A woman will head Twitter, says Musk

WASHINGTON: Elon Musk is in talks to hire Linda Yaccarino, the chair of global advertising and partnerships at NBCUniversal as the chief executive of Twitter, The New York Times reported.

According to the NYT, the people who spoke on condition of anonymity said the talks are now at an advanced stage. They said Yaccarino has been in discussion with Musk for weeks. Last month, Yaccarino interviewed Musk onstage at an advertising event in Miami.

Earlier on Thursday, Musk said he had selected a chief executive for Twitter but did not disclose her identity.

In a tweet, he wrote, "She will be starting in ~6 weeks!" He added that he would remain involved as executive chair and "CTO," which typically denotes chief technology officer and that he would still oversee Twitter's product and software.

According to The New York Times, Musk and Yaccarino did not respond to requests for comment.

The Wall Street Journal earlier reported that Yaccarino was in talks with Musk.

Musk who bought Twitter for USD 44 billion last year will continue to retain a firm grip on the company even if he names a chief executive. As Twitter's owner, he has put his stamp on it by eliminating more than 75 per cent of its 7,500 employees, installing his own leaders and changing the service's features and strategy.

He also took Twitter private, which means he does not have to disclose corporate information to the public.

The outgoing CEO recently announced adding another update to Twitter allowing its verified users to have early access to encrypted messaging service. The update is currently available only for verified users.

Earlier on May 11, Musk shared a tweet updating about the early version of the encrypted messaging being launched. "Early version of encrypted direct messages just launched. Try it, but don't trust it yet," his tweet read.