Elon Musk says he has picked the new leader of Twitter and plans to step down as CEO.
He did not identify who the new CEO will be but indicated that she is a woman.
“Excited to announce that I’ve a new CEO for X/Twitter. She will be starting in ~6 weeks!,” Musk tweeted Thursday.
X refers to the new legal entity that includes Twitter as well as Musk’s ambitions to morph Twitter into a “super app.”
Citing people familiar with the situation, the Wall Street Journal reported that NBCUniversal’s advertising chief Linda Yaccarino is in talks to become CEO of Twitter.
Since buying the social media platform six months ago, Musk has overseen mass layoffs, made content moderation changes and changed the blue-check verification system.
Last month Musk was interviewed onstage by Yaccarino at a conference hosted by digital marketing trade group MMA Global.
“It’s a trainwreck sometimes,” Musk said of running Twitter.
Speaking at an AdAge conference in November, Yaccarino said she wouldn’t bet against Musk. “You’ve got to give the guy a minute,” she said.
Pressure has increased on Musk to turn his attention back to Tesla. In December, he tweeted that he was looking to hire his successor at Twitter.
“I will resign as CEO as soon as I find someone foolish enough to take the job!” Musk wrote on Twitter.
Even after his successor takes over, Musk will still call the shots. Musk said Thursday that he would transition to executive chairman and chief technology officer, and would still oversee products and software.
Musk said early on that he didn’t plan to remain at the helm of Twitter and reducing his time commitment was his plan all along.
“There’s an initial burst of activity needed post acquisition to reorganize the company,” Musk said in November during a trial over his compensation at Tesla. “I’d find someone else to run Twitter over time.”
USA TODAY reached out to Twitter for comment. The company’s press email automatically replied with the poop emoji.
Tesla’s stock saw a boost following Musk’s announcement. Shares closed up 2.1% at $172.08 Thursday and continued to climb in after-hours trading.
Wedbush Securities analyst Daniel Ives called the new CEO hire “a positive development for Tesla as well as SpaceX with Musk needing to spend more and more time on these golden child platforms rather than Twitter.”
Contributing: Bailey Schulz
