Linda Yaccarino, the CEO of Elon Musk-owned X (formerly Twitter) announced on Wednesday that she would step down from the role in a surprise move, just months after the social media platform was acquired by the Musk’s AI startup, xAI.
Her departure is part of the ongoing turbulence in Musk’s sprawling business empire, including falling sales at his EV maker Tesla and AI-related controversies even as Musk is also embroiled in a war of words with former ally, President Donald Trump.
Yaccarino did not give a specific reason for her decision. X is also yet to release a statement regarding the decision.
“We started with the critical early work necessary to prioritize the safety of our users — especially children, and to restore advertiser confidence,” Yaccarino said in a post on X.
Musk thanked Yaccarino for her contributions in a reply to the CEO’s post on X.
“Linda Yaccarino’s abrupt departure may be a result of a lack of fit between her approach and Elon Musk’s style,” said Gil Luria, analyst at D.A. Davidson.
“This may have come to a head when the embedded AI chat Grok started responding to AI posts in an increasingly offensive manner yesterday.”
In March, Musk’s AI startup xAI acquired the social media platform in a $33 billion all-stock deal.
