When Linda Yaccarino joined Elon Musk’s Twitter two years in the past, she left a snug job as one of many promoting indutry’s strongest gamers to wager that she may assist Musk develop Twitter right into a digital behemoth.
“I’ve lengthy been impressed by your imaginative and prescient to create a brighter future. I’m excited to assist carry this imaginative and prescient to Twitter and remodel this enterprise collectively!” Yaccarino said on the platform after Musk introduced her rent.
It’s been an extended two years. Advertisers revolted. Checkmarks vanished than reappeared. A premium tier was launched. Musk rebranded Twitter as X as he revealed plans to make it into an “every part app.” Generative AI exploded, and Musk folded his Grok AI into the platform. Then Musk’s AI firm xAi purchased X outright.
Now Yaccarino is out, and the trade is questioning what comes subsequent.
The place does Linda land?
At NBCU, Yaccarino was one of the vital highly effective folks in promoting, however X has been a slog, largely as a consequence of Musk’s personal priorities, which haven’t essentially put advertiser pursuits first. In line with The Wall Road Journal, X engaged in one thing of a powerful arm marketing campaign to get advertisers again on the platform, together with the threat of lawsuits. Which will have burned some bridges with advert world gamers.
On the identical time, Yaccarino has maintained key relationships with trade energy brokers, and was lively in conferences on the Cannes Lions promoting summit lower than a month in the past. The potential of one other job within the promoting world shouldn’t be out of the query.
One risk: Paramount International.
Former NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell is poised to grow to be president of Paramount International when Skydance completes its acquisition of the corporate, which is extensively anticipated within the subsequent month or two. Shell labored carefully with Yaccarino at NBCU, and promoted her in 2020 to chairman of worldwide promoting and partnerships. Shell was let go by the corporate only a few weeks earlier than Yaccarino’s exit, but when he and David Ellison do clear home at Paramount, it isn’t loopy to assume that there may very well be a house for Yaccarino on the firm.
Don’t rely it out: A job within the Trump administration.
Yaccarino’s politics are recognized to skew conservative, which is one cause some folks weren’t shocked to see her be a part of Musk at Twitter, given his personal political leanings. After all that was earlier than his very public falling out with President Trump.
Maybe Yaccarino’s break up provides her an opportunity to safe a authorities function. In spite of everything, Trump appointed her in his first time period to the President’s Council on Sports activities, Health, and Diet. Why not an open ambassadorship or different function?
Most likely a longshot: WPP CEO.
There may be one very highly effective, crucial promoting job open proper now, and the corporate is in search of somebody with advert chops and an understanding of the perils and alternatives of AI. WPP is on the hunt for a brand new CEO, with Mark Learn set to retire on the finish of this yr.
The promoting big is in search of a veteran govt to guide it into the longer term, and there aren’t many advert executives which have as a lot expertise as Yaccarino. That mentioned, the hard-nosed ways employed at Twitter and X may be a turnoff for among the holding firm’s purchasers.
What about X?
Musk didn’t announce a brand new CEO at X (his solely touch upon the matter was a reply to her publish: “Thanks to your contributions”), however Yaccarino’s exit raises questions on the way forward for the platform’s promoting and content material technique.
Musk has grander ambitions, with AI on the forefront, and plans for a fee system and different options. Does he change her as CEO? Or does he lead he firm himself? Similar to he does at Tesla, Neuralink, xAI, and The Boring Firm (SpaceX, uniquely, has Gwynne Shotwell main it day-to-day as president and COO).
The corporate has additionally been chopping content material offers, together with for podcasts hosted by Venus and Serena Williams and Khloe Kardashian, an unique WWE idea known as WWE Velocity, in addition to a cope with the NFL for its NFL Prime 100 sequence. Will X keep within the unique content material enterprise?
After which there’s AI. Now that X is a part of xAI, there’s little doubt that Musk is focusing on OpenAI and Anthropic greater than Instagram or TikTok. Regardless of Grok’s very public issues this week (strive looking for “Grok MechaHitler” for the backstory), that appears to be Musk’s precedence, and the best way to lift huge quantities of capital. Traders need AI corporations to purchase into, not ad-supported social platforms. It’s why Mark Zuckerberg is dangling nine-figure pay packages for AI engineers that be a part of Meta, and why OpenAI spent $6.5 billion to accumulate Jony Ive’s new wearables firm.