Linda Yaccarino insisted three weeks in the past that little had modified when billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk merged X, the social platform that she headed, with xAI, his synthetic intelligence group.
“I’m the CEO of X and my boss stays the identical,” she advised the Monetary Instances in an interview on the Cannes promoting convention.
Lower than three weeks later, neither of these issues was true.
Yaccarino on Wednesday introduced she was stepping down from her position as chief government after two years, noting X was “getting into a brand new chapter” with the tie-up with xAI.
Business insiders say Yaccarino was, in some ways, set as much as fail.
She was tasked with bringing again promoting {dollars} to a platform whose politically polarising proprietor had advised manufacturers who didn’t spend with them to “go fuck themselves”.
Musk started heaping extra stress on Yaccarino and the pair didn’t gel, stated 4 individuals who labored with each of them. The billionaire’s blunt fashion clashed along with his deputy’s Madison Avenue polish.
“Sheryl [Sandberg] discovered the rhythm with Mark [Zuckerberg],” stated one of many individuals referring to the previous chief working officer of Meta and its CEO respectively. “Linda couldn’t discover the rhythm with Elon.”
She efficiently boosted X’s promoting enterprise. However as soon as Musk’s AI group xAI purchased X for $45bn in March, “she needed to query why she was there”, stated Brian Wieser of Madison & Wall, an promoting consultancy.
Given Musk’s hands-on, round the clock method to main X, Yaccarino by no means had the form of management that the majority CEOs get pleasure from.
Over the previous six months, Musk had been distracted by his work with Donald Trump’s administration, which lately resulted in a falling out with the US president.
Returning his sights to his companies in current weeks, the billionaire entrepreneur began making unilateral choices at X — even inside the promoting enterprise that was the guts of Yaccarino’s position. His strikes typically blindsided her and her staff.
“Elon calls all of the photographs,” stated one promoting government, who is aware of Yaccarino and Musk, arguing her tenure had turn into significantly untenable over the previous three months. “She tried to trip the tiger however was thrown off.”
Identified within the trade because the “Velvet Hammer”, Yaccarino joined X in 2023 after operating the promoting enterprise for NBCUniversal, the place she was famend for her full Rolodex and powerful relationships with international manufacturers.
She was given the duty of wooing again promoting {dollars} after manufacturers left in droves following Musk’s $44bn 2022 takeover of the platform — over considerations about his unstable administration fashion and fears he was permitting poisonous content material to go unchecked.
Past promoting, she boosted X’s video options, clinched offers with creators and sports activities leagues, and developed X Cash, a digital pockets and peer-to-peer fee service that’s set to be launched later within the yr.
Yaccarino remained publicly loyal to Musk to the top. However some who labored with them believed her expertise as a consummate salesperson damage her relationship with him.
Musk felt Yaccarino was not being absolutely clear concerning the firm’s standing with advertisers, and put a gloss on actuality. He wished her to extra shortly restore the enterprise to monetary well being.
“He didn’t dig her fashion as a shiny, flashy Madison Avenue government,” stated one one who labored with them each. “He needs to have an genuine dialog and never be bullshitted.”
Tensions flared a couple of yr in the past when Musk issued warnings to Yaccarino to speed up development and briefly known as in longtime lieutenant Steve Davis to assessment X’s funds and efficiency administration. The billionaire later employed former Tubi government Mahmoud Reza Banki as chief monetary officer.
Banki reported on to Musk, chatting with him incessantly, reducing out the chief government, one particular person stated. Yaccarino’s relationship with Banki shortly grew to become strained, stated a number of individuals aware of the matter.
Yaccarino wished to allocate funds to content material creator funds and bolstering X’s promoting know-how, however Banki questioned her spending choices and was directing funding to different areas of the corporate, enacting monetary austerity, the individuals stated.
Musk’s relationship with Yaccarino was additionally rocked after she helped safe a content material deal in early 2024 with former CNN anchor Don Lemon that later blew up, based on two individuals aware of the matter. After agreeing to the deal, Lemon carried out a contentious interview with Musk through which he requested if he abused medication, infuriating the billionaire who then cancelled the partnership. Lemon is now suing Musk and X for breach of contract.
The stress took its toll on Yaccarino, stated a number of individuals who labored along with her, describing her as at occasions being tearful within the workplace.
