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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Technology
Mark Sweney

‘The Velvet Hammer’: who is Twitter’s new CEO and can she fix its problems?

Linda Yaccarino
Linda Yaccarino, the new chief executive of Twitter, has softly taken Elon Musk to task over his cavalier decision-making. Photograph: Slaven Vlašić/Getty Images

“I see I have some new followers,” said Linda Yaccarino, adding side-eyes and waving hand emojis to a tongue-in-cheek post responding to the social media explosion that followed her unveiling as Twitter’s new chief executive on Friday.

Still weeks away from taking up the role, Yaccarino, a respected media veteran known in advertising circles as the “Velvet Hammer” for her silky but tough negotiating style, has already had a taste of the shambolic corporate environment that has swept the platform since billionaire Elon Musk bought it for $44bn last October.

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