Who is Linda Yaccarino, Twitter's new female CEO?

Elon Musk has announced that Linda Yaccarino, NBCUniversal’s ex-head of global advertising, will take over as Twitter's new CEO from 16 June this year.

Musk made the announcement in a tweet posted to his personal social media page this week where he noted that Yaccarino will focus primarily on business operations. Musk himself will continue to play a pivotal role in the management of the social media platform and will see his role transition such that he focuses more on product design and new technology.

The news comes just days after Musk revealed that he had hired a new CEO for Twitter. At that point, Musk noted that the new CEO, who was unnamed at the time, would be starting in six weeks and that his role would transition to that of executive chair and chief technology officer overseeing product, software and SysOps, a delivery style used for IT service management. 

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Musk added that he would be working closely with Yaccarino to transform the Twitter platform into X, the "everything app". 

Musk has been saying since December that he would be stepping down as CEO as soon as he found someone "foolish enough to take the job". At the time, he noted that he will run the software and servers team when he finds a new CEO. 

Yaccarino brings to Twitter vast experience in the advertising space having spent just over 11 years at NBCUniversal Media. Before she held the role of chairman of global advertising, Yaccarino worked at Turner, a broadcast media production company that creates content for entertainment, sports and news. Yaccarino held the role of executive vice president of advertising sales, marketing and acquisitions in her just over 19 years there. 

Yaccarino joins Twitter at a volatile time for the social media platform as Musk continues to make significant changes as CEO. Most recently, Twitter Blue, a paid monthly subscription service on the platform that allows users to subscribe and access a more premium version of Twitter, made headlines for its volatile strategy. 

Blue ticks, which used to be a status symbol for celebrities and notable figures, was initially meant to be removed from April 1 but this did not happen and many suspected that Musk would not keep to his promise. However, later in the month, Musk noted that 20 April would be the final date for blue ticks and surprisingly, all ticks were removed from legacy accounts. 

Musk said at that point in time that order to stay verified, these users would need to pay US$8 a month to join the platform's Twitter Blue subscription. If not, they would have their verified status revoked.

The decision drew the ire of many high-profile celebrities who voiced concerns regarding impersonation and misinformation. 

Just days after Musk removed all the blue check marks from users, the checks mysteriously began appearing on the accounts of certain notable figure, many of whom quickly took to their platforms to emphasise that they did pay for or ask for the verification button. 

Some of these accounts include those of scientist Neil deGrasse Tyson, Lil Nas X, and more. Even more mysteriously, the accounts of deceased public figures such as Bob Saget, Barbara Walters and Kirstie Alley started seeing blue ticks next to their usernames. 

This started a debate online as netizens began wondering how many verified badges Twitter was giving out at no charge and why some had to pay while others did not.

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