Will Yaccarino's Future Be Brighter At xAI? Here's What Grok Thinks

"The future could not be brighter," X CEO Linda Yaccarino posted 21 minutes after xAI CEO Elon Musk posted late Friday that it has acquired X for $45 billion.

"So are you CEO of the merged company," one of her followers posted minutes later.

To some, that question may seem rhetorical, because some believe while Yaccarino has held the CEO title for nearly two years, Musk never really relinquished the role.

Yaccarino's appointment in May 2023, which Musk also announced on X, followed months of speculation after Musk lost his own X poll in which a majority of followers (57.5%) voted that he step down as head of X.

"I will abide by the results of this poll," he posted.

Months later, after being interviewed by Yaccarino onstage at the 2023 Possible conference in Miami, Musk announced that the former NBCUniversal ad sales exec was X's new CEO, noting that Yaccarino "will focus primarily on business operations, while I focus on product design & new technology. Looking forward to working with Linda to transform this platform into X, the everything app."

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While X has had a variety of fits and false starts toward fulfilling the "everything app" vision since then, AI has increasingly become a major area of Musk's focus -- particularly the engineering and re-engineering of xAI's chatbot agent Grok, which recently released version 3 (see today's "The Uprising" column Media 3.0).

At presstime, xAI has not posted any news about its acquisition of X, or whether it will lead to a brighter future for Yaccarino in its new organizational structure, but MediaPost did ask Grok 3 what it thought. And at least at this point, Grok seems to be her fan.

"Given the recency of the deal and the lack of announcements about leadership changes, it is reasonable to assume she is likely still the CEO of X Corp at this moment," Grok said, adding: "However, her long-term role could evolve depending on how xAI integrates X into its operations, especially since Elon Musk, who leads xAI, has a history of reshaping management structures in his companies. For now, continuity appears to be the case, but this could shift as the merger progresses."

Asked whether Musk might conduct another poll on X to determine that, Grok said: "It's certainly possible."

Asked what the results of such a poll might be, Grok said: "Predicting the outcome of a hypothetical Elon Musk X poll on who should be the next CEO of X Corp is tricky, but we can make some educated guesses based on Musk’s follower base, X’s user dynamics, and past polling trends.

"If Musk ran a poll asking users to vote on the next CEO, he’d likely offer a shortlist of names — say, Linda Yaccarino (current CEO), a Musk loyalist like a Tesla/SpaceX exec (e.g., Gwynne Shotwell) himself, or even a wildcard like a prominent X influencer or tech figure (e.g., someone like Vitalik Buterin for chaos). The results would hinge on who’s voting, their biases, and how Musk frames it."

Grok goes on to note that "Yaccarino's got a mixed rep -- some see her as a steady hand from her ad world days, but others call her a 'legacy media suit' unfit for Musk's vision. She might pull 30-40% support from pragmatists who like her stabilizing X's revenue."

Grok adds that "turnout would be huge" for such a poll, noting that it would be in the "millions."

Lastly, we asked Grok to assess Yaccarino's performance as X Corp. CEO to date. 

"She stepped into a chaotic situation post-Musk’s Twitter acquisition: advertisers fleeing, revenue tanking, and a platform wrestling with free speech versus moderation," Grok said, noting: "Her job was clear: stabilize the ship, bring back ad dollars, and align X with Musk’s “everything app” vision. How well she has done depends on the metrics you prioritize, but here’s a breakdown based on what’s observable."

On the plus side, Grok said Yaccarino has "clawed back some financial ground" -- reportedly boosting X's ad revenue to around $2.5 billion, which is up from a low of $1.9 billion at X's bottom, but nonetheless still is down from Twitter's $4 billion in annual ad revenue prior to Musk's acquisition.

"But it’s not all rosy," Grok concluded, noting that "critics argue she’s been more caretaker than visionary" and that last week's acquisition deal values X at $11 billion less than the $44 billion Musk paid for it in 2022.

"Advertisers remain skittish; big names like Apple only half-returned, and X’s reliance on smaller, edgier brands (crypto, startups) reflects a narrower appeal," Grok continued. "The platform’s moderation policies, loosened under Musk, have kept it a lightning rod — hate speech reports spiked 20% in 2024 per the ADL — alienating some users and sponsors. Yaccarino’s been quiet on this, deferring to Musk, which some see as a lack of leadership. X’s “everything app” progress — payments, video, messaging — has been slow, trailing WeChat-like ambitions, and insiders say Musk still drives big calls, leaving her as more executor than innovator.

"Compared to peers, she’s no Satya Nadella transforming Microsoft, but she’s not a total flop either — more like a steady hand in a storm. X has not collapsed, it’s growing, and it’s profitable again (barely, with $500 million net in 2024). Given the mess she inherited, that’s a win. But her 22 months haven’t redefined X or silenced doubters who question her fit for Musk’s disruptive style. She’s done well enough to keep the gig — say, a solid 7/10 — but not so spectacularly that she’s untouchable, especially with xAI’s AI-first lens now in play. Her fate might hinge less on past performance and more on how she adapts to this next chapter."

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