CEO of Elon Musk’s X, Linda Yaccarino steps down after two years

Linda Yaccarino, chief executive of Elon Musk-owned social network X, announced her resignation on Wednesday, July 9, after two years in the position.

Yaccarino did not give a reason for her departure, but she did note the company was entering ‘a new chapter’ following its recent acquisition by Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI.

In a post on X announcing her departure, Yaccarino thanked Musk for the opportunity.

“When [Musk] and I first spoke of his vision for X, I knew it would be the opportunity of a lifetime to carry out the extraordinary mission of this company. I’m immensely grateful to him for entrusting me with the responsibility of protecting free speech, turning the company around, and transforming X into the Everything App,” Yaccarino said.

Musk, the wealthiest person in the world, who runs Tesla and Space X, named Yaccarino as CEO in May 2023, just months after Musk acquired X in a $44 billion deal.

Yaccarino, a former NBCUniversal advertising executive, took over as X’s CEO in June 2023, replacing Musk, who had been serving in the role since his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter in October 2022.

Her appointment came as Musk sought to focus on product development while bringing in an experienced media manager to restore advertiser confidence.

During her tenure, X introduced new features including Community Notes, a crowd-sourced fact-checking system, and announced plans for “X Money,” a financial services feature as part of Musk’s vision to transform the platform into an “Everything App.”