Linda Iaccarino, CEO of social network X, formerly known as Twitter, has announced her resignation. Iaccarino took over the company after it was acquired by Ilon Musk. Her departure was preceded by the social network's takeover by Musk's other startup xAI. 

Details

Linda Iaccarino announced that she is stepping down as CEO of social network X, a position to which Ilon Musk appointed her two years ago. 

"I'll be rooting for you all as you continue to change the world," Iaccarino wrote in a post on X on July 9. She thanked Musk for entrusting her with "the responsibility of protecting free speech, taking the company to the next level, and making X a universal app for everything." During her tenure, she said, X has prioritized user safety and restoring advertisers' trust.

Context

Iaccarino, formerly head of advertising at US media corporation NBCUniversal, took over X in May 2023. She was tasked with winning back advertisers who were scared off by Musk's unpredictable content moderation decisions and his own publications, among other things, wrote Bloomberg. 

Some advertisers, including Verizon Communications and Ralph Lauren, have been able to return, thanks in part to threats to sue, notes The Wall Street Journal. However, X still faces challenges with content moderation. News of Iaccarino's departure was preceded by another scandal - Grok, a chatbot developed by Musk's company xAI, posted several anti-Semitic comments on X, sparking widespread condemnation. On the night of July 9, xAI announced that it was working to remove the inappropriate postings. 

But Iaccarino's future at the company became uncertain months ago, writes the WSJ. Musk merged X with chatbot developer Grok xAI in the spring, turning the social network into just one part of a larger AI-focused company. "The high potential of artificial intelligence proved more important to investors than the less profitable social media business overseen by Iaccarino," the publication states. 

Iaccarino explained to those close to her that the return of some advertisers to X and the merger with xAI, which caused the social network's share of revenue to decline, created the right time to leave, his sources said. According to research firm eMarketer, X could see ad revenue growth this year for the first time since Musk bought it.

In turn, xAI spends $1 billion a month to create advanced AI models. At the end of the year, the startup could lose $13 billion, Bloomberg reported, citing sources. To close the hole, Musk's startup is trying to raise $9.3 billion in loan and equity capital, they said.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor

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