• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

The U.S. spent $30 billion to ditch textbooks for laptops and tablets: The result is the first generation less cognitively capable than their parents

2

Current price of oil as of July 13, 2026

3

Current price of silver as of Monday, July 13, 2026

1

The U.S. spent $30 billion to ditch textbooks for laptops and tablets: The result is the first generation less cognitively capable than their parents

2

Current price of oil as of July 13, 2026

3

Current price of silver as of Monday, July 13, 2026
Tech

Linda Yaccarino wants Twitter staff ready for ‘hand-to-hand combat’ and says the battle to win back advertisers is going to happen in person

Eleanor Pringle
By
Eleanor Pringle
Eleanor Pringle
Senior Reporter, Economics and Markets
Down Arrow Button Icon
Eleanor Pringle
By
Eleanor Pringle
Eleanor Pringle
Senior Reporter, Economics and Markets
Down Arrow Button Icon
June 29, 2023, 7:43 AM ET
Linda Yaccarino speaks onstage during Seat At The Table on March 23, 2022
Linda Yaccarino says she wants Twitter staff ready for “hand-to-hand combat” to bring advertisers back. Cindy Ord—Getty Images/The Female Quotient
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

They don’t call her the “velvet hammer” for nothing.

Recommended Video

Twitter’s new CEO, Linda Yaccarino, isn’t wasting time whipping the company into shape having taken on the top job from owner Elon Musk in June.

Yaccarino, a former NBCUniversal executive, has laid out her plan to tempt advertisers back to the company after revenue slumped 59% in the past 12 months, per recent calculations from the New York Times.

According to three sources close to the San Francisco–based company, the new boss said she wants to meet with celebrities, political figures, and talent agencies to get them to return to the platform.

Her hope, the sources told the Financial Times, is that this will tempt advertisers back as they seek sponsorship and content deals with the big names on the site, with Twitter brokering the conversations.

And on a sales call with staff, Yaccarino told her employees to get ready to roll up their sleeves and shake some hands. A source told the Financial Times Yaccarino said bringing advertisers back on board would have to be done in person as opposed to from behind a desk.

It’s what she called “hand-to-hand” combat, which may spell an end to the period of mystery shrouding the business after its communications team was reportedly dismissed and a raft of high-profile names departed.

Sources added that 59-year-old Yaccarino also wants to launch a new method of advertising: full-screen, sound-on videos which would be shown to users who are scrolling through the platform’s short-video feed.

While the TikTok-like feed isn’t a new concept—it was launched back in September last year—it is meant to showcase “the most engaging ways people can express themselves online.”

Reportedly in its beta stages of testing, the launch comes as part of Twitter’s wider focus on video, which includes the introduction of two-hour–long videos for paying users launched earlier this year.

Twitter did not immediately respond to Fortune’s request for comment.

The plan being rolled out less than a month into Yaccarino’s tenure is among the reasons she earned the nickname “velvet hammer,” with the Wall Street Journal reporting she landed major deals in her previous role because of her hard-nosed negotiating tactics.

Why the advertisers fled

Yaccarino’s plan will be welcome news for Twitter’s accountants, with investment expert Fidelity valuing the company at a third of the $44 billion—including $33.5 billion in equity—Musk paid for it in October last year.

Since then the company has been dogged with problems, from content moderation to mass layoffs.

Advertisers were spooked by incidents including Musk banning journalists from the platform, firing content moderators who track hate, and having an explosive argument with a disabled former member of staff—as well as Musk’s own controversial tweets.

The Tesla CEO further spooked advertisers by threatening to tweet a “thermonuclear name and shame” of brands who had left the platform. It might have taken him a while, with major brands including General Motors, United Airlines, General Mills, and others temporarily halting buying ads on the platform.

Musk did call out Apple’s Tim Cook after the brand pulled its money out of advertising on Twitter, with Musk asking the fellow tech titan, “What’s going on here?” A month later, in December last year, Musk claimed Apple had returned to the platform following a meeting between the CEOs.

Lou Paskalis, longtime marketing and media executive and former Bank of America head of global media, told Fortune at the height of Twitter’s tumult last November that he “didn’t know what marketer wants to go near [Twitter].”

