Twitter’s new CEO Linda Yaccarino, a respected media veteran known in advertising circles as the “Velvet Hammer” for her silky but tough negotiating style, aims bat for transformation on the platform.
Linda Yaccarino, who took over from Elon Musk on Twitter, has started her position as the new CEO.
Musk appointed Yaccarino to this position last month, who is a former advertising executive at NBC Universal. With this move, Musk hopes to reverse the decline in the company’s advertising revenues that occurred since he took over in October.
Following her appointment as CEO, Yaccarino emphasized Elon Musk’s “transformation” goal in a social media post about the future of Twitter.
The new CEO, who declared her mission at the company as launching Twitter 2.0, stated that everyone should have the freedom to express their ideas and aims to transform Twitter into the most reliable real-time source of information in the world.
Twitter-Threads Competition
Threads, a social media platform launched by Meta last week, is seen as the biggest competitor to Twitter among similar applications.
Yaccarino also commented on this topic, stating that last week, the week Threads was launched, they reached their highest daily usage on Twitter since February.
Yaccarino said, “Don’t want to leave you hanging by a thread… but Twitter, you really outdid yourselves! Last week we had our largest usage day since February. There’s only ONE Twitter. You know it. I know it.”
Yaccarino’s Long Career in Advertising
Born in 1963, Yaccarino graduated from the Telecommunications Systems department of the College of Liberal Arts at Penn State University in 1985. Building her career as an advertising executive, Yaccarino held various roles at Turner Broadcasting System Inc., a global broadcasting company owned by Warner Bros.
Starting from media sales points, she held positions such as Deputy General Manager and Operations Manager from 1996 to 2011.
In October 2011, she moved to NBCUniversal, one of the world’s leading media and entertainment companies. She took on the responsibility of global ad sales for the company. She developed specialized advertising and marketing strategies for the company’s platforms, including NBC, Telemundo, and NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. After receiving an offer from Twitter, she resigned from the company.
In the business world, Yaccarino, nicknamed the “Velvet Hammer,” is known to possess the skills of a results-oriented and experienced executive. With strong instincts, she has been quite successful in finding realistic solutions.
According to Forbes estimates, Yaccarino has a fortune of $40 million. She joined the Ad Council in 2014 and served as the Chairman of the Board from January 2021 to June 30, 2022. She also chaired the Future of Jobs Task Force at the World Economic Forum.
Yaccarino will earn $6 million per year on Twitter, and after completing her 3-year term as CEO, she will be granted $4 million worth of stock options from the company.
She will build stronger relationships stakeholders
Yaccarino quickly captured an optimistic atmosphere on Twitter.
During an internal ad sales meeting on June 12th, she addressed Twitter’s advertising situation. Previously, the reinstatement of suspended accounts had led to the spread of misinformation and toxic content, resulting in brands avoiding advertising on the platform. The company’s ad revenue in the United States has declined by nearly 60%, and Musk stated that this year’s revenue would decrease from $5.1 billion in 2021 to $3 billion.
Yaccarino, who stated that she would adopt a different approach in media relations from Musk, is said to focus on establishing “very good” relationships with media stakeholders.
According to a meeting transcript obtained by The New York Times, Yaccarino acknowledged that some “major brands” have stayed away from the platform and expressed the need for herself and other sales employees to work together to convince them to return.
After assuming the role, Yaccarino met with Twitter investors and lenders in San Francisco, where she presented plans for a more video-focused approach, collaboration with influencers and news publishers, and payment integrations for the company.