Linda Yaccarino, head of advertising at NBCUniversal, was preparing to interview Twitter owner Elon Musk on stage at a conference last month when she received an email from her peers in the advertising industry.
Rob Norman, a former executive at ad giant WPP, wanted to know if he saw the op-ed Yaccarino wrote after Musk took over Twitter last year. Norman’s column discussed the proliferation of misinformation on Twitter by tech billionaires and the chilling effect it has on advertisers.
Yaccarino said he had such concerns and would raise them, according to Norman. But the main focus of the meeting with Mr. Musk will likely be on something else: Mr. Musk’s efforts to revamp the social network into Twitter 2.0.
Now Yacarino is trying to become the face of Twitter 2.0. Musk announced on Friday that he had elected Yaccarino, 60, as the company’s chief executive officer. Hours earlier, NBCUniversal announced Yaccarino’s departure, but did not disclose where he would go.
“I am thrilled to welcome Linda Yaccarino as Twitter’s new CEO,” Musk tweeted. She said she will be primarily responsible for business operations and will continue to work on product design and technology.
By choosing Yaccarino, Musk shows what his priorities are at Twitter: the company’s advertising business, not its social media know-how. Yaccarino has been one of Madison Avenue’s power brokers for decades. And Twitter, which makes most of its revenue from advertising, has struggled to grow its business, especially since Mr. Musk surprised advertisers last year.
“Linda is a force,” said Joe Marches, a former head of advertising sales at Fox Networks Group who was competing with Yaccarino for marketing money. “She has one of the biggest jobs in the advertising industry, and the advertising market has never been so tough.”
But Yaccarino will have to do more than deal with Twitter’s advertising problems. The San Francisco company has been significantly streamlined since Mr. Musk cut 75% of its workforce, grappling with a lack of expertise and technical flaws. Twitter has also been weighed down by $13 billion in debt it assumed to allow Musk to buy the company.
Most importantly, Yaccarino has to deal with a capricious and unpredictable boss named Musk. Musk, 51, has a track record of firing executives who fail to meet his goals. He occasionally tweets news about his company, including electric car maker Tesla, without warning. As the owner of Twitter, Musk holds absolute power over the company.
Lou Pasqualis, a friend of Yaccarino and a longtime advertising executive, likened her move to Twitter to “stepping into a lion’s mouth.”
“Her position within the industry is probably one of the most loved and trusted in terms of revenue, so I wonder why she would be exposed to such potential reputational risks,” he said. rice field. “If she didn’t fill that role, Twitter probably wouldn’t be able to survive as an ad-supported platform.”
Yaccarino did not respond to a request for comment, but said in a statement from NBCUniversal that it was “an absolute honor” to work for the company.
This is a news article in development and will be updated.
John Koblin contributed a report from New York.
