The career rise of Twitter's new CEO Linda Yaccarino, an advertising titan who once tried to convince Elon Musk to stop tweeting after 3 a.m.

Elon Musk said on Friday that he had identified Linda Yaccarino as Twitter's next CEO.

NBCUniversal

• Elon Musk said on Friday that NBCUniversal executive Linda Yaccarino will take over as Twitter CEO.
• The billionaire previously said the new CEO will start in about six weeks.
• Here's everything we know about the former NBCUniversal executive.

Yaccarino announced on Friday that she had resigned from her role as chairman of advertising sales and client partnerships at NBCUniversal "effective immediately."

Linda Yaccarino, chairman of advertising sales and client partnerships at NBCUniversal

NBCUniversal

"It has been an absolute honor to be part of Comcast NBCUniversal and lead the most incredible team," Yaccarino said in the statement.

Source: Insider

Later that day, Elon Musk announced that Yaccarino would be taking over for him as Twitter CEO.

Elon Musk attends The 2022 Met Gala.

Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images

"@LindaYacc will focus primarily on business operations, while I focus on product design & new technology," Musk tweeted. "Looking forward to working with Linda to transform this platform into X, the everything app."

The billionaire previously said that his replacement would be taking over the role of CEO in about six weeks.

Sources: Insider, Insider

Yaccarino is a graduate of Pennsylvania State University, according to her LinkedIn.

Facebook/PSUCareerServices

She was a liberal arts student who studied telecommunications from 1981 to 1985, per her profile.

Source: LinkedIn

 

In an interview from 2021, Yaccarino said her mother, who is a first generation Italian-American immigrant, has been an "incredible inspiration" to her.

Heidi Gutman/NBCUniversal

"She didn't have the good fortune to go to college," Yaccarino said. "She raised three daughters and made sure that each of her daughters focused on an education, so we could each be financially independent. I continue to think that I owe her and it helps push me and drive me."

Source: YouTube

Yaccarino appears to have kids of her own and a twin sister, according to her Instagram.

NBCU sales chief Linda Yaccarino

NBCU

She has also taken pictures with several celebrities, including Miley Cyrus and Rami Malek.

Source: Instagram

Long before she became NBCU's ad chief, she started out as an intern at the company.

Isaac Brekken/Variety/Penske Media via Getty Images

Yaccarino told Salesforce in a video interview that she showed up to the NBCU internship as a "bright new cheery intern" but quickly learned the company had no record of her and was eventually put on the media planning team.

"That's where the love affair was born," Yaccarino said of her desire to work in the media industry.

Source: YouTube

Yaccarino worked at Turner Broadcasting for nearly 20 years before she joined NBCU in 2011.

Aurora Rose/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images

She was executive vice president/COO of advertising sales, marketing and acquisitions at Turner before she left.

Source: LinkedIn

She spent 11 years working up the ladder at NBCUniversal and eventually became the company's advertising chief.

Linda Yaccarino was an advertising chief at NBCUniversal up until she announced her resignation on Friday.

Peter Kramer/NBCUniversal/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images)

She oversaw of about 2,000 employees that produced over $100 billion in ad sales, according to her profile on the company's website that has since been taken down.

Sources: NBCUniversal, LinkedIn

She was a major proponent of NBCUniversal's push into digital streaming, including the rollout of Peacock in 2020.

Heidi Gutman/Peacock via Getty Images

Yaccarino has also worked to keep NBCU competitive with major tech companies like Meta and Google, and her team created partnerships with major companies, including Apple News, Snapchat and Twitter.

Source: Insider

Before she announced her resignation on Friday, Yaccarino had been scheduled to speak at NBCU's annual Upfront event.

Linda Yaccarino attends 'Legends Ball 2022 BravoCon' at Manhattan Center on October 14, 2022 in New York City. (Photo by

Santiago Felipe/Getty Images

The event serves as a preview for new NBCU features and is designed to lure in advertisers.

Source: Hollywood Reporter

Yaccarino was also involved with the World Economic Forum — an event Musk has been critical of in the past.

Andrew Kelly/Reuters / Zheng Huansong/Xinhua via Getty Images

Yaccarino's LinkedIn profile says she has been the executive chair on WEF's taskforce on the future of work since 2019. It also says she is on WEF's Media, Entertainment and Culture Industry Governors Steering Committee.

WEF is an event that takes place every year in Davos, Switzerland, where executives and influential figures meet to discuss a global issues, including climate change to the cost-of-living.

Earlier this year, Musk took at dig at the event in Davos and called it "boring af." At the time, he said he was invited to the event but chose to skip it. However, WEF organizers claim Musk hasn't been invited in years.

"WEF is increasingly becoming an unelected world government that the people never asked for and don't want," Musk tweeted in January.

Sources: LinkedIn, Insider, Twitter

Musk called Yaccarino "smart, fair and reasonable" in a tweet on Friday.

Steve Nesius/Reuters

"I think people from both sides of the political spectrum will find Linda to be smart, fair and reasonable," Musk wrote on Twitter.

The tweet came after some conservative voices on Twitter had criticized Yaccarino's ties to WEF. Meanwhile more liberal Twitter users had pointed out that the new Twitter CEO follows and has liked tweets from some prominent conservatives on the site, including Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, and right-wing commentator Jesse Watters.

Sources: Twitter, Insider

Yaccarino served on a sports fitness and nutrition council for two years after she was appointed to the role by former President Donald Trump in 2018.

Donald Trump.

Jane Barlow/PA Images via Getty Images

She also worked with the Biden Administration in 2021 on an educational COVID-19 vaccine ad campaign that included Pope Francis.

Sources: LinkedIn, Adweek, The Washington Post

 

 

Yaccarino has interviewed Musk in the past.

Twitter CEO Elon Musk, center, speaks with Linda Yaccarino, chairman of global advertising and partnerships for NBC, at the POSSIBLE marketing conference, Tuesday, April 18, 2023, in Miami Beach, Fla.

AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell

She appeared on stage with Musk in April to interview the billionaire about his plans for Twitter 2.0. The event took place in Miami Beach and was focused on "the future of marketing on Twitter."

At the time, she shared the interview in a tweet: "We can all agree … this freedom of speech, deserves a bit more reach," she wrote.

Sources: NBCUniversal, Twitter 

 

During the interview, Yaccarino told Musk he should be more careful about his tweets.

Laura Cavanaugh/Getty Images for AWXII

Yaccarino told Musk that there are days she isn't happy with his tweets and asked if he thinks he should be "held to a different or higher standard" as the owner of Twitter, as well as due to his popularity on the site.

"For example, you've said you probably shouldn't tweet after 3 a.m.," Yaccarino said. "Will you commit to being a little more specific and not tweet after 3 a.m.?" 

Musk told Yaccarino that he would "aspire to tweet less after 3 a.m." but it would be "wrong" for him to allow other people to influence what he tweets.

"That would be a diminishment of freedom of speech," Musk said.

Source: NBCUniversal

The on-stage event wasn't the first time Yaccarino has engaged with Musk.

NurPhoto/Getty Images

Earlier this month, she tweeted about a partnership between NBCU and Twitter.

"Hey @elonmusk here's an idea for our new partnership: Periscope for #Paris2024," she wrote. 

Two days later, NBC Sports announced it was expanding its partnerships with Twitter and Snapchat for the 2024 Olympics.

Insider previously reported that Yaccarino has told friends in the past that she wanted to be CEO of Twitter.

Sources: NBC Sports, Insider

 

Additional reporting by Insider's Sindhu Sundar and Lauren Johnson.

Read the original article on Business Insider

from Business Insider https://ift.tt/zqr5QX9