Neither X nor Yaccarino said who will take her place. Tesla, of which Musk is CEO, is also dealing with an exodus of top executives. The billionaire's confidant at Tesla, Omead Afshar, and North America HR director Jenna Ferrua left the company last month, sources told Reuters. Musk had spread himself thin this year while running Trump's Department of Government Efficiency before leaving the post in May. Tesla shares slipped about 1 percent on the news about Yaccarino. X is grappling with a heavy debt load, and Yaccarino has had to often deal with controversies stirred up by Musk, including his endorsement of antisemitic conspiracy theories in late 2023. Musk renamed the platform, which was formerly known as Twitter. Under Yaccarino, X introduced new features aimed at turning the social media site into the "everything app" that Musk aimed for, including partnering with Visa to offer direct payment solutions and launching a smart TV app. The company was also exploring rolling out an X credit or debit card, the Financial Times reported last month.

Linda Yaccarino Steps Down as CEO of Elon Musk's X After Two Turbulent Years

The former NBCUniversal executive was hired by Elon Musk in 2023 to turn around X's advertising business. Linda Yaccarino is stepping down as CEO of X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, after two years in the role. She joined the company shortly after Elon Musk acquired it for $44 billion in 2022 and has since led X through revenue downturns and repeated reputational crises. Yaccarino announced her resignation in a post on X today (July 9). Calling the job "the opportunity of a lifetime," she praised Musk for "entrusting me with the responsibility of protecting free speech, turning the company around, and transforming X into the Everything App." Musk thanked Yaccarino for her work in a brief reply. Sign Up For Our Daily Newsletter Sign Up Thank you for signing up! By clicking submit, you agree to our <a href="http://observermedia.com/terms">terms of service</a> and acknowledge we may use your information to send you emails, product samples, and promotions on this website and other properties. You can opt out anytime. See all of our newsletters Yaccarino's tenure was defined largely by efforts to restore advertising revenue. Following Musk's takeover, the platform suffered a sharp decline in ad sales due to changes in content moderation and platform policy. At one point, X filed a lawsuit against an advertising industry coalition, accusing it of organizing an ad boycott. She also navigated the company through a number of crises. Most recently, X came under fire after its official account posted antisemitic remarks generated by Grok, an A.I. chatbot developed by Musk's startup xAI. In April, xAI acquired X in an all-stock deal that valued the platform at $33 billion. Meanwhile, user dissatisfaction has grown amid Musk's increasing political involvement with the Trump administration, leading millions to migrate to alternative platforms like Bluesky. Before joining X, Yaccarino spent roughly a decade at NBCUniversal, most recently as chairman of global advertising and partnerships. She left that position in May 2023 to join X. "I'm incredibly proud of the X team -- the historic business turnaround we have accomplished together has been nothing short of remarkable," said Yaccarino. "I'll be cheering you all on as you continue to change the world."

Linda Yaccarino Times X Resignation Perfectly After Grok's 'Mechahitler' Meltdown

Christian Horner Sacked as Team Principal of F1's Red Bull Racing Linda Yaccarino has announced that she is stepping down as the CEO of Elon Musk's X after two years at the helm of the social media platform, previously known as Twitter. Announcing her exit Wednesday morning, July 9, Yaccarino wrote, "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. I'm incredibly proud of the X team - the historic business turn around we have accomplished together has been nothing short of remarkable." Before joining X, Yaccarino had spent several decades working in advertising and marketing, most notably serving as chairwoman of global advertising and partnerships at NBCUniversal from 2011 to 2023. She left that post to join X, brought in to oversee the arguably impossible task of injecting some kind of stability into the social media platform, and stem the exodus of major advertisers, after Musk purchased it in 2022. Stability, however, was hard to come by as old Twitter guardrails were cast aside and X quickly flooded with bots, misinformation, and offensive posts (some from Musk himself). It is, in its way, a fitting cap to Yaccarino's tenure that she announced her resignation the day after Grok -- the chatbot developed by Musk's AI start-up xAI, which purchased X in March -- suddenly began spewing hate speech about Jewish people and publicly identified itself as "MechaHitler." "Now, the best is yet to come as X enters a new chapter with @xai," Yaccarino wrote in her resignation post. (According to The New York Times, Yaccarino had discussed her plans to leave with X employees earlier this week.) Along with trying to steer the X ship, Yaccarino spent some of her time at X pushing Congress to pass online child safety bills. She also helped spearhead a lawsuit against former advertisers, who'd pulled their spending from the platform. The litigation was largely successful, even prompting the Federal Trade Commission to investigate whether advertising and advocacy groups improperly used their influence to get marketers and agencies to boycott X. A replacement for Yaccarino has yet to be announced.

