New Twitter CEO says she is excited to help transform Twitter

BENGALURU – Newly appointed Twitter chief executive Linda Yaccarino said in a tweet on Saturday that she has been inspired by owner Elon Musk’s vision to create a brighter future and is excited to help transform the social media platform.

It was the first time Ms Yaccarino, 59, has spoken publicly since the news broke on Thursday that she was in talks to become the next CEO of Twitter. Mr Musk, 51, who has served as CEO since his US$44 billion (S$59 billion) buyout of Twitter in October 2022,

announced her appointment on Friday.

“I’ve long been inspired by (Musk’s) vision to create a brighter future. I’m excited to help bring this vision to Twitter and transform this business together!” she tweeted.

Ms Yaccarino, who as advertising chief for Comcast Corp’s NBCUniversal spent several years modernising its ad business, said she is committed to Twitter’s future, and added that user feedback is vital to build Twitter 2.0.

She will take over a social media platform that has been trying to reverse

a plunge in ad revenue

and is beset with challenges, along with a heavy debt load.

Since Mr Musk acquired Twitter, advertisers have fled the platform, worried that their ads could appear next to inappropriate content after the company lost nearly 80 per cent of staff. Mr Musk earlier in 2023 acknowledged that Twitter had suffered a massive decline in ad revenue.

While he said Ms Yaccarino would help build an “everything app”, which he has previously said could offer a variety of services such as peer-to-peer payments, his selection of an advertising veteran signalled that digital ads would continue to be a core focus of the business.

Mr Musk has long said he intended to find a new leader for Twitter.

Mr Musk, who is also the CEO of electric-vehicle maker Tesla, on Friday said that bringing Ms Yaccarino on as Twitter’s new chief will help him devote more time to Tesla. REUTERS