SAN FRANCISCO – Former NBCUniversal (NBCU) advertising chief Linda Yaccarino will become Twitter’s new chief executive, current chief executive Elon Musk said on Friday in a tweet.

“I am excited to welcome Linda Yaccarino as the new CEO of Twitter!” Mr Musk said. “@LindaYacc will focus primarily on business operations, while I focus on product design and new technology.”

Ms Yaccarino modernised the Comcast Corp entertainment and media division’s advertising business and had been in talks for the job before NBC announced her departure on Friday morning.

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

Twitter’s “trajectory will immediately take a 180-degree turn” under her leadership, said Mr Lou Paskalis, a long-time ad industry executive and chief executive of AJL Advisory, a marketing consultancy.

Mr Musk axed thousands of employees, rushed the launch of a subscription product that allowed scammers to impersonate major brands and suspended users with whom he disagreed.

“I think (Ms Yaccarino) has climbed every mountain she could at NBCU and did it impeccably well. And there’s no greater challenge than restoring order at Twitter,” Mr Paskalis said.

Ms Yaccarino could not be reached for comment.

Her exit is another big blow to NBCU. In April, NBC parent Comcast said NBCU chief executive Jeff Shell was leaving after acknowledging an inappropriate relationship with a woman in the company, following a complaint that prompted an investigation.

Advertising president Mark Marshall will step in as interim chairman of NBCU’s advertising and partnerships group. Mr Marshall was named president of ad sales and partnerships in 2018, overseeing NBC’s broadcast entertainment, sports and advanced advertising sales.

Ms Yaccarino’s exit comes at a difficult time for NBCU, which is preparing for its annual upfront presentation to advertisers on Monday at Radio City Music Hall.

She joined NBCU in 2011 after 15 years at Turner Entertainment, and has been credited with taking the network’s ad sales operation into the digital era.

As broadcast television audiences migrated to streaming, she took to the stage at Radio City Music Hall in 2022 to tell advertisers their brand messages were not an afterthought. She said NBCU incorporated ads in its Peacock streaming service from the outset.

“Twitter needs credibility with the advertising community,” said Mr Greg Kahn, chief executive of media consultancy GK Digital Ventures. “Linda has demonstrated her trust, her innovative nature of bringing new partners to the table and a deep bench of relationships.”

Mr Musk, who is also CEO of electric vehicle (EV) maker Tesla, completed his purchase of Twitter last October for US$44 billion (S$59 billion). He said last December that he would step aside as CEO once he found “someone foolish enough to take the job”.

On Thursday, he tweeted that he had found a CEO, without naming Ms Yaccarino. One source close to her said Mr Musk’s tweet may well have accelerated the timetable for her to join Twitter, which would be a balm to Tesla shareholders.

Shares of Tesla were down 1.3 per cent on Friday, as analysts commented that a CEO hire would allow Mr Musk to concentrate on the EV business. Comcast shares were little changed. REUTERS