Will Elon let her be more than a ‘CEO in Name Only?’ Also: takeaways from my interview with Mark Zuckerberg, layoffs hit Snap and Epic Games, and more.
The buzz out of the Code Conference this week is, naturally, all about the disastrous performance of X / Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino, who closed out the two-day affair in spectacular fashion. Vox’s Peter Kafka, who has been going to the conference since it started in 2008, called it “the weirdest session I’ve ever seen.” If I had to sum up the vibe as everyone trickled off to dinner afterward, it would be stunned disbelief. As for Yaccarino, she immediately fled the premises with her six-person security detail.
Indeed, I have little respect for advertisers and I disagree with her politics. But I wouldn't say I have no sympathy, and I offered a plausible explanation on why she might have taken the job.
I mean, you’re welcome to your own judgment regarding how much sympathy to have, but she chased the job knowing full well why the job needed to be filled, so I have no sympathy when she makes herself look like an idiot for Elon. She resigned from NBCUniversal the same day her Twitter position was announced. She didn’t actually need a new job, but she made a choice to take this one and all the bullshit that comes with it.
edit: it’s possible she did want a new job, but I’m certain she could have held out for something better than this.
[2 mins 15 sec] Yaccarino: "I work at X, he worked at Twitter, X is a new company."
...
[3 mins 16 sec] Yaccarino: "The team at Twitter is fantastic"
At least she lasted 1 whole minute before that embarassing contradiction. I can't do another 38 minutes of watching that mess though, too painful right from the start.
Wasn't sure I'd listen to this whole thing but half way threw it starts to really get weird. Damn, kind of feel bad for her...it most be hell working for Elon.