Social Media Platform X's CEO Faces Challenges
TapTechNews June 24th news, according to the Financial Times report, the CEO of social media platform X, Linda Yaccarino, is facing pressure from her boss Elon Musk to increase sales and reduce costs. One year after joining the company, she reorganized her inner circle. According to people familiar with the matter, Linda Yaccarino fired her trusted assistant and head of business operations and communications, Joe Benarroch, this month.
Two X employees said that Yaccarino thought Benarroch made a major mistake during the rollout of the new adult content policy and didn't inform customers of the changes before the policy was made public. The person replacing Benarroch's responsibilities is Nick Pickles, the global head of government affairs, and his job scope will be temporarily expanded to cover all global communications affairs. According to several people familiar with the matter, Pickles is one of the few senior executives remaining after Musk's acquisition of the X platform, and he will accompany Yaccarino and Musk to the Cannes Lions Festival this week for the first time.
TapTechNews noted that this reorganization comes at a time when the relationship between Musk and Yaccarino is increasingly tense. Since Musk poached Yaccarino from NBCUniversal to serve as the CEO of X, Yaccarino has been struggling to stabilize X's financial situation. An X executive said that as Musk stepped up his demands for her to increase revenue and reduce costs, Yaccarino was increasingly nervous. For example, Musk wants to reduce the number of people in the US and UK sales teams and cut expenses in areas such as travel. Another executive said that the departure of some employees recently is related to regular performance evaluations.
Company insiders said that Yaccarino stated in the meeting this month that she would focus on performance management. Meanwhile, according to two people familiar with the matter, Musk's long-time ally, the CEO of Boring Company, Steve Davis, was hired by Musk in April to review X's financial situation and performance management. People familiar with the matter said that Davis has been evaluating low-performing employees and plans to lay off dozens.
According to two people familiar with the matter, Yaccarino is aware of the potential threat to her authority from Davis. After Musk bought X (then known as Twitter) and fired its then-CEO, Davis was considered a strong contender for the CEO position. Davis's wife also works at X, responsible for the platform's real estate strategy.
This week in Cannes, Musk and Yaccarino are trying to win back the trust of advertisers and brand owners in person, after companies such as Disney, IBM, and Apple suspended advertising on the platform due to content moderation issues and Musk's controversial leadership style and remarks. X platform managers said that in the past few months, more than 60% of brand owners who suspended advertising have resumed advertising, but on a smaller scale. One person familiar with the matter said that in Musk's communication with advertisers, the X platform management emphasized the platform's security and new features such as video advertising and targeted marketing. However, some Cannes advertising executives told the Financial Times that X is not in the priority list of channels they use for brand clients.