Who is Linda Yaccarino, touted to be Elon Musk’s replacement as Twitter CEO?

According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, Linda Yaccarino, NBCUniversal’s head of advertising, was in talks to become the new CEO of Twitter.

Everything you wanted to know about Linda Yaccarino

According to Yaccarino’s LinkedIn profile, she has been with NBCUniversal for over 11 years. She is currently chairman of global advertising and partnerships at the company.

Before joining NBCUniversal, she had worked with American television and media conglomerate Turner Broadcasting System for over 19 years, between 1992 and 2011.

Yaccarino has studied liberal arts and telecommunications at Penn State University, according to her profile.

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At NBCUniversal, she is the “strategic and operational bridge” across the company’s global networks, properties, and business units. “She is responsible for stewarding the company’s industry-leading portfolio of linear networks, digital and streaming platforms, distribution partnerships, and client relationships. Yaccarino oversees all global, national and local ad sales, partnerships, marketing, ad tech, data, measurement, and strategic initiatives,” says a profile on the company’s website.She is also credited with generating “over $100 billion in ad sales”.

Yaccarino has been recognised as Business Insider’s “Top 10 People Transforming Advertising”.

She interviewed Musk at an advertising conference in Miami last month. At the conference, Yaccarino encouraged the audience to welcome Musk with applause and lauded his work ethic.

“Many of you in this room know me, and you know I pride myself on my work ethic,” she said, adding, “Buddy, I met my match.”

When asked for comment, an NBCUniversal spokesperson told Reuters: “Linda is in back-to-back rehearsals for the Upfront” (Upfront is a presentation NBCUniversal will host for advertisers in New York on Monday).

Not a hard act to follow?
The announcement comes months after Musk announced in December that he would step aside as CEO once he found “someone foolish enough to take the job”.

In a tweet on Thursday, Musk said “she will be starting in ~6 weeks!”

He added that he would remain involved as executive chair and “CTO” and that he would still oversee Twitter’s product and software.

Musk has long said he intended to find a new leader for Twitter. In a poll he opened on the microblogging platform in December, 57.5% of those who voted wanted him to step down as CEO of the social media platform.

Earlier this week, Twitter announced the addition of encrypted direct messages on Twitter as well as plans for audio and video call features.

The San Francisco-based company, which generates most of its revenue from advertising, is set to earn less than $3 billion in 2023, down from $4 billion in 2022, according to Insider Intelligence.