Incoming Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino has hired one of her top NBCUniversal lieutenants to join her as she prepares to take over the social-media business.
According to a memo addressed to NBCUniversal colleagues by Joe Benarroch, he is taking on a senior business operations role.
Benarroch formerly worked at NBCUniversal as executive vice president of communications, global advertising, and partnerships, where Yaccarino oversaw the media company’s ad sales division for many years. He has been one of her most dependable advisors.
“Tomorrow, I start a different professional adventure at Twitter, taking on a role focusing on business operations,” Benarroch stated in the memo. He stated that he has worked with Yaccarino to champion and grow the company’s strategic priorities, as well as to help build alliances. “I am excited to bring my experience to Twitter and to collaborate with the entire team to build Twitter 2.0 together.”
Musk has stated that Yaccarino will be primarily responsible for commercial operations, while he will be responsible for product creation and technology.
Requests for response from Twitter and Musk were not immediately returned.
Musk paid $44 billion for Twitter last year, but has battled to maintain the firm after many advertisers departed or reduced their expenditure due to his approach to content control. Musk has made a number of initiatives to entice sponsors to return. According to ad execs, Yaccarino’s vast connections on Madison Avenue could help that cause.
The appointment of Benarroch comes amid recent changes in Twitter’s highest levels. According to The Wall Street Journal, Twitter lost two important executives last week: Ella Irwin, Twitter’s director of trust and safety, who was in charge of handling content moderation decisions, and A.J. Brown, head of brand safety and ad quality.
Their departures were prompted in part by a scandal surrounding Twitter’s handling of a film about gender issues.
The majority of Twitter’s revenue comes from advertising. Reassuring marketers that the platform is secure for them—that their logos would not be juxtaposed with harmful content—is critical to bringing them back in. Twitter has recently promoted new tools for marketers to monitor and control where their advertising appear. Some advertisers are optimistic about the changes.
Musk stated in May at the Journal’s CEO Council Summit that Twitter isn’t yet profitable, but that it might be cash-flow positive shortly.
