Two years after taking on the position, X CEO Linda Yaccarino announced on Wednesday that she is leaving the position.
In a post on X, Yaccarino, 61, who was Elon Musk's first permanent CEO after purchasing the platform in 2022, made the announcement.
Yaccarino went on to say that she was "appreciative" of Musk "for giving me the ability to defend free expression, turn the company around, and make X the Everything App."
After more than ten years as the head of NBCUniversal's advertising division, Yaccarino joined the company in 2023, in part to allay investor worries that Musk was ignoring his duties at the electric vehicle manufacturer. The business was then called Twitter.
When Yaccarino first joined X, she had a difficult uphill climb ahead of her. Musk quickly enacted radical reforms that enraged advertisers, staff, and users alike. Most significantly, he loosened content moderation guidelines, which caused a spike in offensive content on the platform. Many advertisers immediately withdrew as a result of the impact.
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In addition to managing day-to-day operations, one of Yaccarino's main responsibilities was to mend the damaged relationships and regain confidence that Musk's transformation had destroyed.
According to NYT, Yaccarino's departure brings an end to a turbulent period at X, the business that was once known as Twitter and that Musk has drastically changed since purchasing it for $44 billion in 2022. Musk has retracted content filtering guidelines, reduced the number of employees on the site by about 75 percent, and transformed X into a political and personal megaphone.
Once a significant source of income, advertisers were upset by Musk's reforms, which caused the company's advertising business to drastically fall.
Musk disclosed in March that he had sold X to his artificial intelligence company, xAI, in a unique all-stock deal that highlighted the financial interdependencies in his business empire.
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The deal, according to Musk, valued X at $33 billion and xAI at $80 billion. With a possible valuation of up to $120 billion, xAI has apparently been looking for more finance ever since.