Working for Elon Musk can be the very definition of precarious employment. All You’re here The Supercharger staff found this out the hard way when they were together given the bag with little explanation.
It’s now Joe Benarroch’s turn. The former head of global business operations at X— personally hired by CEO Linda Yaccarino just days after taking office — is out after just over a year, according to her profile on LinkedIn.
And the former global advertising president of NBCUniversal could be in the crosshairs herself, according to a report from Financial Times on Sunday. Quoting According to anonymous informed sources, Yaccarino felt compelled to shake up her management team, firing Benarroch for allegedly failing to properly notify customers in advance that X would soon allow consensual sharing of porn, citing three sources from the business. (Pornography has long been present on Twitter, but it wasn’t officially allowed before.)
While Benarroch’s catching his customers off guard could clearly have negative effects, Musk himself also provided reasons why they feel confused. Musk tried to lure popular streamers away from Twitch by shaming the Amazon-owned rival for its inability to control its own adult content platform. A few weeks later, reversing course to make pornographic content officially permitted was bound to be controversial.
ORGANIC NUDES
– dream (@dreamwastaken) May 20, 2024
When approached by Fortune for a comment, X responded with the automated statement “busy now, please come back later”. Benarroch did not respond on X to a request for a statement.
Musk’s social media platform has suffered heavy losses since he added $1 billion in annual interest to its cost base to fund his $44 billion acquisition in late October 2022.
Although Tesla stock is down 50% since Musk’s interest in the social media platform became public in April 2022.
In September, Yaccarino suggested that achieve profits in early 2024. But an investigation by a non-profit organization showing that placed ads next to pro-Nazi messages then sparked an exodus of advertisers from companies like Disney and sparked new concerns about a possible financial collapse. Instead of resorting to diplomacy, Musk chose to go on the attack. threatening name and shame advertisers if X goes bankrupt.
Direct threat to Yaccarino’s authority
Musk seems dissatisfied with the rate of improvement of X and recently exploited his Boring Company CEO Steve Davis to take a closer look at his cost base, something Yaccarino confidants told the FT was a direct challenge to his authority.
Yaccarino herself faced constant speculation that she was little more than a Puppet CEO installed at remove the heat Musk’s management of the company and, if necessary, falling on grenades for the hundred billionaire.
When she spoke last week about the challenges she faced imposter syndrome– the feeling that one has not truly earned one’s status and position – she was asked what was the best message she ever received from him.
Welcome to the herd, @benarroch_joe! From one bird to another.
Let’s get to work @Twitter! #It’s time to go
– Linda Yaccarino (@lindayaX) June 4, 2023
Rather than cite an example of how he develops her or encourages her to do her best, the first thing that came to Yaccarino’s mind was the day Musk announced his hiring…nothing that happened in the 13 months that followed.
Yaccarino’s room to maneuver was already limited amid ongoing losses and she must now bear responsibility for personally vouching for Benarroch, her former assistant, in the first place.
Unless Yaccarino can better leverage his extensive rolodex to re-attract his ad industry contacts, Benarroch may not be the only former NBCUniversal executive who finds himself updating his LinkedIn profile.
