Elon Musk announced Thursday the appointment of a new head for Twitter and the startup X/Twitter that will become its owner.
Musk expressed enthusiasm on his social media account for “appointing a new CEO of X/Twitter” without revealing the name.
The new official “will begin duties in about six weeks”, he said.
But the Wall Street Journal announced that Linda Yacarino, president of NBC Universal, is in talks to take over as CEO of Twitter.
Musk and Yacarino appeared together recently at a conference in Miami where they gave a keynote address.
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The announcement comes as shareholders of Tesla, the electric car maker Musk also manages, are putting increasing pressure on him to refocus on the company, whose shares have fallen 30 percent over the past year.
Tesla’s stock jumped about 2 percent on the news.
The Financial Times, citing people familiar with the developments, said investors on Twitter had asked Musk to choose new management as soon as possible.
In December, users supported Musk stepping down as head of the network, according to the results of a poll that the wealthy American controversial pledged at the launch to abide by its finding.
The poll came weeks after he took the top job in the group he acquired in a deal worth more than $40 billion.
Musk said he would move to the position of “executive chairman” and chief technology officer, with his duties including “overseeing production and systems and software operations.”
Musk has been widely criticized since he began taking over Twitter, for this role distracts him from his other duties at Tesla and SpaceX.
It has also sparked controversy since its acquisition of Twitter in October, laying off the majority of its employees, allowing the return of far-right figures to activate their accounts, suspending the participation of other figures and journalists, and charging financial allowances for services that were free.
More recently, Musk made Twitter part of a tech startup called X Corp, with the platform retaining its name. He has spoken of his intention to launch an app called “X” that mixes different services such as messaging and payments.
This week, he announced his intention to launch an encrypted direct messaging service via Twitter, as well as a voice and video communications service.
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