© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A view of the Twitter logo at the company’s corporate headquarters in San Francisco, California, US, November 18, 2022. REUTERS/Carlos Barrea
(Reuters) – Newly appointed Twitter CEO Linda Iaccarino said in a tweet Saturday that she was inspired by owner Elon Musk’s vision to create a brighter future and that she’s excited to help transform the social media platform.
It was Yaccarino’s first time speaking publicly since news broke Thursday that she was in talks to become Twitter’s next CEO. Musk, who has held the CEO position since his $44 billion purchase of Twitter last October, announced her appointment on Friday.
“(Musk’s) vision has long inspired me to create a brighter future. I’m excited to help bring that vision to Twitter and transform this business together!” Yaccarino tweeted.
She has spent several years modernizing her advertising business, said Yaccarino, who served as president of advertising at Comcast Corp.’s NBCUniversal (NASDAQ:) and is committed to the future of Twitter. User feedback is critical to building Twitter 2.0, she said.
Yaccarino will take over the social media platform that has been trying to reverse a decline in ad revenue and is facing challenges, along with a heavy debt burden.
Since Musk acquired Twitter, advertisers have fled the platform, worried about their ads appearing next to inappropriate content after the company lost nearly 80% of its staff. Musk acknowledged earlier this year that Twitter had suffered a massive drop in ad revenue.
While Musk has said Yaccarino will help build an “everything app,” which he previously said could offer a variety of services such as peer-to-peer payments, his selection of an ad expert suggests that digital advertising will continue to be a primary focus of the business. .
Musk has long said he intends to find a new leader for Twitter.
Musk, who is also the CEO of electric car maker Tesla (NASDAQ:: Inc), said Friday that bringing in Yaccarino as the new head of Twitter will help him devote more time to Tesla.