X CEO Linda Yaccarino to step down

X CEO Linda Yaccarino said Wednesday she is stepping down from her role.Why it matters: Yaccarino was the first permanent CEO Elon Musk hired after buying the platform in 2022. Under her leadership, X has managed to maintain its dominance as the top social discourse app in the U.S., but its ads business still faces challenges. Zoom in: Yaccarino announced the decision in a post on X."When @elonmusk and I first spoke of his vision for X, I knew it would be the opportunity of a lifetime to carry out the extraordinary mission of this company," she said.Yaccarino continued that she was "grateful" to Musk "for entrusting me with the responsibility of protecting free speech, turning the company around, and transforming X into the Everything App.""I'm incredibly proud of the X team - the historic business turnaround we have accomplished together has been nothing short of remarkable," she said.Catch up quick: Yaccarino was hired in 2023 after running NBCUniversal's ad business for more than a decade. Her hiring alleviated pressure on Musk from Tesla investors who were concerned he wasn't dedicating enough time to running his electric vehicle company. Musk's disparaging rhetoric toward the advertising community presented Yaccarino with unique challenges. He told advertisers engaging in boycotts against his platform to "go f*** yourself" in late 2023. In May, eMarketer predicted that X's ad revenue will grow this year — the first time in four years — but will still only be about half of what it was in 2021, the year before Musk's takeover.The big picture: Under Yaccarino, X introduced a slew of new product changes meant to transform the app from a social discourse platform to an "everything app" that serves multiple functions at once. The company introduced a new connected TV app last year. It's teaming with Visa to launch a payments platform this year. But X is still mostly known as a social discourse platform. Despite competition — increasingly from Meta's Threads — it's still the dominant platform for real-time conversations in the U.S., per Similarweb.Earlier this year, Musk announced that xAI had acquired X in an all-stock deal.xAI also developed the Grok chatbot, whose technology has been integrated into some features on X.Grok has drawn criticism for promoting antisemitic tropes and offensive language. The company said Tuesday it is working to "quickly identify and update the model where training could be improved."State of play: Once the ultimate cheerleader for Madison Avenue, Yaccarino's relationship with the advertising community shifted when she became CEO of X, then Twitter. Under Yaccarino, X waged a high-profile lawsuit against a major advertising industry coalition and its members, alleging the group abused its influence over marketers and ad agencies to discriminate unfairly against X, prompting an ad boycott.The lawsuit proved effective, in that it forced the industry's widely accepted brand safety coalition to shutter. Later, the Federal Trade Commission reportedly launched investigations into roughly a dozen ad groups similarly alleging coordinated boycotts.Earlier this year, a Wall Street Journal report alleged X had threatened to sue advertisers that didn't buy ads on the platform. Yaccarino slammed the report.Yes, but: Yaccarino has proven highly resilient in the face of pressure from the marketing community. She continued to lead X for more than 18 months after a slew of high-profile marketing figures publicly urged her to step down. Last month, she appeared on numerous stages at the annual Cannes Lions Festival for Creativity in France, mostly to tout improvements to X's ad platform and products. She spoke with Serena Williams to announce a new podcast, available exclusively on X, with her sister Venus Williams. The podcast highlights X's push to improve its relationship with creators and sports leagues under Yaccarino. X also extended partnerships with the NFL and NBA. Creators and athletes like Khloé Kardashian and Midge Purce launched exclusive shows on the platform.Zoom out: X's legal threats are part of a greater push by Yaccarino to force an ad industry reset, in the wake of a broader societal shift away from heavily moderated speech. In the wake of those changes, X has spearheaded a less moderated approach to free speech, one that other social platforms have since followed. Meta, for example, eliminated fact-checking and rolled out its version of X's Community Notes feature earlier this year What to watch: X has yet to name Yaccarino's replacement.

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