– X-it. During Linda Yaccarino’s two-year tenure as CEO of X, one question dogged her leadership: how much power did she actually have?
While Yaccarino led the social media platform as CEO, often it seemed the real decision-making came down to owner Elon Musk, who bought what was then Twitter for $44 billion in 2022. Musk was an incredibly active presence on the platform, interacting with users, shifting the algorithm in favor of his content, and giving a sometimes minute-by-minute view into his own opinions about the platform (and American politics). He always made it clear that X was, more than anything else, his.
One analyst, Forrester research director Mike Proulx, put it this way: “It was clear from the start that she was being set up to fail by a limited scope as the company’s chief executive…[In reality, Musk] “is and always has been at the helm of X. And that made Linda X’s CEO in title only, which is a very tough position to be in, especially for someone of Linda’s talents.”
Yaccarino joined in 2023 after a career leading NBCUniversal’s ads business. At the time, Twitter’s ad business was in trouble—and Tesla shareholders worried Musk was too distracted from his supposed main gig, running the automaker. She’s left X’s ads business in a better place than she found it—up 62% year over year as spooked advertisers have slowly returned to the platform, per TechCrunch, although challenges remain.
She said in her announcement (on X, of course) that she’s “immensely grateful to [Musk] for entrusting me with the responsibility of protecting free speech, turning the company around, and transforming X into the Everything App.” She also noted that X has “restored advertiser confidence.”
But ultimately, even as Musk explored his other interests—namely, getting Donald Trump elected president—X was always going to come back to him. The controversial businessman and world’s richest person is hardly known to be hands-off. Earlier this year, Musk demonstrated how intertwined his businesses are; he sold X to xAI, his artificial intelligence startup (which created X’s chatbot Grok). Fifteen senior execs have left X in the past year, my colleague Lila MacLellan reports for Fortune. And Yaccarino acknowledged in her own announcement that “the best is yet to come as X enters a new chapter with xAI.”
Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
The Most Powerful Women Daily newsletter is Fortune’s daily briefing for and about the women leading the business world. Today’s edition was curated by Sara Braun. Subscribe here.
ALSO IN THE HEADLINES
- Back again. Labor Department grants for women to get into construction and manufacturing, called Women in Apprenticeship and Nontraditional Occupations, were reinstated yesterday, after being cut by DOGE. While the programs were cut as part of the Trump administration’s anti-DEI push, they’re now being positioned as “fill[ing] the thousands of jobs being created under the President’s America First policies.” Mother Jones
- Off to the semi-finals. Iga Swiatek, a 24-year old Polish tennis player and five-time Grand Slam champion, reached the Wimbledon semi-final for the first time after defeating 19th seeded Liudmila Samsonva on Wednesday. She faces Belinda Bencic today to vie for a spot in the finals. Associated Press
- Fertility findings. The global fertility rate in 2024 was 2.2 births per woman on average, marking a record low, according to new research from the United Nations. In every country and culture around the world, women are having fewer than half as many children as they did in 1960. That number is expected to continue declining, with a projection of 2.1 births per woman in 2050 and 1.8 births per woman by 2100. NPR
- New era, new ambassador. Oksana Markarova, who has served as Ukraine’s ambassador to the U.S. for the past four years, will be replaced by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in an effort to strengthen the country’s relationship with the Trump administration. Markarova has faced criticism from Republican lawmakers in Washington, including Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, who accused her of showing bias towards Democrats in the lead-up to the 2024 presidential election. The Guardian
MOVERS AND SHAKERS
CREW Network, a global business network for women in commercial real estate, has appointed Alison Beddard as CEO. She most recently served as a managing principal at Cushman & Wakefield.
Nuvem, a tech-enabled pharmacy service for community health providers, appointed Brenda Barry as the company’s first chief customer officer. She most recently served as the vice president for customer success at Omnicell.
Aviation Capital Group, a global full-service aircraft asset manager, announced the promotion of Jaime Crear to chief administrative officer. She previously served as senior vice president and chief accounting officer.
Cox Farms, an indoor agriculture and greenhouse operator, announced the appointment of Abby Prior as chief commercial officer. She most recently served as the chief commercial officer of Cox Farms' BrightFarms brand. The company also appointed Tina May as chief people officer.
ON MY RADAR
A new Barbie wears blue polka-dots, and a glucose monitor New York Times
The women selling their followers on the ‘skinny’ life Wall Street Journal
Banking’s newest CEO plots a comeback for most unloved stock Bloomberg
PARTING WORDS
“I am on a mission to find as many stories and pieces of science and research and tools that a person can use to make their life a little better.”
— Podcast host and author Mel Robbins on what drives her work
