Linda Yaccarino's Break from Elon Musk Was Months in the Making

Linda Yaccarino was all smiles during a VIP dinner at the swanky Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc during the rosé-soaked Cannes Lions advertising festival in June.

- Suzanne Vranica, Alexander Saeedy & Jessica Toonkel

She dined with top advertisers, promoting X's strategy to the throngs of executives who had descended on the South of France. At another event, she shared the stage with tennis legend Serena Williams, discussing a podcast hosted by the star and her sister Venus that is set to debut on X this summer.

Behind the confident presentations was an executive who had navigated a turbulent two years as chief executive of Elon Musk's X. Through charm offensives and, in some cases, legal threats, Yaccarino stabilized a bruised business just in time for Musk's merger of X with his xAI. More recently, the platform has faced self-inflicted content-moderation problems from xAI's Grok chatbot.

On Wednesday, Yaccarino posted on the social-media platform that she is stepping down.

Yaccarino told people close to her that the recent return of some advertisers and the merger, which made X a smaller revenue contributor, made it a good time to depart. Current and former employees say her position at the company appeared increasingly tenuous after clashes with management.

Her tenure was marred by her boss's erratic behavior, which often made it harder to bring back the very advertising customers she was hired to woo. She was effectively demoted in X's merger with xAI.

It is unclear who might succeed Yaccarino if X decides to replace her. Contenders could include members of Yaccarino's leadership team, such as John Nitti, global head of revenue operations and ad innovation at X; Angela Zepeda, X's global head of marketing; or Monique Pintarelli, head of Americas at X, industry insiders said.