Yaccarino vs. Musk

Yaccarino clearly isn’t afraid of her new employer—she’s pushed him hard before on the need for there to be space for advertisers to “influence” the way Twitter is being developed.

In April, during the “Twitter 2.0: From Conversations to Partnerships” keynote at the Possible conference, Yaccarino told Musk she had to “push him” on behalf of advertisers who were holding back after having been faced with the “challenge” of Musk’s controversial “points of view.”

After Musk blamed the media, Yaccarino asked the SpaceX founder if he should be held to a higher standard with his tweeting, noting, “a lot of people think you might be too provocative.”

She went on to say there needs to be an opportunity for advertisers to “influence what you’re building [at Twitter]” before pressing further: “I wanna be specific about influence. It’s more an open feedback loop for the advertising experts in this room to help develop Twitter into a place where they will be excited about investing more money: product development, ad safety, content moderation. That’s what the influence is.”  

About the Author
Eleanor Pringle
By Eleanor PringleSenior Reporter, Economics and Markets
LinkedIn icon

Eleanor Pringle is an award-winning senior reporter at Fortune covering news, the economy, and personal finance. Eleanor previously worked as a business correspondent and news editor in regional news in the U.K. She completed her journalism training with the Press Association after earning a degree from the University of East Anglia.

See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Latest in Tech

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in Tech

camera
Arts & EntertainmentGen Z
Gen Z’s analog obsession is reviving a film camera market that digital killed
By Rotem Rozental and The ConversationJuly 14, 2026
2 hours ago
How Adobe’s CMO is preparing for the AI-powered era of brand discovery
C-SuiteCMO
How Adobe’s CMO is preparing for the AI-powered era of brand discovery
By Ruth UmohJuly 14, 2026
2 hours ago
infra
EnergyData centers
Data centers have already hiked electricity prices on the public by $23 billion. Good luck clawing that back
By Theodore J. Kury and The ConversationJuly 14, 2026
2 hours ago
Jony Ive (left), formerly with Apple and now with OpenAI, standing next to Laurene Powell Jobs, the widow of Apple founder Steve Jobs, at an event in 2022.
AIOpenAI
Stolen laptops, data breaches, secret moles, and recruiting-as-espionage. Here are the wildest claims in Apple’s lawsuit against OpenAI
By Emily ForliniJuly 13, 2026
13 hours ago
Elon Musk and Sam Altman are accusing each other of scamming investors as SpaceX and OpenAI jockey to lead AI revolution
AIBillionaires
Elon Musk and Sam Altman are accusing each other of scamming investors as SpaceX and OpenAI jockey to lead AI revolution
By Marco Quiroz-GutierrezJuly 13, 2026
13 hours ago
u
PoliticsSocial Media
Europe to social media platforms: make yourself safe for kids under 13, somehow
By Lorne Cook, Kelvin Chan and The Associated PressJuly 13, 2026
17 hours ago

Most Popular

The U.S. spent $30 billion to ditch textbooks for laptops and tablets: The result is the first generation less cognitively capable than their parents
Innovation
The U.S. spent $30 billion to ditch textbooks for laptops and tablets: The result is the first generation less cognitively capable than their parents
By Sasha RogelbergJuly 12, 2026
2 days ago
Current price of oil as of July 13, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of oil as of July 13, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerJuly 13, 2026
23 hours ago
Current price of silver as of Monday, July 13, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of silver as of Monday, July 13, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerJuly 13, 2026
23 hours ago
Trump embraces Australian retirement system backed by Larry Fink
Personal Finance
Trump embraces Australian retirement system backed by Larry Fink
By Brianna Sosa and BloombergJuly 12, 2026
2 days ago
How Pete Hegseth's DEI order just put Scouting America's future at stake
North America
How Pete Hegseth's DEI order just put Scouting America's future at stake
By Seth T. Kannarr, Derek H. Alderman and The ConversationJuly 13, 2026
14 hours ago
The U.S. and Iran can't agree on fully reopening the Strait of Hormuz. The solution could be straight out of the Old Testament
Middle East
The U.S. and Iran can't agree on fully reopening the Strait of Hormuz. The solution could be straight out of the Old Testament
By Jason MaJuly 11, 2026
2 days ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.