Working for Elon Musk would be the very definition of a dangerous job. All Tesla Supercharger employees found that out the hard way when they were all given a sack and little explanation.
Now it’s Joe Benarroch’s turn. X’s former head of global business operations — who was hired by CEO Linda Yaccarino just days into the job — is out after more than a year, according to her LinkedIn profile.
And the former chairman of NBCUniversal’s worldwide advertising may also be on the way, according to a report by Financial Times per week. Citing anonymous sources, he wrote that Yaccarino felt pressured to shake up his management team, firing Benarroch for allegedly failing to properly alert customers in advance that X would immediately allow consented porn sharing, citing three sources at the company. (Pornography has long existed on Twitter, but it used to be illegal.)
While Benarroch’s report of turning a blind eye to customers apparently backfired, Musk himself has given reasons for feeling confused. Musk tried to lure popular broadcasters away from Twitch by shaming the Amazon-owned rival for its failure to create its own platform for adult content. Flip-flopping a few weeks later to make porn content legally permissible was going to be controversial.
Naked in BIO
— dream (@dreamwastaken) May 20, 2024
When he approached Good luck for comment, X replied with a default statement “busy now, please check back later”. Benarroch did not respond to X’s request for a statement.
Musk’s social network has operated under heavy losses since adding $1 billion in annual interest to its cost base to fund his $44 billion buyout in late October 2022.
Although X is still a private company, its problems may threaten to spill over to Tesla, as the EV maker is the main source of Musk’s wealth and the sale of shares has been used to fund his Twitter operation. Tesla’s stock has fallen 50% since Musk’s interest in the social media platform went public in April 2022.
In September, Yaccarino suggested X could turn a profit as early as 2024. But an investigation by a non-profit organization showing evidence that X had placed ads next to pro-Nazi posts has since prompted an exit from advertisers at companies such as Disney and raised new concerns. due to possible financial collapse. Instead of diplomacy, Musk chose to go on the offensive, threatening to name-call the disgraced advertisers should X go bankrupt.
A direct threat to Yaccarino’s authority
Musk appears to be dissatisfied with the pace of X development and has recently tapped his Boring Company CEO Steve Davis to take a closer look at its cost base in what Yaccarino confidantes have told the FT is a direct challenge to his authority.
Yaccarino himself has faced speculation that he is little more than a puppet CEO installed to take the heat off Musk’s management of the company and, if necessary, fall on any centibillionaire bombs.
When he opened up last week about the difficulty of overcoming imposter syndrome—the feeling that one hasn’t truly earned his status and position—he was asked what was the best message he ever received from himself.
Welcome to the fold, @benarroch_joe! From one bird to the next.
Let’s get to work @Twitter! #timetofly
— Linda Yaccarino (@lindayaX) June 4, 2023
Rather than giving an example of how he inspired or motivated him to achieve his best, the first thing that came to Yaccarino’s mind was the day Musk announced his hiring—not anything that happened in the 13 months since.
Yaccarino’s room to direct was already limited amid the ongoing losses and now he has to shoulder the blame for his personal commitment to Benarroch, who was his assistant, in the first place.
Unless Yaccarino is better able to tap into his extensive rolodex to woo his ad industry contacts, Benarroch won’t be the only former NBCUniversal executive to find himself updating his LinkedIn profile.
