Elon Musk announces new Twitter CEO

According to Musk's announcement on Thursday, the new CEO is a woman and will start in six weeks

By Kelly McClure

Nights & Weekends Editor

Published May 11, 2023 8:19PM (EDT)

Elon Musk | Twitter Checkmarks (Photo illustration by Salon/Getty Images)
Elon Musk | Twitter Checkmarks (Photo illustration by Salon/Getty Images)

Elon Musk has been making questionable changes to Twitter's functionality since he purchased the social media platform in 2022, but soon it will be someone else's problem. Sort of.

In an announcement made — fittingly — on Twitter, Musk revealed on Thursday that he's chosen a new CEO who will begin heading things up within a six-week time frame. 

"My role will transition to being exec chair & CTO, overseeing product, software & sysops." Musk clarified in his statement, driving it home that he's not taking his hands off the steering wheel entirely. 

While no name has been given for the new CEO, Musk pointed towards his replacement being a woman.  

While this change in front-facing leadership would seem like a welcome one, The Washington Post warns to not put too much weight on it just yet, highlighting in their coverage that Musk "has a track record of making splashy announcements and big promises — and then failing to follow through."

According to Reuters, "a Silicon Valley executive and a former Hollywood executive, who spoke on condition of anonymity" has a hunch that Linda Yaccarino, the top advertising sales executive at Comcast's (CMCSA.O) NBCUniversal is a likely replacement. "Top female executives from Musk's other companies, such as SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell and Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) Chair Robyn Denholm could also be named," according to their reporting.


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Musk has been teasing his departure from the role for awhile now. In December, he ran a poll on Twitter asking people whether or not they wanted him to step down. After 57.5% of the voters said that, yes, they did, he made a joke out of it saying, "I will resign as CEO as soon as I find someone foolish enough to take the job!" 


By Kelly McClure

Kelly McClure is Salon's Nights and Weekends Editor covering daily news, politics and culture. Her work has been featured in Vulture, The A.V. Club, Vanity Fair, Cosmopolitan, Nylon, Vice, and elsewhere.

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