Linda Yaccarino steps down as CEO of X

The former advertising executive on Wednesday said she was leaving her position at the social media company after serving as CEO for two years. Elon Musk hired Yaccarino to lead the platform formerly known as Twitter in 2023. She was the first permanent CEO Musk hired after he bought the platform in 2022 and she joined the company after working for NBCUniversal for more than a decade. In a Wednesday X post, Yaccarino wrote that she was proud of the work her team accomplished, and thanked Musk for the opportunity to help turn the company around. Musk thanked Yaccarino for her contributions in a short response to her post.

What changes happened while Yaccarino led X? During her tenure, the social media platform launched a connected television app, introduced new safety controls, and began a partnership with Visa to start a payment platform. Yaccarino’s background was in media advertising and Musk hired her as X was losing advertising business. Last fall, the company filed an antitrust lawsuit against the Global Alliance for Responsible Media and other major advertisers after a Congressional investigation found they had engaged in an illegal boycott against X and other businesses. GARM shut down days after the complaint was filed.

What happens now? As of Thursday morning Yaccarino had not said what her next career move would be and Musk had not said who would replace her. In March, Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI acquired X in an all-stock transaction. The artificial intelligence business developed the Grok chatbot that has been integrated into some features on X.

Dig deeper: Read my report about Yaccarino and other social media CEOs testifying about safety measures for children.