Linda Yaccarino's net worth: Her paycheck at Elon Musk's X will leave you speechless

Linda Yaccarino's net worth: Linda Yaccarino has officially stepped down as CEO of X, Elon Musk's social media company, after two turbulent years in charge. Her surprise resignation comes in the wake of a controversial incident involving X's AI chatbot Grok earlier this week. She has a multimillion-dollar fortune that speaks to her decades of influence in media and innovation. Linda Yaccarino, the boss of Elon Musk's social media site X, has announced she is stepping down, two years after leading the company. Linda Yaccarino's departure comes one day after the company's Grok chatbot began pushing antisemitic tropes in responses to users. Her departure also comes at a time after Musk sold X, his social media company, to xAI, his Artificial Intelligence company. In a post on the platform, she said was "immensely grateful" to Musk for "entrusting me with the responsibility of protecting free speech, turning the company around, and transforming X into the Everything App". "I'm incredibly proud of the X team - the historic business turn around we have accomplished together has been nothing short of remarkable. We started with the critical early work necessary to prioritize the safety of our users -- especially children, and to restore advertiser confidence. This team has worked relentlessly from groundbreaking innovations like Community Notes, and, soon, X Money to bringing the most iconic voices and content to the platform. Now, the best is yet to come as X enters a new chapter with @xai," she continued. Musk has posted a brief reply, saying only: "Thank you for your contributions." ALSO READ: How Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's foundation expanded from $828 million to over $9.1 billion in just 5 years Linda Yaccarino's net worth is estimated to be around $40 million, according to Market Realist. She reportedly received a hefty salary of $6 million in a year when she was the CEO of X, including bonus for reaching certain goals. Earlier, it was reported that she will be eligible for an additional $2 million in incentive money and $4 million in stock options after completing her three-year contract with X. Her wealth primarily stems from her long-standing executive role at NBCUniversal, where she reportedly earned around $4 million per year with performance bonuses, and from her lucrative compensation package at X. Yaccarino's varied asset portfolio augments her net worth in addition to her salary and incentives. She possesses two luxury ships, an incredible collection of seven cars, and five real estate holdings. Yaccarino has a portfolio of 13 stocks in terms of financial investments. At the moment, these stocks are worth about $5 million. She owns stock in a number of firms, including Starbucks, General Motors, Costco, Procter & Gamble, and Cognizant. ALSO READ: Flash floods hit Chicago after 5 inches of rain recorded in less than 2 hours. Check latest weather update Linda Yaccarino took the reins at the microblogging platform X in 2023, following a decade-long career leading advertising at NBCUniversal. Born on December 21, 1963, Yaccarino graduated from Pennsylvania State University with a degree in liberal arts and telecommunications. She began her media career in January 1992, joining Ted Turner's media empire as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of advertising sales, marketing, and acquisitions. She stayed with the company for nearly 20 years. In November 2011, she joined NBCUniversal Media as President of cable entertainment and digital ad sales. Her role quickly expanded -- first to Chairman of Advertising and Client Partnerships, and later to Chairman of Global Advertising and Partnerships, overseeing the company's worldwide ad strategy. ALSO READ: 'No water, mosquitoes like elephants': Alligator Alcatraz's detainees detail horrifying inhumane conditions Her impact on the media industry has been profound. As her LinkedIn bio states: "Behind any show, on any screen, there's an entire economic and technology infrastructure at work. No person has had a bigger hand in shaping it than Linda Yaccarino." It also credits her with transforming the $70 billion premium video advertising ecosystem. Though Yaccarino had strong ties with the advertising world during her NBCUniversal tenure, her move to X reportedly altered those relationships. After assuming the CEO role at X under Elon Musk's leadership, Yaccarino took a more aggressive stance toward the ad industry. Under her watch, X launched a high-profile lawsuit against a major advertising coalition and its members, accusing them of misusing their influence to sideline the platform. The lawsuit sparked an advertising boycott and drew the attention of the Federal Trade Commission, which reportedly opened a probe into a dozen ad groups. These legal moves reflect Yaccarino's broader agenda: to reset the dynamics of the advertising world amid growing debates over content moderation and free speech

