May 11 (Portal) – Elon Musk said Thursday he has found a new CEO for Twitter, without naming the person, and that he will transition to the role of the social media platform’s chief technology officer in the next few weeks become.
“I am pleased to announce that I have hired a new CEO for X/Twitter. It’ll start in about six weeks!” Musk said in a tweet.
Musk has not yet named any potential candidates and it was unclear who he had named as his successor, although there has been much speculation among technology and media insiders, as well as about Blind, an anonymous messaging app for tech workers.
Linda Yaccarino, the chief advertising sales executive at Comcast’s (CMCSA.O) NBCUniversal, could be Musk’s pick to head up the social media company, a Silicon Valley executive and former Hollywood exec said, who spoke on condition of anonymity about the speculations spoke.
Yaccarino, a respected industry leader in advertising, interviewed Musk at an advertising conference in Miami last month.
When asked for comment, an NBCUniversal spokesperson said, “Linda is in back-to-back rehearsals for Upfront,” referring to a presentation NBCUniversal will be hosting for advertisers in New York on Monday.
Former Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer was proposed in talks between Twitter employees on Thursday, according to a staffer.
According to a former employee who saw the comments, former YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki and a top exec at Musk’s brainchip startup Neuralink Shivon Zilis were also among the names discussed by Twitter employees on Blind .
According to Jason Benowitz, senior portfolio manager at CI Roosevelt, top executives from Musk’s other companies could also be named, such as SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell and Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) Chairman Robyn Denholm.
Musk said he will assume the role of CEO of Twitter, overseeing products, software and sysops, in addition to the role of CTO.
Tesla shares closed 2.1% higher on Thursday, and analysts said the announcement helped allay some investor concerns about Musk’s active involvement with Twitter.
Shares of the electric-vehicle maker had plummeted after Musk took over Twitter in October, and investors had said the move could put the billionaire under pressure.
“The boat anchor called Twitter was untied from Musk’s ankle. Now he can spend more time creating value at Tesla again,” said Craig Irwin, analyst at Roth MKM.
RESIGN
Musk has long said he intends to find a new leader for Twitter.
In a Twitter poll launched by Musk in December, 57.5% of users voted for his resignation as CEO of the social media platform.
“I will step down as CEO as soon as I find someone stupid enough to take the job!” Musk said at the time.
The billionaire’s first two weeks as Twitter’s new owner in October were one of rapid change. He quickly fired Twitter’s former CEO Parag Agrawal and other senior executives, then fired half the staff in November.
Musk, a self-proclaimed free speech absolutist, said he took over Twitter to prevent the platform from becoming an echo chamber for hatred and division.
He also said he will “defeat” spam bots on the platform, a central point of his dispute with Twitter’s executive board over his back-and-forth over the company’s $44 billion acquisition.
Reporting by Juby Babu in Bengaluru; Edited by Shounak Dasgupta
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