After simply over two years at X, CEO Linda Yaccarino is stepping down from the function.
“When @elonmusk and I first spoke of his imaginative and prescient for X, I knew it might be the chance of a lifetime to hold out the extraordinary mission of this firm. I’m immensely grateful to him for entrusting me with the duty of defending free speech, turning the corporate round, and reworking X into the Every part App,” she posted on X.
Her departure marks the top of two tumultuous years on the platform, whereby for lots of her earlier tenure, the trade questioned how a lot energy she really had, working for X proprietor, billionaire Elon Musk.
But regardless of such a high-profile departure from the platform, Musk has but to make any public remark (or publish) on the matter.
Nonetheless, whereas Yaccarino’s put a full cease in her X profession, the platform nonetheless lives on. And as such, these are the 5 key questions that’ll be doing the rounds in advertising circles for the foreseeable:
Who will take over for Yaccarino?
Who will take over from Yaccarino? That’s the multibillion greenback query — if there’s even a job to take. Elon Musk handpicked her to appease advertisers and produce order to the chaos solely to undermine her repeatedly. Now, with Yaccarino on her method out, it’s unclear whether or not Musk will trouble discovering a substitute or just take up the function himself as he’s accomplished earlier than. The larger query may be: who would need it? The following CEO would inherit a platform in flux a skeptical advert market and a boss who’s unpredictable at greatest, hostile to construction at worst.
What impression will Yaccarino’s departure have on X’s advert income shifting ahead?
As a former advert exec herself, Yaccarino becoming a member of X appeared like the way in which to construct bridges again (albeit slowly) with the promoting group.
And arguably she did. In response to eMarketer, advert spend on X greater than halved between 2022 and 2023, following the takeover. However since then, spend did return — simply nowhere close to to the extent it was earlier than Musk initially acquired the platform again in October 2022.
The variety of firms promoting every month on X through the second half of 2024 was up 18% year-over-year, and elevated additional by 30% in January 2025 to 4,200, in accordance with information by Media Radar.
In December 2024, 52 of the highest advertisers spending on the platform at the moment had not marketed on X previous to Musk’s takeover in October 2022, in accordance with information from Sensor Tower, additional indicating that X has cultivated a brand new base of advertisers.
Nonetheless, let’s not neglect X filed a federal antitrust lawsuit in opposition to the International Alliance for Accountable Media (GARM), which resulted in its closure again in August 2024, but extra just lately in June, the platform managed to dealer a take care of Omnicom.
Even user-wise, X recorded greater than 145 million worldwide cellular each day energetic customers till Could this yr, nevertheless it’s nonetheless a 14% year-over-year decline, in accordance with estimates by Sensor Tower. On the similar time, Yaccarino herself confirmed at Doable in April that the platform had amassed 600 million month-to-month energetic customers.
What turns into of X’s product roadmap shifting ahead?
That’s anybody’s guess. Yaccarino was the one pitching a imaginative and prescient the place X grew to become an “every part app”, integrating funds, video and AI through Grok. However along with her probably exit, the destiny of that roadmap is murky to say the least. Musk might double down on his personal imaginative and prescient or toss the entire thing and begin afresh — once more. The platform’s technique has at all times been extra reactive than dependable, and with out Yaccarino to bundle it for companions and advertisers, X’s subsequent iteration appears much more unsure. The one fixed: Musk’s urge for food for disruption over path.
Will there be one other advertiser boycott now that Yaccarino is out?
Unlikely. Whereas her exit removes one of many few remaining bridges between Madison Avenue and Musk, main advertisers are in no rush to make waves. One other boycott is at all times attainable, particularly if model issues of safety ensue, however most entrepreneurs are treading rigorously. Few wish to provoke Musk given his penchant for reprisals. Publicly pulling {dollars} may invite backlash, which might be precarious given the unstable state of the macroeconomic surroundings. For now, most will watch from the sidelines.
X didn’t reply to Digiday’s request for remark.