The CEO Of Elon Musk's X, Formerly Twitter, Is Resigning After 2 Years

Linda Yaccarino said she was "incredibly proud of the X team" in a departure note. Linda Yaccarino, the former NBCUniversal executive who agreed to run Elon Musk's X platform, is stepping down after around two years on the job, announcing her departure from the CEO role after a disastrous day for the platform's artificial intelligence bot. The bot, called Grok, went on a shockingly antisemitic rant Tuesday wherein it heaped praise on Adolf Hitler, and began calling itself a digital version of the Nazi dictator. On Wednesday, Yaccarino posted a departure note to X. "I'm incredibly proud of the X team -- the historic business turn around we have accomplished together has been nothing short of remarkable," she said. She had been charged with turning around the platform's advertising business. Advertisers fled the site when Musk took over Twitter in 2022 and began implementing controversial changes that elevated right-wing conspiratorial and racist content. Yaccarino recalled her first discussions with Musk about what the CEO role would entail. "I knew it would be the opportunity of a lifetime to carry out the extraordinary mission of this company," she wrote. "I'm immensely grateful to him [Musk] for entrusting me with the responsibility of protecting free speech, turning the company around, and transforming X into the Everything App." This story is developing. Please check back soon for more.

X CEO Linda Yaccarino Decides To Step Down Just Ahead Of Grok 4 Release

This is not investment advice. The author has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Wccftech.com has a disclosure and ethics policy. In a surprise announcement that is already raising eyebrows due to its proximity to a critical event, X CEO Linda Yaccarino has decided to call it quits. To wit, Yaccarino has just posted a detailed message on X, detailing her decision to "step down" as X CEO, while thanking Elon Musk for providing her the opportunity to "protect free speech." For the benefit of those who might not be aware, Elon Musk's xAI formally acquired X earlier this year in an all-stock deal, one that valued his AI-focused enterprise at $80 billion and his social media platform at $33 billion, inclusive of $12 billion in liabilities. Of course, the timing of Linda Yaccarino's departure is quite suspect, coming on the heels of Grok 4's imminent release. Do note that xAI's bespoke LLM was recently mired in a controversy when it started praising Adolf Hitler, all the while referring to itself as "MechaHitler." This episode then prompted X to delete a number of Grok's posts that were deemed anti-Semitic. On the bright side, Linda Yaccarino did manage to turn X's finances around. For instance, X is largely expected to post its first annual growth in revenue since Elon Musk took over the social media platform in 2022. As such, X's ad revenue in the US is expected to grow by 17.5 percent in 2025 to $1.31 billion. For context, do note that X reported $4.51 billion in revenue in 2021, its last full year as a public company. Of course, Elon Musk viciously cut costs at X immediately after taking over, gradually turning the platform into a financially viable entity, despite a lower top-line figure. Meanwhile, as stated earlier, X's parent entity is all set to release the Grok 4 LLM later tonight. Elon Musk will host a dedicated livestream to mark the unveiling of xAI's latest cutting-edge AI model, which is expected to come in two variants:

Musk-owned X's CEO Yaccarino to step down in surprise move

(Reuters) -Elon Musk-owned X's CEO Linda Yaccarino said on Wednesday she would step down from the role in a surprise move, just months after the social media platform was acquired by the billionaire's AI startup, xAI. Her departure adds to the turbulence in Musk's sprawling business empire, including falling sales at his EV maker Tesla and AI-related controversies. Musk is also embroiled in a war of words with former ally President Donald Trump. Yaccarino did not give a specific reason for her decision. X and Yaccarino did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The resignation comes just one day after Grok, the AI chatbot developed by xAI, posted content referencing Adolf Hitler on the platform. The posts were later deleted following a public backlash. "We started with the critical early work necessary to prioritize the safety of our users -- especially children, and to restore advertiser confidence," Yaccarino said in a post on X. Musk thanked Yaccarino for her contributions in a reply to the CEO's post on X. "Linda Yaccarino's abrupt departure may be a result of a lack of fit between her approach and Elon Musk's style," said Gil Luria, analyst at D.A. Davidson. "This may have come to a head when the embedded AI chat Grok started responding to AI posts in an increasingly offensive manner yesterday." In March, Musk's AI startup xAI acquired the social media platform in a $33 billion all-stock deal. Tesla is also dealing with an exodus of top executives. The billionaire's confidant at Tesla, Omead Afshar, and North America HR Director Jenna Ferrua left the company last month, sources told Reuters. Tesla shares slipped about 1% on the news, but then clawed back some lost ground. Yaccarino took the top job in 2023 to help Musk transform the company after he bought it in a $44 billion deal. Prior to becoming the CEO of X, Yaccarino spent several years modernizing the ad business of Comcast's NBCUniversal. The social media platform is dealing with a heavy debt load, and Yaccarino has had to often deal with controversies stirred up by Musk, including his endorsement of antisemitic conspiracy theories in late 2023. The company later sued numerous advertisers and an advertising group, alleging they colluded to deny X ad dollars. Under Yaccarino, X introduced a range of new features aimed at turning the social media site into the "everything app" that Musk aimed for, including partnering with Visa to offer direct payment solutions and launching a smart TV app. The company was also exploring rolling out an X credit or debit card, the Financial Times reported last month. (Reporting by Jaspreet Singh and Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)

