https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/09/technology/linda-yaccarino-x-steps-down.html Skip to contentSkip to site index Technology Today's Paper Trump Administration * liveUpdates July 9, 2025, 6:59 p.m. ET * Cleared for Federal Layoffs * States Face the Tax Law * Domestic Policy Plan's Costs * Approval Ratings Advertisement SKIP ADVERTISEMENT You have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load. Supported by SKIP ADVERTISEMENT X Chief Says She Is Leaving the Social Media Platform Linda Yaccarino, whom Elon Musk hired to run X in 2023, grappled with the challenges the company faced after Mr. Musk took over. Listen to this article * 6:27 min Learn more * Share full article * * * 165 Linda Yaccarino sits at a desk in a hearing room. Linda Yaccarino at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in 2024. She grew close to Elon Musk in 2023 when, as an executive at NBCUniversal, she pledged to keep running ads on Twitter as other advertisers were refusing to do so.Credit...Kenny Holston/The New York Times Mike IsaacKate Conger By Mike Isaac and Kate Conger Reporting from San Francisco July 9, 2025Updated 2:49 p.m. ET Linda Yaccarino, the chief executive of X and a top lieutenant to its owner, Elon Musk, said on Wednesday that she was leaving the company two years after joining the social media platform. In a post on X, Ms. Yaccarino, 61, said: "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. I'm immensely grateful to him for entrusting me." She did not provide a reason for her departure. Ms. Yaccarino's exit caps a tumultuous period at X, which was previously called Twitter and has been remade in Mr. Musk's image since he bought the platform for $44 billion in 2022. Since then, Mr. Musk has shed three-quarters of the company's employees, loosened speech restrictions on the platform and wielded X as a political megaphone. Advertisers were at one point spooked by the changes, and the social media company's ad business declined. In March, Mr. Musk said he had sold X, which is a privately held company, to xAI, his artificial intelligence start-up, in an unusual arrangement that showed the financial maneuvering inside his business empire. The all-stock deal valued xAI at $80 billion and X at $33 billion, Mr. Musk said. Since then, xAI has been in talks to raise new financing that could value it at as much as $120 billion. Mr. Musk, who until recently was regularly working in Washington as an adviser to President Trump, has returned to his businesses, which include the electric carmaker Tesla and the rocket company SpaceX. As he and Mr. Trump have tossed criticisms at one another, Mr. Musk has also recently said he was interested in forming a third political party. Top executives regularly come and go at Mr. Musk's various companies. One exception is Gwynne Shotwell, the president of SpaceX, who joined Mr. Musk's rocket company shortly after its founding in 2002. We are having trouble retrieving the article content. Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Thank you for your patience while we verify access. Already a subscriber? Log in. Want all of The Times? Subscribe. Related Content * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Advertisement SKIP ADVERTISEMENT Site Index Site Information Navigation * (c) 2025 The New York Times Company * NYTCo * Contact Us * Accessibility * Work with us * Advertise * T Brand Studio * Your Ad Choices * Privacy Policy * Terms of Service * Terms of Sale * Site Map * Canada * International * Help * Subscriptions * Manage Privacy Preferences