NBCUniversal announced on Friday that its chief advertising officer, Linda Yaccarino, will be leaving the company after learning she was in talks to become Twitter’s new CEO.
Twitter CEO Elon Musk said Thursday he had found a new chief executive for the social media site, but did not name the person. Yaccarino, who modernized the advertising business of Comcast Corp’s entertainment and media division, was reportedly in talks for the job, a source familiar with the matter confirmed.
His exit is another blow to the company after NBC’s parent company, Comcast, said last month that NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell was leaving after acknowledging an inappropriate relationship with a woman in the company, following a complaint that triggered an investigation.
Advertising President Mark Marshall will serve as interim president of NBCUniversal’s Advertising and Partnerships Group.
Yaccarino joined NBCU in 2011, after 15 years at Turner Entertainment and has been credited with leading the network’s ad sales operation into the digital future.
As viewers migrated to streaming, she took the stage at Radio City Music Hall last year to tell advertisers their brand messages weren’t an afterthought.
Musk, the CEO of electric vehicle maker Tesla, completed his purchase of Twitter in October for $44 billion. He said in December he would step down as CEO once he found “someone dumb enough to take the job.”
On Thursday, Musk said he would transition to the social media platform’s chief technology officer role in the coming weeks.
Tesla shares rose 2.3% on Friday as analysts said hiring a CEO would allow Musk to focus on the electric vehicle business. Comcast shares were little changed in morning trading.
(Reporting by Dawn Chmielewski in New York and Tiyashi Datta in Bengaluru; Editing by David Gaffen, Anil D’Silva and Chizu Nomiyama)
