Why Linda Yaccarino Has Stepped Down as X CEO

Linda Yaccarino has announced her departure as chief executive of X, ending a two-year tenure marked by revenue declines and platform controversies. 

The former NBCUniversal advertising chief wrote in a post on X that she had “decided to step down as CEO” after “two incredible years”.

Her departure comes one day after Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok repeatedly made antisemitic comments and praised Adolf Hitler before the company intervened and took down the posts, apologising for the “inappropriate” posts.

Linda Yaccarino: From NBCUniversal to X CEO

Yaccarino graduated from Pennsylvania State University’s Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications with a bachelor's degree in telecommunications in 1985. She began her career in advertising at Turner Broadcasting System, where she worked for 19 years. At Turner, she worked for 15 years, becoming EVP and Chief Operating Officer.

In 2011, Yaccarino joined NBCUniversal as President of Advertising Sales, subsequently leading the growth of the company’s advertising sales efforts both nationally and globally to a US$10bn+ business annually. In October 2020, she was elevated to Chairman, Global Advertising and Partnerships.

Musk hired Yaccarino as CEO of X in May of 2023, months after he purchased the social blogging site Twitter for US$44bn. “I am excited to welcome Linda Yaccarino as the new CEO of Twitter!” he wrote, adding that she would “focus primarily on business operations, while I focus on product design & new technology”.

“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,” Yaccarino wrote in her departure statement. “I’m immensely grateful to him for entrusting me with the responsibility of protecting free speech, turning the company around and transforming X into the Everything App.”

Challenges during X tenure

Throughout her two years as CEO, Yaccarino acted as a staunch supporter of Musk and repeatedly defended him on social media. Yaccarino was primarily tasked with overseeing “business operations” at X, which included trying to placate advertisers as the social platform underwent substantial changes to its safety and content moderation policies.

However, she also often found herself doing damage control in the wake of something Musk had said or did — fighting to convince Madison Avenue that Twitter/X was not a “free-for-all hellscape”.

In November, after Musk made comments in support of an antisemitic conspiracy theory, a number of companies, including Yaccarino’s former employer, Comcast, paused their advertising with X. Yaccarino attributed the pause in advertising to a Media Matters for America report that claimed ads on X from major corporations had appeared next to white nationalist and Nazi content, rather than to Musk’s comments.

Yaccarino’s departure came one day after Grok began making antisemitic comments and praised Adolf Hitler. On Tuesday, Grok connected several antisemitic tropes to posts about the Texas floods and publicly identified itself as “MechaHitler”. On Tuesday evening, the Grok account posted on X: “We are aware of recent posts made by Grok and are actively working to remove the inappropriate posts”.

X integration with xAI creates business complexity

Grok is built by Musk's company xAI, which merged with X in March 2025 in an all-stock transaction that valued the AI company at US$80bn and the social media company at US$33bn. The move formally combined the two entities that were already closely intertwined, but raised questions about Yaccarino’s role in the new company going forward.

In announcing her exit from X, Yaccarino said “the best is yet to come as X enters a new chapter with @xai”.

“I’m incredibly proud of the X team – the historic business turn around we have accomplished together has been nothing short of remarkable,” Yaccarino wrote in her departure statement. “We started with the critical early work necessary to prioritise the safety of our users – especially children, and to restore advertiser confidence.

“This team has worked relentlessly from groundbreaking innovations like Community Notes, and, soon, X Money to bringing the most iconic voices and content to the platform. X is truly a digital town square for all voices and the world's most powerful culture signal.”

Musk wrote in reply to Yaccarino’s resignation notice: “Thank you for your contributions”.