Linda Yaccarino saved Elon Musk's X. Here's her top negotiating tactic.
Listen and subscribe to Power Players with Brian Sozzi on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you find your favorite podcasts. Former X CEO Linda Yaccarino has a few tactics on how to close a crucial deal. “I think the core foundation [to getting a great deal], like the table stakes requirement, is a relationship,” Yaccarino said in a new episode of the Power Players podcast (see video above; listen below). “And, and that's really what I pride myself on is being the person there that's an information provider. You have a relationship with me, and we talk, and we communicate when we're not in the heat of the deal.” This embedded content is not available in your region. She added, “So the best I can [do] might not be exactly what you want. And they always say, when you walk away from a deal, both people need to be smarting a little.” Yaccarino is now leading the charge at eMed, an up-and-coming GLP-1 player that recently raised a big funding round and counts Tom Brady as its founding chief wellness officer. But the time she spent rebuilding Elon Musk’s X isn’t too far from her mind. Yaccarino served as the chair of global advertising and partnerships at NBC Universal. She was the primary architect of the company’s revenue strategy, closing huge money-making deals with key advertising partners. She also transformed NBC Universal into a technology-driven advertising powerhouse. She was thrust into the spotlight when billionaire Elon Musk hired her as the CEO of social media platform X (formerly Twitter) in May 2023. X CEO Linda Yaccarino speaks during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing with other social media platform heads on Capitol Hill in Washington on Jan. 31, 2024, to discuss child safety online. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) · ASSOCIATED PRESS Tasked with stabilizing a platform in turmoil, Yaccarino was credited with modernizing X’s business operations, spearheading the expansion of video features and digital wallet services, and working tirelessly to bring back wary advertisers. She officially left X on July 9, 2025, marking the end of a two-year stint characterized by constant damage control, new product launches, and a return of advertisers. Yaccarino said about her time at X, “Managing and navigating such a massive global transformation under the scrutiny of governments all over the world, businesses all over the world and of media, that was a really hard thing to do. I couldn’t have been prouder at the tenure and look at the stability of the company, the financial stability of the company. We brought all the advertisers back, became profitable for the first time.” Brian Sozzi is Yahoo Finance's Executive Editor and a member of Yahoo Finance's editorial leadership team. Follow Sozzi on X @BrianSozzi, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Tips on stories? Email brian.sozzi@yahoofinance.com.
