Twitter’s new CEO, Linda Yaccarino, makes first public comments following announcement of role

Last week, it was announced that Linda Yaccarino would be taking over Elon Musk’s responsibilities as the CEO of Twitter. Now, the former advertising executive is speaking about her new role on — where else? — Twitter.

Billionaire Musk tweeted Yaccarino’s job announcement on Friday, writing, “I am excited to welcome Linda Yaccarino as the new CEO of Twitter!” adding that they would be working together to “transform this platform into X, the everything app.” She is expected to start within the next six weeks.

On Saturday, Yaccarino quote tweeted Musk, thanking him and writing, “I’ve long been inspired by your vision to create a brighter future. I’m excited to help bring this vision to Twitter and transform this business together!” 

In a second tweet, Yaccarino wrote, “I see I have some new followers… I’m not as prolific as [Musk] (yet!), but I’m just as committed to the future of this platform. Your feedback is VITAL to that future. I’m here for all of it. Let’s keep the conversation going and build Twitter 2.0 together!”

Yaccarino, who was previously NBCUniversal’s head of advertising, is stepping into a role with qualifications that could be instrumental to the platform’s future. In November, half of Twitter’s top advertisers appeared to leave the platform within a month of Musk’s takeover, according to a report — slashing an estimated $750 million in revenue.

“There is heavy lifting ahead for Twitter on the digital advertising front as the platform now needs to get back advertisers while monetizing its user base,” Wedbush technology analyst Dan Ives told CBS News. 

In December, Musk released a poll on Twitter asking users to vote on whether he should step down from his role as CEO. More than 57% of respondents voted yes.

Musk, who said he would “abide by the results” of the poll, wrote in a follow-up tweet, “I will resign as CEO as soon as I find someone foolish enough to take the job! After that, I will just run the software & servers teams.”

In his announcement about the new CEO, Musk said Yaccarino would “focus primarily on business operations” while he turns to “product design & new technology.”