NBCU's Linda Yaccarino Named Twitter CEO

UPDATE: Yaccarino's appointment was made official on Friday morning. Longtime NBCUniversal ad sales chief Linda Yaccarino was been named Twitter's new CEO on Friday, succeeding Elon Musk. Yaccarino "will focus primarily on business operations, while I focus on product design & new technology," Musk tweeted. "Looking forward to working with Linda to transform this platform into X, the everything app." https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1657050349608501249?s=20 One day earlier, Musk—who bought the social media platform last October and two months later vowed to step down as Twitter CEO when he found “someone foolish enough to take the job”—indicated that he had settled on a replacement. He tweeted, “Excited to announce that I’ve hired a new CEO for X/Twitter. She will be starting in ~6 weeks! My role will transition to being exec chair & CTO, overseeing product, software & sysops.” https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1656748197308674048?s=20 NBCUniversal announced Friday morning that Yaccarino had departed the company “effective immediately.” Mark Marshall, currently president, advertising sales and client partnerships, has been named interim chairman of NBCUniversal’s advertising and partnerships group. The Wall Street Journal first reported that Yaccarino, NBCUniversal’s chairman of global advertising and partnerships, was in talks for the Twitter CEO role. The news comes just days before Yaccarino and NBCUniversal are set to kick off upfront week, holding their traditional Monday morning presentation at Radio City Music Hall. When this story first published on Thursday night, NBCUniversal and Twitter did not share any additional details about Yaccarino’s new position. “Linda is in back to back rehearsals for Monday’s upfront,” said Joe Benarroch, evp, global communications, NBCU. As usual, Adweek’s inquiry to Twitter’s press department—which Musk disbanded—received an auto-reply containing a poop emoji. Yaccarino has been a public advocate for Musk’s ownership of Twitter since the billionaire bought the platform in October. The duo appeared onstage together in April during the inaugural Possible marketing event in Miami for a keynote around “Twitter 2.0." NBCUniversal has also expanded its Twitter partnership under Musk. Twitter did not put on an official NewFronts advertising event this year, as it has in past years. But the company held a smaller presentation during the week for clients, and announced expanded Olympics and Paralympics partnerships with NBCUniversal around the 2024 Paris Summer Games. Yaccarino has long been one of advertising’s most dynamic forces. She joined NBCUniversal in 2011 after spending two decades at Turner. Initially, she was in charge of cable and digital sales, but within two years was elevated to head up all the cable and broadcast networks under a single portfolio—a then-revolutionary shake-up that was eventually adopted by almost all of her competitors. NBCUniversal’s Ad Sales Queen Upended the Industry Once Before. Now She’s at It Again As Twitter CEO, Yaccarino will be tasked with helping restore advertiser faith in a platform that has grown increasingly destabilized since Musk’s rocky takeover. According to a Bloomberg report, Twitter advertising dollars plummeted 89% since Musk bought the platform and revenue dropped by half. If anyone can help restore advertiser confidence in Twitter, it will likely be Yaccarino. Longtime advertising industry vet Lou Paskalis tweeted that Yaccarino “would be my first choice, and my only choice, to save the platform from the hands of its owner.” Following the upfronts, the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity is the next big event on Yaccarino's client calendar. The 6-week start date hinted at by Musk would come at the end of Cannes Lions, which begins June 19. Yaccarino and her NBCU team have long had a large presence at the festival. Twitter, too, has for many years built a Cannes activation to drum up advertiser support. Neither NBC nor Twitter have yet to announce their Cannes 2023 plans. Another big NBCU exit Yaccarino would become the second major NBCUniversal exec to depart the company in the last month. CEO Jeff Shell was fired in April following what was described as “an inappropriate relationship with a woman in the company.” Shell’s senior team, including Yaccarino, now reports to Comcast president Mike Cavanagh. Following Shell’s exit, an NBCU spokesperson previously told Adweek that the former CEO likely wasn’t going to play a major role in this year’s event anyway, with Yaccarino, Marshall and Susan Rovner, chairman, entertainment content, NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, already set to run the show. It remains to be seen if Yaccarino’s role in Monday’s presentation will change following the Twitter news. Also unclear is whether Yaccarino would remain at NBCUniversal to oversee one final upfront negotiation before departing for Twitter. Paramount Is ‘Not Going Back’ to Upfront Week, Says Ad Sales Chief Another question mark: Who will step in to oversee ad sales at NBCUniversal following Yaccarino’s departure? Yaccarino restructured her ad sales team in January, following the exit of ad sales president Laura Molen. At that time, Marshall was given an elevated role, and is now solo lead of NBCUniversal’s upfront negotiations. More upfront week tumult The Yaccarino news is the latest shakeup in what is shaping up to be a tumultuous week leading up to the upfronts. On Wednesday night, Netflix shifted to an all-virtual upfront week presentation after hearing of the WGA’s planned protest during its May 17 event. NBCUniversal was among the upfront week presenters who told Adweek on Thursday they would be moving forward with in-person events despite the possibility of picketers. Marshall told Adweek earlier this week that “NBCU will have an extremely powerful upfront show and will still have great talent participating.” Additional reporting by Bill Bradley.

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NBCU Ad Sales Chief Linda Yaccarino Named Twitter CEO

Elon Musk said she 'will focus primarily on business operations'

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