Linda Yaccarino may have one of the most difficult jobs in Silicon Valley. As the CEO of Elon Musk’s X Corp, the former NBCUniversal executive is grappling with two equally challenging tasks: saving the social media platform’s declining business and making her boss look good. During an onstage interview at CES in Las Vegas this week, Yaccarino was peppered with questions from the former CBS investigative journalist Catherine Herridge about her relationship with Musk.
First, Herridge asked if Yaccarino had any conversations with Musk about his work with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a newly formed federal department within the upcoming Trump administration to cut down on government bureaucracy and stimulate business activity. The DOGE will be co-led by Musk and the entrepreneur and politician Vivek Ramaswamy.
Not directly answering the question, Yaccarino expressed her support for Musk’s political appointment. “Elon is a visionary, and there is no better person that can set a vision and a course for others to be inspired and follow,” she said. “As far as DOGE is concerned, I would imagine that surfacing and identifying government waste and inefficiency is beneficial to all of us, and I don’t think there are two better people than Elon and Vivek to do that.”
Americans, Yaccarino added, should “all be rooting” for the “overwhelming success of DOGE,” predicting the group will be “one of the single biggest unifiers that will bring this country together.”
Musk’s close ties with the President-elect have raised controversy and speculation about his potential conflicts of interest over influencing federal policies that may benefit his many business ventures, notably Tesla and SpaceX. Pressing her further, Herridge asked Yacarrino if she expects Musk to use X to “advance his objectives for government efficiency.” Dodging the question once again, Yaccarino discussed Musk’s candor on the social platform and how his transparency demonstrates his role as an arbiter of free speech.
“We should encourage all business leaders, all government leaders, to do exactly the same thing and share more, not less,” she said, emphasizing that everyone should be open to sharing their thoughts and life experiences to “inspire” others.
After stroking Musk’s ego, Yaccarino finally discussed X’s advertising business, which has declined dramatically since Musk took ownership of the platform. She said the platform will double down on Trend Genius, a feature that allows advertisers to tie the launch of marketing campaigns to trends on X in real time, in a bid to capitalize on high user activity and generate more ad revenue. X will also continue building out its NFL sports portal, providing a centralized space for users to engage and see competition stats on America’s football games. “Every corner, there’s growth,” the CEO said.
Yaccarino’s comments came as X struggled to keep advertisers on the site. In the first eight months of 2024, the platform’s ad revenue reportedly fell $238 million. It’s expected to fall another $200 million by 2027. Concerned about Musk’s close ties with Trump, millions of X users migrated to alternate platforms like Bluesky following November’s Presidential election.
CES wasn’t the first time Yaccarino defended Musk. After the tech billionaire’s controversial interview at the New York Times’ DealBook Summit in November 2023, accusing advertisers of pulling ads in an attempt to “blackmail” him, Yaccarino sent a memo to X employees calling the interview “candid and profound.”
Musk tapped Yacarrino to lead X in June 2023. She previously served as chairwoman of global advertising and partnerships at NBCUniversal for 12 years.