In a surprise announcement that is already raising eyebrows due to its proximity to a critical event, X CEO Linda Yaccarino has decided to call it quits.
To wit, Yaccarino has just posted a detailed message on X, detailing her decision to "step down" as X CEO, while thanking Elon Musk for providing her the opportunity to "protect free speech."
For the benefit of those who might not be aware, Elon Musk's xAI formally acquired X earlier this year in an all-stock deal, one that valued his AI-focused enterprise at $80 billion and his social media platform at $33 billion, inclusive of $12 billion in liabilities.
Of course, the timing of Linda Yaccarino's departure is quite suspect, coming on the heels of Grok 4's imminent release.
Do note that xAI's bespoke LLM was recently mired in a controversy when it started praising Adolf Hitler, all the while referring to itself as "MechaHitler." This episode then prompted X to delete a number of Grok's posts that were deemed anti-Semitic.
On the bright side, Linda Yaccarino did manage to turn X's finances around. For instance, X is largely expected to post its first annual growth in revenue since Elon Musk took over the social media platform in 2022. As such, X's ad revenue in the US is expected to grow by 17.5 percent in 2025 to $1.31 billion.
For context, do note that X reported $4.51 billion in revenue in 2021, its last full year as a public company. Of course, Elon Musk viciously cut costs at X immediately after taking over, gradually turning the platform into a financially viable entity, despite a lower top-line figure.
Meanwhile, as stated earlier, X's parent entity is all set to release the Grok 4 LLM later tonight. Elon Musk will host a dedicated livestream to mark the unveiling of xAI's latest cutting-edge AI model, which is expected to come in two variants:
- A generalist model that can handle user queries, reasoning tasks, research, translation, and other writing tasks.
- A coding-focused variant that integrates coding tools such as Cursor.
About the author: Writing is my one incontrovertible passion. Over the past six years, he has authored over 2,200 distinct articles on financial and tech-related topics, spanning nearly 1 million words. And he has been a member of Wcctech mobile team since 2025. As an alumnus of the University of Toronto, Rotman Commerce Program, I bring nuance, in-depth knowledge, and a unique perspective to every topic that I cover. When I'm not writing, I'm traveling the world, exploring hidden confectionaries and restaurants as an aspiring food connoisseur.
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