Twitter CEO Elon Musk announced on Thursday that he has hired a new CEO for Twitter. However, he did not reveal the name of the new chief executive. Instead, he said that he would transition to the role of Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of the social media platform within the next few weeks. Musk had previously not disclosed any prospective candidates for the role. Speculation among tech and media insiders and on Blind, an anonymous messaging app for tech employees, suggested several possible candidates.
The speculation suggests several possible candidates, including Linda Yaccarino, a top advertising sales executive at Comcast’s NBCUniversal, and former Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer.
Musk will be transitioning to the role of Twitter’s executive chair in addition to the CTO position, where he will oversee product, software, and sysops. The announcement helped alleviate some investor concerns around Musk’s active involvement at Twitter.
Musk has long said he intended to find a new leader for Twitter. In a Twitter poll, he started in December, 57.5% of users voted for him to step down as CEO of the social media platform. Musk’s first two weeks as the new Twitter owner in October were marked by rapid change. He quickly fired Twitter’s previous CEO Parag Agrawal and other senior leaders and then laid off half its staff in November.
Musk, a self-proclaimed free-speech absolutist, has said he took over Twitter to prevent the platform from becoming an echo chamber for hate and division. He also said he would “defeat” spam bots on the platform, a key area of his tussle with Twitter’s board over his back-and-forth on the $44 billion buyout of the company.
The announcement has helped alleviate investor concerns around Musk’s active involvement at Twitter.
