Elon Musk has announced the appointment of a new CEO to head Twitter.
He made the announcement on the social media site, which he purchased last year for $44 billion (£35 billion).
Mr Musk did not name the site’s new leader, but stated that “she” will begin in six weeks and that he would become executive chairman and chief technical officer.
According to reports, the next CEO will be Linda Yaccarino, the director of advertising sales at media conglomerate NBCUniversal, which later confirmed her departure.
Mr Musk has been under pressure to choose someone else to head the firm so that he may focus on his other ventures.
After Twitter users voted for him to resign in an online poll last year, he stated, “No one wants the job who can actually keep Twitter alive.”
However, while Mr Musk had stated that he would relinquish control, it was unclear when or even if this would occur.
Excited to announce that I’ve hired a new CEO for X/Twitter. She will be starting in ~6 weeks!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 11, 2023
My role will transition to being exec chair & CTO, overseeing product, software & sysops.
Tesla stock increased following the announcement. Shareholders have already accused Mr Musk of abandoning Tesla following his purchase of Twitter and harming the auto company’s reputation.
“We ultimately view this as a major step forward with Musk finally reading the room that has been around this Twitter nightmare,” Wedbush Securities’ Dan Ives said.
“Trying to balance Twitter, Tesla, and SpaceX as CEOs [is] an impossible task that needed to change.”
The Wall Street Journal and Variety reported that NBCUniversal’s Ms Yaccarino was in discussions to become Twitter’s CEO. On Friday, NBCUniversal stated that Ms Yaccarino had departed the company, fueling conjecture.
Twitter did not respond to the reports.
It might be tough to tell when the billionaire and Twitter owner is serious.
When asked by the BBC last month who would follow him as CEO of the social media firm, Mr Musk claimed he had made a dog Twitter’s leader.
However, if Mr Musk has truly chosen a female executive, she will be one of the few women to lead a large technological corporation.
Last year, women made up less than 10% of the CEOs of the 500 largest corporations in the United States.
Although Mr. Musk has mentioned paying members to Twitter Blue, advertising generates the vast bulk of income at Twitter.
The new CEO will undoubtedly try to repair connections with advertisers and allay their concerns about content regulation.
Mr Musk, a self-described free speech absolutist, has stated that he took over Twitter in order to safeguard free expression. Advertisers, on the other hand, do not want their material to be associated with disinformation or extreme content.
He only bought Twitter in October after being compelled to do so by a lawsuit. Mr Musk controversially sacked hundreds of employees upon taking over the company, which had struggled to be profitable.
Mr Musk stated in March that his efforts had paid off and that the platform’s economics were improving.
And, last month, he told the BBC that the majority of advertisers that had left Twitter immediately after the acquisition had returned.
By James Clayton & Natalie Sherman
North America technology reporter and New York business reporter