She’s gonna have to take over Twitter: Why Musk didn’t announce the name of his CEO at Tesla? The case of NBCU
Since Musk took over the company, most of its employees have left or been fired. He has saddled the company with debt just as advertisers have left.
The other question is if Musk has caused any problems for his other companies and how it will affect them in the future. In December, Tesla investors were openly calling for Musk to hand over control of Twitter as the car company’s stock price dropped to $101, just a third of its peak price over the last year, at around $314. Now Tesla has slashed prices on vehicles and is facing lower margins in what some are calling an EV price war, as it faces more competition than ever before.
If I had to guess, the reason Musk didn’t announce the name is because of unfortunate timing on Yaccarino’s end. NBCU is slated to give its annual Upfront presentation to advertisers on Monday, which Yaccarino is apparently in rehearsals for today. Awkward!
Yaccarino is certainly qualified to be his CEO since he will be almost solely focused on the business. She already runs a multi-billion-dollar ads business and is well respected among the cohort of CMOs who need to be convinced to spend on the platform again. Importantly, I’m told that she and Musk also see eye to eye politically.
I wish I could say with certainty that it’s her, though the deal doesn’t seem to be totally done. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that she’s “in talks” for the job, and Dylan Byers of Puck says Musk “plans” to give it to her. Unfortunately, her spokesperson is ghosting me and Twitter has resorted to responding to press inquiries with a poop emoji.
It is unclear if Musk’s successor will continue to carry out his mandate of relaxing content moderation rules and attempting to find new ways to generate revenue on the ailing platform.
Notably, he reactivated former President Donald Trump’s account, which had been “permanently suspended” for inciting violence after the Jan. 6 siege on the Capitol. He welcomed back users who had previously been banned from the platform for violating policies against harassment and violent speech.
Musk has ruled the embattled site erratically, making policy decisions that affect the whole platform on a whim and rapidly introducing a dizzying array of changes, including stripping users of “verified” blue check marks and allowing anyone to purchase a “verified” badge.
The role of the replacement of the $O(a)$-Millionaire in the collapse of $bmHo$
The announcement of a soon-to-be named replacement has been expected, as the billionaire has suggested repeatedly that he does not intend to lead the company permanently.