Musk names NBCUniversal's Linda Yaccarino Twitter CEO
Elon Musk has hired former NBCUniversal executive Linda Yaccarino as the next Twitter CEO.
"I am excited to welcome Linda Yaccarino as the new CEO of Twitter," Musk, the current Twitter CEO, tweeted Friday. "@LindaYacc will focus primarily on business operations, while I focus on product design & new technology. Looking forward to working with Linda to transform this platform into X, the everything app."
Yaccarino's appointment comes as the platform has been in turmoil, with mass resignations and some companies pausing advertising, since the Musk acquisition in October.
She previously spent 11 years with NBCUniversal where she most recently had been chairman of global advertising and partnerships at NBCU. She resigned from the role earlier Friday morning.
"It has been an absolute honor to be part of Comcast NBCUniversal and lead the most incredible team," Yaccarino said in a statement. "We’ve transformed our company and the entire industry."
A 'positive for Tesla stock'
Musk first made his bid for Twitter on April 14, 2022. Tesla shares closed the day at $333. Since then, the stock has lost nearly half of its value as Musk has sold off shares to pay for his new social media platform. The official $44 billion purchase closed in October, and Wall Street has been hyperfocused on the “Twitter overhang” weighing down Tesla’s stock since.
“Musk's reign as CEO of Twitter has finally come to an end and thus will be a positive for Tesla's stock starting to finally remove this lingering albatross from the story,” Wedbush Securities managing director Dan Ives wrote in a note to clients on Friday morning. “We believe this adds roughly $15 per share to the Tesla story as the Musk CEO overhang is now gone for Twitter.”
Musk's initial tweet about the hire sent Tesla stock 2% higher just before the market closed on Thursday. Shares of Tesla were down about 1% on Friday at noon as a wide-ranging recall in China due to a braking and acceleration defect.
Once he has stepped down from Twitter, Musk will still be the CEO of both SpaceX and Tesla.
It will come at a crucial moment for the electric vehicle maker, as the China recall, dwindling U.S. demand, and an EV pricing war pressure the stock.
Tesla shares fell as much as 20% in the last month after the company reported worse-than-expected gross margins in the first quarter.
Musk didn’t help cases on the earnings call, either.
“It’s difficult to say what the margin will be,” Musk told investors when asked how low margins will get as the company continues to cut prices.
Tesla’s annual shareholder meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, May 16.
Josh is a reporter for Yahoo Finance.
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