X CEO Linda Yaccarino says the social media giant has the wind at its back again.
Yaccarino told Yahoo Finance at the Cannes Lion Festival of Creativity (video above) that the platform is going through a “historic evolution” and has “96% of our advertisers coming back and a tidal-wave of new advertisers coming back.”
Her exuberance comes as the Wall Street Journal recently reported that X has threatened lawsuits against ad buyers such as Verizon (VZ) and Ralph Lauren (RL) if they don’t spend more. The paper said at least half a dozen companies have struck ad deals after being pressured.
“There was no comment in the article [from us],” Yaccarino claimed. “There was also no named sources in the article. They had some random third parties comment on unnamed sources. So with the absence of both facts and named sources, and then the absence of the setup of the story, which was the House Judiciary Committee’s findings and evidence that addressed a real coming together to boycott the platform.”
Per WSJ, a spokesperson for X declined to comment for the story.
It’s been a wild ride since Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk completed his $44 billion acquisition of X, formerly known as Twitter, in October 2022.
His tenure started with mass layoffs and increasing concerns about unmoderated hate speech. By January 2023, X had reportedly lost more than 50% of its ad revenue since Musk’s purchase as major brands shied away from the platform’s chaos.
Enter Long Island native Linda Yaccarino, who took over as CEO on June 5, 2023. The longtime media executive spent 12 years at NBCUniversal and was handpicked by Musk to bring in sales.
Her tenure has included dealing with controversial posts from Musk, his full-throated support of Donald Trump, blowback from his DOGE work, and the recent breakup between the president and the billionaire. Musk’s political endeavors have sparked demonstrations and backlash against Tesla. Yaccarino sidestepped the question when asked about how Musk’s involvement with Trump has impacted X’s ad sales.
X’s financial results have been mixed. eMarketer projects its global ad revenue will rise 16.5% this year to $2.26 billion as businesses return to X while Musk’s influence rises. If reached, it would mark the first increase under his ownership. Global ad sales were $2.36 billion for X in 2022.
Yaccarino said the estimate doesn’t take into account X’s other revenue streams, such as its data developer platform or premium subscriptions.
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