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

Trendingnow

1

The millennial generation has split, new Fed research shows: Those over 35 are edging toward boomer-style wealth, while everyone else falls behind

2

Spain lifted the World Cup, but the IRS still gets a cut of its $50 million pay day as players, coaches and refs all face complex U.S. “jock taxes”

3

The $39 trillion U.S. national debt isn’t as high as Japan’s and Singapore’s relative to economy size—and yet it's still worse somehow

1

The millennial generation has split, new Fed research shows: Those over 35 are edging toward boomer-style wealth, while everyone else falls behind

2

Spain lifted the World Cup, but the IRS still gets a cut of its $50 million pay day as players, coaches and refs all face complex U.S. “jock taxes”

3

The $39 trillion U.S. national debt isn’t as high as Japan’s and Singapore’s relative to economy size—and yet it's still worse somehow
TechElon Musk

Linda Yaccarino celebrates her first public victory as X CEO by reviving an advertising council Elon Musk disbanded

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
August 11, 2023, 8:00 AM ET
Linda Yaccarino on stage at an entertainment summit.
Linda Yaccarino can celebrate her first major victory as CEO of X, formerly Twitter, after convincing Elon Musk to reinstitute a platform for engaging with advertisers.Isaac Brekken—Variety/Penske Media - Getty Images
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Linda Yaccarino had a priority when she took on the challenging top job at X, formerly known as Twitter: Get advertisers back on board. Now she can point to her first success that bears her unmistakable signature as CEO.

Recommended Video

Major brands had abandoned the platform in droves under the prior leadership of billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, fearing damage to their reputations if their ads appeared beside toxic content like hate speech. Revenue subsequently plunged by half and the company was four months away from bankruptcy.

Businesses that had previously been keeping the lights on at Twitter felt their justifiable fears were going unheard, after Musk reportedly refused to continue talks with a longstanding “client council” once he bought the company for $44 billion last year. This body served as an important forum for advertisers—responsible for 90% of Twitter’s turnover—to discuss policy, provide feedback, and make them feel more comfortable when buying space on the social media site.

According to the Financial Times, Musk met with the group of ad execs just once in November 2022, but was so unhappy with questions regarding his decision to loosen content moderation policies that he never engaged with the council again.

However, the opinions of advertisers clearly matter to Yaccarino—in fact back in April she publicly grilled Musk on the subject even before she became his employee.

Onstage in Miami at a marketing convention, the former NBCUniversal global advertising executive pushed Musk specifically on what she called the “influence council” and whether it would be restored. Musk refused.

“It’s totally cool to say that you want to have your advertising appear in certain places in Twitter and not in other places, but it is not cool to to try to say what Twitter will do,” he said. “And if that means losing advertising dollars, we lose it. But freedom of speech is paramount.”

Yet in her first TV interview since taking over the helm at X, Yaccarino insisted she had “autonomy” from the Tesla CEO, and then proved it.

Writing on X, Yaccarino said she is “officially bringing back the client council in the fall.”

Excited to continue the momentum in our business and we are officially bringing back the Client Council in the fall. More soon! 💪

— Linda Yaccarino (@lindayaX) August 10, 2023

Musk—usually the first to either announce or confirm new policies at the business—has remained silent.

X did not immediately respond when approached by Fortune for comment.

Proving her independence

Just how much autonomy she enjoys when making decisions independent from Musk is a question Yaccarino gets asked a lot, she revealed.

Speaking to CNBC’s Squawk on the Street, Yaccarino insisted she has the freedom to run the company as she sees fit, despite reports to the contrary.

“Mine and Elon’s roles are very clear,” Yaccarino explained. “It’s pretty straightforward. Elon focuses on product design, he leads a team of extraordinary engineers and focuses on new technology.

“Elon is working on accelerating the rebrand and working on the future. I’m responsible for everything else.”

The close “partnership” between Musk and Yaccarino is a “relay race,” she added: “Elon works on the technology, dreams up what’s next, passes the baton to me, I bring it to market for economic prosperity—not only for our company but for our advertising partners.”

A focus on advertisers has underpinned Yaccarino’s actions in the eight weeks she has been in the post, rolling out a raft of measures in order to tempt back the estranged brands—of which approximately 50% have vanished, according to Musk.

Back to break-even by labeling and limiting “lawful but awful” content

In July the Tesla CEO and SpaceX founder said Twitter, as it was still called then, continued to burn through its cash reserves, posting this is “due to ~50% drop in advertising revenue plus heavy debt load.”

