Elon Musk says he has found new Twitter CEO

SAN FRANCISCO - Elon Musk said on Thursday (May 11) that he has found a new chief executive for the social media platform, but did not name the person, while the Wall Street Journal reported that Comcast NBCUniversal executive Linda Yaccarino was in talks for the job.

Musk said in a tweet: "Excited to announce that I've hired a new CEO for X/Twitter. She will be starting in around six weeks!"

Musk said he will transition to the role of chief technology officer of the social media platform within the next few weeks.

Musk, who took over as chief executive of Twitter when he completed his US$44 billion (S$58.6 billion) purchase of the company in October, said in December that he would step aside as chief executive once he found "someone foolish enough to take the job".

He said that he would then run Twitter's software and servers teams.

The WSJ cited people familiar with the situation in saying that Yaccarino was in talks for the top post.

Reuters reported after Musk's tweet that Yaccarino could be his choice to lead Twitter, according to a Silicon Valley executive and a former Hollywood executive who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Yaccarino, the top advertising sales executive at NBCUniversal, interviewed Musk at an advertising conference in Miami last month. Yaccarino did not respond to calls seeking comment.

When asked for comment, an NBCUniversal spokesman said, "Linda is in back-to-back rehearsals for the Upfront," referring to a presentation NBCUniversal will host for advertisers in New York on Monday.

Yaccarino's exit would be another big blow to the company after Comcast said last month that NBCUniversal chief executive Jeff Shell was leaving after acknowledging an inappropriate relationship with a woman in the company, following a complaint that prompted an investigation.

Musk has previously not named any prospective candidates. Speculation was rife on Thursday among tech and media insiders and on Blind, an anonymous messaging app for tech employees.

Former Yahoo chief executive Marissa Mayer was suggested in conversations between Twitter employees on Thursday, according to one staffer.

Former YouTube chief executive Susan Wojcicki and a top executive at Musk's brain-chip startup Neuralink, Shivon Zilis, were also among the names being discussed by Twitter employees on Blind, according to a former employee who viewed the comments.

Top female executives from Musk's other companies, such as SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell and Tesla chair Robyn Denholm, could also be named, according to Jason Benowitz, senior portfolio manager at CI Roosevelt.

'The anchor is loosened'

Musk, who has come under fire from investors in his Tesla electric car company as being distracted by his attention to Twitter, said he will transition to the role of Twitter's executive chair, along with the role of CTO, overseeing product, software and sysops.

Musk's post about a new Twitter chief executive came about 15 minutes before the close of Wall Street on Thursday, and Tesla shares closed two per cent higher.

The shares rose a further 1.6 per cent in after-hours trade.

"The boat anchor called Twitter is loosened from Musk's ankle. Now he can get back to spending more time creating value at Tesla," said Craig Irwin, analyst at Roth MKM.

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Musk has long said he intended to find a new leader for Twitter.

In a Twitter poll started by Musk in December, 57.5 per cent of users voted for him to step down as chief executive of the social media platform.

The billionaire's first two weeks as Twitter's owner in October were marked by rapid change. He quickly fired Twitter's previous chief executive, Parag Agrawal, and other senior leaders, and then laid off half its staff in November.

Musk, a self-proclaimed "free speech absolutist," has said he took over Twitter to prevent the platform from becoming an echo chamber for hate and division.

He also said he would "defeat" spam bots on the platform, a key area of his tussle with Twitter's board over his back and forth on the buyout of the company.

He said last month that Twitter was "roughly breaking even".

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