Twitter owner Elon Musk has announced a new CEO to “transform” the struggling social media platform, which experts say will be a huge challenge.
Mr Musk tweeted that Linda Yaccarino, a former advertising chief at NBCUniversal, would replace him as CEO.
He added “@LindaYacc will focus primarily on business operations, while I focus on product design & new technology”.
Ms Yaccarino modernised the Comcast Corp entertainment and media division’s advertising business and had been in talks for the job before NBC announced her departure on Friday morning (local time).
Since Mr Musk acquired Twitter in October, advertisers have fled the platform, worried that their ads could appear next to inappropriate content after the company lost nearly 80 per cent of staff.
Mr Musk earlier this year acknowledged that Twitter suffered a massive decline in ad revenue.
Advertising executive Linda Yaccarino is the new Twitter CEO. Photo: Getty
Industry experts said Ms Yaccarino had a huge job ahead, but she was more than capable.
Twitter’s “trajectory will immediately take a 180-degree turn” under her leadership, said Lou Paskalis, a long-time ad industry executive and CEO of AJL Advisory, a marketing consultancy.
“I think (Yaccarino) has climbed every mountain she could at NBCU and did it impeccably well. And there’s no greater challenge than restoring order at Twitter,” he said.
Ms Yaccarino joined NBCU in 2011, after 15 years at Turner Entertainment, and has been credited with taking the network’s ad sales operation into the digital era.
“Twitter needs credibility with the advertising community,” Greg Kahn, chief executive of GK Digital Ventures media consultancy, said.
“Linda has demonstrated her trust, her innovative nature of bringing new partners to the table and a deep bench of relationships.”
Mr Musk, the CEO of electric vehicle maker Tesla, completed his purchase of Twitter in October for $US44 billion ($66 billion).
He said in December that he would step aside as CEO once he found “someone foolish enough to take the job.”
On Thursday, Mr Musk tweeted that he had found a CEO without naming Ms Yaccarino.