In order to lure advertisers back, Yaccarino signed a new ad-tech partnership just last week with Integral Ad Science (IAD), a company that offers safeguards to ensure advertisers’ posts won’t appear beside controversial content.

In her CNBC interview on Thursday, Yaccarino insisted X had furthermore deployed new brand safety and content moderation tools “that have never existed before at this company,” as well as confirming a new “de-amplification” policy.

“We’ve introduced a new policy…called freedom of speech, not reach,” she explained. “If you’re going to post something that’s illegal or against the law you’re gone, zero tolerance. But more importantly if you’re going to post something that is lawful but it’s awful you get labeled.

“You get de-amplified, which means it cannot be shared, and it is certainly demonetized.”

The tactics are all a bid to get the company back to profit—with Yaccarino confirming in the interview that the company’s turnaround has almost reached the point of breaking even: “We’re pacing well.”

The CEO added she believes the “future is bright” for the company—buoyed by encouraging meetings with blue-chip brands.

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
  • TikTok icon
  • YouTube icon

Latest in Tech

European travel platform Omio raises $10 million and buys Rail Europe as it chases Asia’s tourism market 
Asiatourism
European travel platform Omio raises $10 million and buys Rail Europe as it chases Asia’s tourism market 
By Nicholas GordonJuly 24, 2026
3 hours ago
Meet SLB: The $70 billion oil services giant poised to cash in on AI data centers and the post-Strait of Hormuz oil exploration boom
Magazineoil and gas
Meet SLB: The $70 billion oil services giant poised to cash in on AI data centers and the post-Strait of Hormuz oil exploration boom
By Jordan BlumJuly 24, 2026
3 hours ago
tokens
AIAI agents
‘You just hired a million bad employees’: How the brief tokenmaxxing era delivered the opposite of what it promised
By Nick LichtenbergJuly 24, 2026
3 hours ago
AMD’s Lisa Su defends open-source AI following Hugging Face security breach caused by OpenAI agents
AIAdvanced Micro Devices
AMD’s Lisa Su defends open-source AI following Hugging Face security breach caused by OpenAI agents
By Sebastian HerreraJuly 23, 2026
11 hours ago
Alphabet Inc. and Google CEO Sundar Pichai speaks during the inauguration of a Google Artificial Intelligence (AI) hub in Paris on February 15, 2024. (
Big TechWall Street
AI is forcing Big Tech to do something it’s never done: Spend more than it earns, and Wall Street hates it
By Eva RoytburgJuly 23, 2026
12 hours ago
Innovaccer's founders sit in chairs on a stage
AIData
Innovaccer’s CEO walked away from Disney and NASA to fix healthcare’s data mess. Now the startup has crossed $200 million in ARR
By Lily Mae LazarusJuly 23, 2026
12 hours ago

Most Popular

The millennial generation has split, new Fed research shows: Those over 35 are edging toward boomer-style wealth, while everyone else falls behind
Real Estate
The millennial generation has split, new Fed research shows: Those over 35 are edging toward boomer-style wealth, while everyone else falls behind
By Nick LichtenbergJuly 22, 2026
2 days ago
Spain lifted the World Cup, but the IRS still gets a cut of its $50 million pay day as players, coaches and refs all face complex U.S. “jock taxes”
Personal Finance
Spain lifted the World Cup, but the IRS still gets a cut of its $50 million pay day as players, coaches and refs all face complex U.S. “jock taxes”
By Joshua HongJuly 23, 2026
1 day ago
The $39 trillion U.S. national debt isn’t as high as Japan’s and Singapore’s relative to economy size—and yet it's still worse somehow
Economy
The $39 trillion U.S. national debt isn’t as high as Japan’s and Singapore’s relative to economy size—and yet it's still worse somehow
By Sasha RogelbergJuly 23, 2026
19 hours ago
Current price of oil as of July 23, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of oil as of July 23, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerJuly 23, 2026
1 day ago
Scott Bessent casually says the U.S. has more than $1 trillion in gold—and that it doesn’t matter for the dollar
Economy
Scott Bessent casually says the U.S. has more than $1 trillion in gold—and that it doesn’t matter for the dollar
By Sasha RogelbergJuly 22, 2026
2 days ago
Jensen Huang made his $172 billion fortune on AI chips. His family's $75 million gift to Vanderbilt argues art decides what technology is for
Big Tech
Jensen Huang made his $172 billion fortune on AI chips. His family's $75 million gift to Vanderbilt argues art decides what technology is for
By Sydney LakeJuly 23, 2026
1 day 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.