Linda Yaccarino, CEO of social network X, announces her departure.
Linda Yaccarino Steps Down as CEO of X
Linda Yaccarino, the CEO of social network X, owned by Elon Musk, announced Wednesday, July 9th, that she would be stepping down from her position, just two years after taking office. The reasons for her departure were not specified.
In a message posted on X, Yaccarino stated she was “immensely grateful” to Musk “for his trust,” adding that she was “incredibly proud” of the work accomplished, particularly in the area of “protecting freedom of expression,” in her words.
The head of Tesla and SpaceX had hired the American media figure six months after acquiring Twitter for $44 billion. The platform’s value had plummeted to $20 billion over the same period, due to the new owner’s measures – laying off two-thirds of employees, reinstating controversial figures, overhauling the account authentication system – which had caused user and advertiser confidence to plunge.
Musk never truly relinquished control of the social network, which he extensively used to campaign for Donald Trump last year, and then to denigrate the President of the United States and Republican elected officials, even announcing the launch of his own party this weekend, the America Party.
Merger with xAI
He also integrated Grok, a rival to ChatGPT and a product of his artificial intelligence (AI) start-up xAI, into X. The AI assistant regularly sparks new controversies, notably with racist remarks, as its parameters are more flexible than those of other major generative AI models. In March, xAI merged with X in a transaction valuing xAI at $80 billion and the social network at $33 billion.
Prior to X, Yaccarino spent twelve years at NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of cable operator Comcast, where she helped unify all of the group’s media outlets within a single advertising platform, to simplify the offering for advertisers.
During her tenure, X launched several features, including Community Notes, a participatory fact-checking system, and announced the development of X Money, a financial service aligned with Musk’s vision of transforming the platform into a “universal application.”
“I am extremely proud of the X team – the historic turnaround we have accomplished together is simply remarkable,” she stated on Wednesday. She promised to continue supporting her former colleagues “in the continuation of this adventure to continue changing the world.”
Le Monde with AFP
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