Linda Yaccarino steps down as CEO of Elon Musk’s X

Linda Yaccarino on Wednesday announced she is stepping down as CEO of Elon Musk’s social media site X after two years in the role.

Yaccarino’s departure comes one day after Musk’s artificial intelligence chatbot Grok repeatedly made antisemitic comments on Tuesday and referenced Hitler in response to posts about the Texas flooding.

Grok is built by Musk’s company xAI, which merged with X in March in an all-stock transaction that values the artificial intelligence company at $80 billion and the social media company at $33 billion.

“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,” Yaccarino wrote in a post on X. “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.” 

Yaccarino did not give a reason for her departure, but her exit had been in the works for over a week, a source familiar told NBC News.

Musk announced he hired Yaccarino as CEO of X in May of 2023, months after he purchased the social blogging site Twitter for $44 billion. Throughout her two years as chief executive, Yaccarino acted as a staunch supporter of Musk and repeatedly defended him on social media.

Yaccarino previously joined NBCUniversal in 2011 and rose to the top of the company’s global advertising business.

Disclosure: NBCUniversal is the parent company of CNBC.

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