Linda Yaccarino to step down as CEO of Musk's X platform

STORY: Linda Yaccarino, the CEO of X, announced on Wednesday that she is stepping down from the social media company that is owned by billionaire Elon Musk. She made the announcement in a post on X suggesting it was her decision and said, "I'm incredibly proud of the X team - the historic business turnaround we have accomplished together has been nothing short of remarkable." She did not give any specific reason for her decision to leave the company. Musk thanked Yaccarino for her contributions in a reply post. Her departure comes at a turbulent time in Musk's sprawling business empire, including falling sales at his EV maker Tesla and AI-related controversies. Daniel Ives, Managing Director of Wedbush Securities, says the move by Yaccarino to step down is a step back for the company. "Linda (Yaccarino) is a key part of the foundation of X. You know, her leaving, it's definitely, I believe, a step back for X and a worry for the platform. // There's a lot of challenges ahead. And she was really thought to be a leader for the coming years. Her leaving is a surprise." Yaccarino took the top job back in 2023 to help Musk transform the company after he bought it in a $44 billion deal. Here's Yaccarino talking about the platform at Vox Media's Code conference that year. "The foundation of X is based on free expression and freedom of speech. Everyone deserves to have that opportunity to speak their opinion, no matter who they are." Currently, X is dealing with a heavy debt load, and Yaccarino has had to often deal with controversies stirred up by Musk, including his endorsement of antisemitic conspiracy theories in late 2023. Her resignation from X comes just a day after Grok, the AI chatbot developed by Musk's startup xAI, posted content referencing Adolf Hitler on the platform. The posts were later deleted following a public backlash and Yaccarino wrote she was working to restore advertiser confidence and prioritize safety on X. Neither X nor Yaccarino said who will take her place and it was unclear when her resignation would take effect.

Linda Yaccarino steps down as CEO of X after two years amid ongoing platform controversies

No successor has been named yet, and Musk has not publicly commented on her resignation. Linda Yaccarino has stepped down as the CEO of X (formerly Twitter) after two years of joining the company. Appointed in May 2023, almost a year after Elon Musk's acquisition and Twitter rebranding, Yaccarino was brought in to manage business operations while Musk focused on product and technology. However, that was a turbulent time for the company as it just started to transition towards what Musk dubbed the "Everything App." In her departure note, Yaccarino wrote, "I'm immensely grateful to [Elon Musk] for entrusting me with the responsibility of protecting free speech, turning the company around, and transforming X into the Everything App." She described the company's turnaround as "nothing short of remarkable," though critics may dispute the metrics of that claim. However, the company has not named any successor at the moment. During her tenure with X, the microblogging platform has seen public controversies, declining platform moderation, and ongoing clashes with media watchdogs and advertisers. This move comes shortly after Grok and xAI are getting criticism for the antisemitic posts. For the unversed, the company made some controversial content moderation decisions and the recent update to its Grok AI chatbot, getting a lot of criticism. Grok's latest iteration, promoted as more "politically incorrect," drew widespread backlash after it began generating antisemitic content and praise for Adolf Hitler. Also read: Poco F7 vs OnePlus Nord 5: Price, display, camera, battery and more compared Not only that, during Yaccarino's time as CEO, X has suffered high-profile advertising boycotts. After watchdog group Media Matters released a report about ads appearing alongside hate speech, several major brands, including Mars, Unilever, and CVS Health, pulled their ads. Yaccarino responded by framing the pullbacks as a "free speech" issue and later joined Musk in suing the companies for what they called an "illegal boycott." In her post, she also mentioned that the team has worked on groundbreaking innovations like Community Notes. It is also working on X Money, a digital payments system that will bring the most iconic voices and content to the platform. On the other hand, Elon Musk has yet to issue a detailed statement on Yaccarino's departure beyond a brief "Thank you for your contributions" in response to her post.