Others word her toughness: “She lasted two years in a job that might have crushed most individuals in two weeks,” stated one former colleague.
Yaccarino additionally gained the hard-fought battle to haul some advertisers again to the platform.
One yr after Musk’s takeover, promoting had fallen about 50 per cent. Yaccarino turned on among the world’s largest manufacturers by suing their commerce group in addition to a number of firms comparable to Shell and Pinterest for anti-competitive behaviour. X accused them of an “unlawful boycott” of the platform.
Musk’s blossoming relationship with Trump added to the stress on manufacturers, which had began returning to X.
Market intelligence group Sensor Tower stated X has “exhibited renewed energy in its advertiser base” citing “massive and notable manufacturers” comparable to Temu, Amazon, Apple, Google, Verizon and Dell among the many high spenders on the platform within the US since January.
Analysis agency Emarketer initiatives X’s income will enhance to $2.3bn this yr, in contrast with $1.9bn a yr in the past. International gross sales in 2022, when Musk took over, had been $4.1bn.
Nevertheless, some advertisers had been resentful of Yaccarino’s strategies.
“To her credit score she did get advertisers again to X,” one longtime promoting government stated. “She did it with a gun, however they got here again.”
Advertisers didn’t return “voluntarily or fortunately”, stated Wieser. For some, “it was higher to spend one thing” to keep away from an X authorized problem.
A number of advertising and marketing executives stated poisonous content material was not the one downside. Yaccarino didn’t make X an efficient promoting platform that delivered a return on funding, they stated.
“You possibly can argue that she didn’t do sufficient to make the platform higher for promoting,” stated one promoting government. “Many consumers don’t promote on X not due to the content material, however as a result of it doesn’t carry out very properly.”
Nonetheless, Yaccarino seemed to be on a roll regardless of being financially constrained, and a few insiders have praised her legacy. “It was Linda’s drive and vitality and relentlessness that helped rebuild a few of these relationships,” the previous colleague stated.
Issues modified when Musk returned from his prolonged foray into politics.
“What saved her was the election and Elon diving deep into the administration, as a result of then he took his eye off X a bit,” stated one one who labored with them.
The merger with xAI got here as Musk turned his focus again to the corporate.
“Now that he’s again into his companies, he was by no means going to place her to be the top of an AI firm in any respect,” the particular person stated.
In current weeks, Musk took a number of unilateral choices round promoting, stated individuals aware of the matter. He banned hashtags from advertisements, and introduced X would cost manufacturers based mostly on vertical measurement. He additionally employed Nikita Bier, an entrepreneur and high-profile X person, as head of product.
Yaccarino thought Musk was not centered sufficient on security, a problem essential to her, based on one particular person aware of the matter.
Yaccarino knowledgeable a choose few forward of time of her departure. This coincided with xAI’s Grok chatbot on Wednesday spewing antisemitic hate, though the 2 had been unrelated, based on X employees.
X and Yaccarino declined to remark. Musk didn’t reply to a request for remark.
It’s unclear what comes subsequent for the promoting veteran. Often known as a dedicated Republican, her unwavering help for Trump and Musk shocked many promoting associates.
Her years-long defence of Musk might stand in the way in which of a CEO position at one other media or leisure firm, based on trade insiders.
However the X position helped enhance her connections in Washington.
She personally is aware of Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump, who has helped dealer her relationship with the president, stated individuals aware of the matter.
She can also be shut mates with Scott Turner, the present secretary of the Division of Housing and City Improvement, and the director of intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. One longtime confidante stated Yaccarino remained strongly supportive of Trump regardless of his blow-up with Musk.
Some suspect her subsequent transfer could also be to take a job within the administration or as a free speech advocate. Yaccarino began sporting a diamond-studded necklace studying ‘Free Speech’ a couple of yr into her management of X.
Mike Benz, an official in Trump’s first administration who now runs a free speech watchdog, praised Yaccarino on X after her resignation.
“She stepped up for all of us within the face of what appeared like insurmountable stress from governments, advertisers, boycotters, banking establishments, and astroturfed lynch mobs,” he wrote. Yaccarino later shared the put up.
“Previous to X, she was on the Mount Rushmore of advert executives,” stated Lou Paskalis, chief government of selling consultancy AJL Advisory. “She doesn’t have to work, however she must exit in fashion. And I believe that’s what’s subsequent for her.”
Extra reporting by Daniel Thomas
