The 60-year-old New Yorker is set to take on the role of Twitter chief executive in the coming weeks.
In a few short weeks, Elon Musk will hand over the helm of Twitter to Linda Yaccarino. But who exactly is the new chief executive, and how does she fit into Musk’s vision of «the everything app»?
Musk, who brought Twitter in October and has been running it since, has long insisted that he would step down as top executive at the company, which is now called X Corp.
Tweeting to his 139 million followers on Friday, he said he was «excited» to welcome Ms Yaccarino, 60, to the role, adding that he was «looking forward to working with Linda to transform this platform into X, the everything app».
Musk said Ms Yaccarino’s prime focus will be on business operations, while he will stay closely connected to product design and new technology.
With Ms Yaccarino’s background in the advertising sector, Musk is hoping that Twitter can lure back advertisers which initially turned away from the platform after Musk’s takeover, fearing harm for their brand.
‘A marketer’s leader’
A graduate of Pennsylvania State University, US, Ms Yaccarino built her career as an advertising executive, having first held a variety of roles at Turner Broadcasting System Inc — a global broadcasting company that is now owned by Warner Bros.
Starting out in media sales outlets, from 1996 to 2011 she worked her way up to holding the positions of both executive vice president and chief operating officer, before joining NBCUniversal — one of the world’s leading media and entertainment companies.
