Elon Musk takes a step back and hands the Twitter guide to Linda Yaccarino, the Italian-born manager for years in charge of advertising at NBCUniversal. The choice disappoints fans of Musk himself, but it is a breath of fresh air for Tesla shareholders, who see in the change at the top of Twitter the possibility that the billionaire will return to deal full-time with the giant of electric cars. It is no coincidence that Tesla shares rise on Wall Street in a day of weakness for American stock markets.
Musk has not yet officially confirmed Yaccarino's choice, but the manager's resignation from NBCUniversal seems to indicate that the way for his appointment is clear.
Without naming his name, the billionaire tweeted that he had hired a new CEO for Twitter: "It will start in six weeks," he said. A tweet closely followed by the resignation with "immediate effect" by the farewell of Yaccarino from NBCUniversal, among other things a few days before the most important appointment of the year for television advertising scheduled for next Monday. An advertising world of which Yaccarino - who was rumored to become the new CEO of NBCUniversal after the exit of Jeff Shell last month - is the undisputed protagonist. "It has been an absolute honor to work at the company," she said in a statement released by NBCUniversal about her resignation.
AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell
Twitter CEO Elon Musk with Linda Yaccarino
The arrival of Yaccarino is intended to reassure advertisers old and new to Twitter, showing Musk's willingness to take a step back and entrust the platform to an industry veteran with experience and contacts. "It's an important step forward with which Musk finally shows that he understands the situation," said Daniel Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities. Yaccarino was one of the few managers not to have attacked Musk for the acquisition of Twitter, so much so that last November she went so far as to say that "she would not bet against him". Musk and Yaccarino know each other and recently appeared together at a conference in Miami appearing comfortable and close-knit.
The choice of the manager - married to Claude Peter Madrazo, also of Italian origin - does not convince Musk fans who fear a return to the past, or to a platform with less freedom. The billionaire, however, does not seem worried: as he has reiterated in the past, his focus on Twitter, as well as on all the other companies of his empire, remains unchanged beyond the official titles.