Elon Musk confirms who he's appointed as new Twitter CEO
After months of speculation, the wait is finally over as Twitter appoints a new CEO.
The announcement came earlier this afternoon (12 May), as Elon Musk told users that Linda Yaccarino will be taking over the high-profile role.
This is despite the billionaire previously joking that he would only step down if he found someone 'foolish enough' to take it on.
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This latest development comes less than 24 hours after Musk teased the new hire in a cryptic tweet.
On 11 May, the businessman made an initial announcement about the role with a tweet which read: "Excited to announce that I’ve hired a new CEO for X/Twitter. She will be starting in ~6 weeks!"
He also explained what his position would be moving forwards on the social media platform, revealing that he would 'transition' to a Chief Technical Officer role.
Having broken the internet, he wished the former head of advertising all the best in her new role: "Looking forward to working with Linda to transform this platform into X, the everything app."
This despite the Tesla founder and owner only taking on the role in October of last year, after a, um, chaotic takeover of the brand - which saw Musk back out before being forced to become the new owner.
During this period, the billionaire dramatically reduce Twitter's workforce by half and many advertisers even suspended their ties with the platform.
When asked whether he would resign, Musk tweeted: "I will resign as CEO as soon as I find someone foolish enough to take the job! After that, I will just run the software & servers teams."
Though many users will be relieved to see Musk step down as CEO, it's unclear how much control Yaccarino will have over the platform as the Space X founder continues on as the company's owner.
Yaccarino has also come under fire from conspiracy theorists on the platform for her links to the World Economic Forum.
The 60-year-old currently chairs a WEF Taskforce, which focuses on the future of work and developed a pro-vaccine campaign during the COVID-19 pandemic.
One critic is actor James Wood, who has previously been banned from Twitter after he shared misleading information about the US voting system.
Venting his frustration at the news, he shared Yaccarino's LinkedIn profile and pointedly wrote: "Oh well, it was fun while it lasted. I wonder how they got to him? #ShadowBanning."
However, this hasn't stopped others from welcoming the news with Musk's tweet going viral and gaining over 2 million views since it was posted earlier today.
Katherine Sidnell