X CEO Linda Yaccarino said Wednesday she is leaving her role at Elon Musk’s social media company after two years.
“When @elonmusk and I first spoke of his vision for X, I knew it would be the opportunity of a lifetime to carry out the extraordinary mission of this company,” she wrote in a post on the platform.
“I’m immensely grateful to him for entrusting me with the responsibility of protecting free speech, turning the company around, and transforming X into the Everything App,” she added.
Yaccarino joined X, then known as Twitter, in 2023, about six months after Musk’s tumultuous takeover of the platform. She came from NBCUniversal Media, where she had been serving as the chair of the company’s global advertising and partnerships.
“I’m incredibly proud of the X team – the historic business turn around we have accomplished together has been nothing short of remarkable,” Yaccarino said Wednesday. “We started with the critical early work necessary to prioritize the safety of our users—especially children, and to restore advertiser confidence.”
The X executive navigated several major changes at the platform, including its rebranding from Twitter to X, as well as numerous crises.
Advertisers fled the site after Musk’s takeover, as he began rolling back various content moderation policies and restoring previously banned accounts, including that of President Trump.
Yaccarino’s efforts to bring advertisers back on board were occasionally derailed by Musk. In late 2023, the X owner lashed out at advertisers who had pulled their spending over a report that the platform was placing ads next to white nationalist content, telling them to “go f‑‑‑ yourself.”
Her departure comes as Musk has sought to combine the social media company with his artificial intelligence (AI) firm xAI. He announced in March that xAI had acquired X in a $45 billion deal.
“Now, the best is yet to come as X enters a new chapter with @xai,” Yaccarino wrote Wednesday.
“X is truly a digital town square for all voices and the world’s most powerful culture signal,” she added. “We couldn’t have achieved that without the support of our users, business partners, and the most innovative team in the world. I’ll be cheering you all on as you continue to change the world.”
Updated at 11:18 a.m. EDT
