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Linda Yaccarino has shaken up her inner circle at X as she faces pressure from Elon Musk to increase revenue and cut costs, a year after becoming CEO.
Yaccarino fired her right-hand man and chief of operations and communications, Joe Benarroch, this month, three people familiar with the matter said.
Yaccarino held Benarroch responsible, among other things, for botching the rollout of the new adult content policy by failing to notify customers of the changes before they became public, two X employees said.
Benarroch’s responsibilities will be assumed by head of global government affairs Nick Pickles, whose role has been temporarily expanded to directing all global communications, the people said.
This week, Pickles, one of the few top Twitter executives to survive the billionaire takeover, also attended the Cannes ad festival for the first time alongside Yaccarino and Musk, several people said.
The shake-up is seen as a boon for British-born Pickles, who once ran as a Conservative MP in Britain before quickly rising to the platform of overseeing public policy and government relations.
The reshuffle comes amid rising tensions between Musk and Yaccarino, stemming from her struggle to stabilize X’s financial health a year after Musk poached her from NBCUniversal.
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Another said some recent staff losses were linked to regular performance management reviews. At a meeting this month, Yaccarino said there would be a focus on “performance management,” people within the company said.
Coinciding with Yaccarino’s changes, Steve Davis, a longtime Musk ally and CEO of his Boring Company, was brought in by the billionaire in April to review X’s finances and performance management, two people familiar with the matter said. .
Davis is exploring cutting underperforming jobs, one said, and is targeting dozens of positions, another added. The move was seen by some as a sign of ongoing concerns about the platform’s finances.
As an aerospace expert, Davis previously helped lead a cost-cutting effort at at the company. .
These efforts led to speculation that he might be in the running for the CEO position after Musk bought X, then known as Twitter, and fired its then-CEO.
Two people familiar with Yaccarino’s thinking said she was aware he posed a threat to her authority. Davis’ wife also works at X and is responsible for the platform’s real estate strategy, another said.
Davis’ new responsibilities were first reported by The Verge.
This week in Cannes, Musk and Yaccarino attempted to personally win back ad agencies and brand bosses after groups including Disney, IBM and Apple pulled spending from the platform over concerns about content moderation and Musk’s provocative leadership style and posts. .
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One person familiar with the discussions between Musk and advertisers said X management was keen to emphasize that the platform was safe for brands, and also highlight new features such as video and targeted marketing. However, some Cannes advertising chiefs told the Financial Times that the site was not on their ‘preferred list’ of channels to use with their brand clients.
X and Musk did not respond to requests for comment. Benarroch, whose departure was first reported by the Wall Street Journal, did not respond to requests for comment.