Bloomberg Línea — South African-American tycoon Elon Musk, 51, appointed a woman with a strong track record as an advertising executive as the new CEO of Twitter. Linda Yaccarino, 60, has worked for US media conglomerate NBC for almost 12 years.
Everything seems to indicate that Musk is looking to strengthen Twitter’s advertising revenue, and which is why he is taking an eminent figure from the world of marketing in the US entertainment industry.
Although the details of the hiring have not been disclosed, she will surely have an enviable salary. The last CEO of Twitter prior to Musk’s purchase was Parag Agrawal, who received total compensation of $30.35 million in 2021, according to MarketWatch, citing the social media company’s 2021 proxy statement.
Agrawal’s total compensation included $623,077 in base salary, $29.06 million in stock awards, $599,507 in non-equity incentive plan compensation and $67,008 in all other compensation, which was mostly for personal security services.
What is Linda Yaccarino’s background?
- As stated on her LinkedIn profile, Yaccarino studied liberal arts at Penn State University from 1981 to 1985.
- For 20 years (from January 1992 to November 2011) she worked at Turner, the media conglomerate, where she was executive vice president, chief operating officer (COO) of advertising sales and head of marketing and acquisitions.
- In November 2011, she joined NBCUniversal Media, where she has held various executive roles: president of cable entertainment and digital advertising sales, president of advertising and client partnerships, and chair of global advertising and partnerships.
Yaccarino has been honored on several occasions for her leadership and contributions to the media industry. She was included on Forbes magazine’s “100 Most Powerful Women in the World” list and Advertising Age’s “Women to Watch” list, among tothers.
According to Bloomberg, during her tenure at NBCUniversal, Yaccarino played an important role in launching the Peacock ad-supported streaming service and overseeing major events such as the Super Bowl and the Olympic Games.
She also led partnerships with several technology companies, including Snapchat, YouTube and Twitter.
Musk’s pick probably comes at a difficult moment for NBCUniversal, which is scheduled to make its annual presentation to advertisers at New York’s Radio City Music Hall on Monday. The upfront events, which span the entire week, are a time when major media companies begin selling advertising for the fall TV season.
Updated at 13:20 ET in the fourth paragraph, correct’s Twitter’s former CEO Parag Agrawal’s 2021 salary.
