Linda Yaccarino, CEO of X, has said she will leave the company after two years at the helm.
Yaccarino was hired to lead X, then known as Twitter, eight months after Elon Musk’s purchase of the company. She was often tasked with mending relationships with advertisers, as brands withdrew from the platform due to the spread of hate speech on X under Musk.
“When [Elon Musk] and I first spoke of his vision for X, I knew it would be the opportunity of a lifetime to carry out the extraordinary mission of this company. I’m immensely grateful to him for entrusting me with the responsibility of protecting free speech, turning the company around, and transforming X into the Everything App,” wrote Yaccarino.
“X is truly a digital town square for all voices and the world’s most powerful culture signal. We couldn’t have achieved that without the support of our users, business partners, and the most innovative team in the world.”
Yaccarino's resignation comes hours after X’s Grok chatbot made a number of antisemitic and racist posts, including praising Adolf Hitler, which the company has since deleted. Grok is developed by xAI, Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company, and is integrated with X.
While she did not give a reason for her exit, Yaccarino had discussed plans to depart the company earlier in the week, per the New York Times.
xAI also acquired X in March for US$33 billion. At the time, Musk said the two companies would combine their data, AI models, infrastructure, and employees.
Yaccarino had pushed companies to resume advertising on X with threats of lawsuits, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal last month. At least six companies agreed to advertise on the platform after receiving a lawsuit threat or extensive pressure from Yaccarino, including Verizon and Ralph Lauren.
Before joining X, Yaccarino had been NBCUniversal’s chair of global advertising and partnerships from 2011 to 2023. She was hired after Musk held a public vote on X on whether he should resign as chief executive, having dismissed around 75% of the platform’s employees.
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