Linda Yaccarino Resigns as CEO of X Amidst Challenges with Elon Musk

Linda Yaccarino has resigned as CEO of X (formerly Twitter) after a challenging two-year tenure. She posted: “After two incredible years, I’ve decided to step down as CEO of X. I’m incredibly proud of the X team - the historic business turn around we have accomplished together has been nothing short of remarkable.”

Until now, Yaccarino has tackled the impossible task of saving X’s advertising revenue from the very person who controls the platform: Elon Musk. 

X Faced Heavy Losses in Advertising Revenue Because of Musk’s Comments and Policies

Many advertisers left and remained hesitant to return, because of concerns about the proliferation of hate speech and controversial content on the platform, particularly in relation to anti-semitism that seemed to be increasing in the platform.

Musk’s eccentric leadership and lack of filter certainly didn’t help quell advertisers worries. 

When talking about his controversial post on X, where he tweeted “you have spoken the truth,” in response to a post claiming the Jewish community perpetuates hatred against whites, Musk gave an audacious speech: “If someone is going to blackmail me with advertising or money go f**k yourself. Go. F**k. Yourself. Is that clear? Hey Bob (in reference to Disney CEO Bob Igar), if you’re in the audience, that’s how I feel.”

As a result of Musk’s leadership and growing hate speech on the platform, X suffered heavy losses in advertising revenue. The company's ad revenue was reportedly cut by more than half between 2022 and 2023. 

Despite this, Yaccarino worked hard and was able to get 96% advertisers back on X and have ad revenue projected to return to growth this year. As one executive said: “To her credit, she did get advertisers back to X. She did it with a gun, but they came back.”

Musk Undermined Yaccarino

The relationship between Yaccarino and Musk was less than ideal. This is especially because of Musk’s constraint on Yaccarino’s role as CEO, where Musk would continue making unilateral decisions. One advertising executive claimed “Elon calls all the shots. She tried to ride the tiger but was thrown off.” 

A significant breaking point was when Yaccarino secured a content deal with former CNN anchor Don Lemon but Musk decided to break that deal after Lemon asked if Musk did drugs. The result is a large lawsuit for breach of contract. Insiders claimed that the entire process took a huge emotional toll on Yaccarino.

Yaccarino also noted in her resignation that X was entering a new chapter with its merger with Musk’s AI group xAI. Brian Wieser of Madison & Wall commented how the merger had the effect of making her “question why she was there.” This is especially as her resignation coincided with xAI’s scandal with its chatbot Grok, which went haywire and spewed antisemitic material. The reason for this sudden outburst was Musk encouraging people to give politically incorrect information to train the bot to rely less on the mainstream media, resulting in the bot calling itself “MechaHitler” and endorsing a second Holocaust.

Executives Leaving Musk’s Companies Becomes A Pattern

Yaccarino's exit is not an isolated incident. It is part of a pattern of high-profile executive departures that have resigned across Musk's various ventures. Over the past 12 months alone, a staggering fourteen executive leaders have departed from key positions at X, Tesla, and SpaceX, collectively painting a picture of broader issues that come from working with Musk.