Elon Musk is finally ready to hand over the CEO reins at Twitter. Media executive Linda Yaccarino, the current chairman of global advertising and partnerships at NBCUniversal will step into Musk’s shoes. On Friday, Yaccarino announced that she was leaving her post; the exec has been with NBCU for over a decade and is a well-respected figure in the industry.
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Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives thinks Yaccarino is a good choice for the role. “While overseeing billions in annual ad revenue and keeping tight relationships with marketers and ad agencies globally,” said the 5-star analyst, “we believe that this would be a homerun hire for Twitter and fit in very well to the overall Twitter strategy and monetization looking ahead.”
Starting in 6 weeks’ time, Yaccarino will have a challenging task ahead as she aims to entice advertisers back to the platform while monetizing the user base. Yaccarino played a significant role in launching ‘multiple revenue streams’ at NBCU, including the ad-supported Peacock streaming service, and successfully created a unified monetization and enterprise strategy to streamline the ad marketplace. These experiences should serve her well when dealing with the dynamic environment of Twitter.
With Yaccarino at the helm at the microblogging platform, Musk will be free to follow his other pursuits and that will be welcome relief for Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) investors.
How much of a relief? With the Musk CEO “overhang” now out of the way, a pretty big sigh, according to Ives. “We ultimately view this as a major step forward with Musk finally reading the room that has been around this Twitter nightmare and trying to balance Twitter, Tesla, and SpaceX as CEOs an impossible task that needed to change,” he said.
All told, for now, Ives sticks to an Outperform (i.e., Buy) rating and $215 price target. The implication for investors? Potential upside of 29% from current levels. (To watch Ives’ track record, click here)
Elsewhere on Wall Street, the stock garners an additional 14 Buys, 11 Holds and 4 Sells, all coalescing to a Moderate Buy consensus rating. The forecast calls for 12-month gains of ~22%, considering the average target clocks in at $202.84. (See Tesla stock forecast)
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Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the featured analysts. The content is intended to be used for informational purposes only. It is very important to do your own analysis before making any investment.
