Twitter hires NBCUniversal exec amid Musk’s top team shakeup
Twitter has recently appointed Joe Benarroch, a former senior executive at NBCUniversal, to join its top team as Elon Musk continues to restructure the social media giant’s leadership. Benarroch will begin his new role on Monday, focusing on business operations. This appointment comes less than a month after Linda Yaccarino, NBCUniversal’s former head of advertising, was named Twitter’s new chief executive.
Benarroch will be based at Twitter’s New York office, according to his updated LinkedIn profile. He also shared his excitement about joining Twitter, stating, “I am looking forward to bringing my experience to Twitter, and to working with the entire team to build Twitter 2.0 together.” Yaccarino welcomed Benarroch to the team on Twitter, saying, “Welcome to the flock @benarroch_joe! From one bird to the next.”
In his previous role, Benarroch served as the executive vice president for communications, advertising, and partnerships at NBCUniversal. He also has experience working with social media giant Facebook.
This news comes after reports that Ella Irwin, Twitter’s second head of trust and safety under owner Elon Musk, had resigned. Irwin took on the position when the previous head, Yoel Roth, left in November 2022, just a month after Musk acquired the company. The head of trust and safety is responsible for content moderation, an issue that has gained attention since Musk’s takeover.
The reason for Irwin’s resignation remains unclear. However, it occurred a day after Musk publicly criticised a content moderation decision made at Twitter.
Musk, the world’s richest man, purchased Twitter for US$44bn (£35.4bn) and faced pressure to find a new leader for the company so that he could refocus on his other businesses, including Tesla and SpaceX. Musk named Yaccarino as Twitter’s new chief executive last month, stating she would begin her role in six weeks and oversee business operations at the struggling platform.
Musk plans to remain involved in Twitter as executive chairman and chief technology officer, ensuring his continued influence on the company’s direction and future.
