IT’S YACC TO THE FUTURE
Elon’s new CEO had long coveted Twitter
ELON Musk’s hire of Linda Yaccarino as Twitter’s new CEO came after a whirlwind courtship — but the ad guru has had her sights on the struggling social network for nearly a decade, sources told On The Money.
Musk snagged Yaccarino earlier this month in talks that didn’t become serious until almost 24 hours before Musk’s viral tweet on May 11 that he had “a new CEO for X/Twitter,” according to sources briefed on the surprise move.
But 60-year-old Yaccarino’s relationship with Twitter was a slow burn: According to insiders, the hard-charging exec had pushed former employer NBCUniversal to consider acquiring the social media platform multiple times.
Beginning in 2014, Yaccarino hosted three formal presentations with NBCU’s executive leadership team that outlined what a Twitter deal would look like, a source with direct knowledge said.
While executives kicked the tires, they never retained bankers or took the next step toward completing an acquisition.
Yaccarino didn’t meet Musk until about six months ago, but sources said she wasted no time showing him her vision for what the company could be.
In February, she phoned him, invited him to the Possible Conference in Miami, asked to interview him onstage — and even hosted an intimate dinner for him with other marketing executives at the posh Faena Hotel in April.
For Musk, it was one of the first successful meetings he had with advertising execs.
Earlier this month, Musk and Yaccarino saw each other again at advertising behemoth WPP’s Stream Conference in Napa Valley where they had an hourlong conversation that ultimately cemented Musk’s decision to bring her on board.
“She has wanted it but it didn’t really happen until a day or two before” the May 11 tweet, a source with knowledge told On The Money.
People close to Yaccarino say she feels the policy Twitter unveiled last month, “Freedom of speech, not reach,” will make it easier for her to get more advertisers. The new policy asserts ads will not be placed alongside any content flagged as problematic.
“Linda knows the marketplace, she knows the Twitter product intimately, and she knows a thing or two about big scale partnerships and has a vision,” a source who spoke on the condition of anonymity told On The Money. “I’m pretty sure Elon saw all of that and it helped confirm his decision.”
Still, the timing was awkward. Yaccarino’s resignation came days before the ad industry’s annual “upfronts” — when TV networks try to line up advertisers for the months ahead. Yaccarino had been preparing for weeks ahead of the presentation — which she ended up skipping after news broke of her new role at Twitter.
Now the one organization she should be closest to — NBC — may be one of her most difficult advertising relationships to repair.
“Yaccarino wanted to exit on good terms . . . and then Elon tweeted about her coming on board and the news broke and NBC went bats--t crazy,” a source close to the situation told On The Money. “She wanted to maintain a good relationship with NBC because they do so many deals with Twitter.”