8 ms·

One time they let her speak publicly it turned out to be a disaster. She never had any say and worst part is she was not even a good fall guy, it was clear who’

One time they let her speak publicly it turned out to be a disaster. She never had any say and worst part is she was not even a good fall guy, it was clear who’s pulling the strings. The most immaterial and inconsequential hire ever. I love all the replies on Twitter thanking her but during her time the valuation dropped 80% and they were suing advertisers for not advertising. Remarkably inept.

thih9 1y ago
> One time they let her speak publicly it turned out to be a disaster. Context?
deleted 1y ago
[deleted]
andsoitis 1y ago
You’re saying two things: - she is inept - she never had any say (which I interpret, perhaps incorrectly, that she is competent but had her hands were tied) Which is it?
- Xiol32 1y ago
  Arguably a competent person wouldn't have persisted in a role where it was obvious they were not able to make a meaningful difference.
  - mingus88 1y ago
    Can’t speak for her, obviously, but personally I tend to wait to make my exit once I know the role is not working out If I were in her shoes, I would have known I was going to leave during the worst of his tantrums, but I would have timed my exit for a more graceful moment. Dramatically bailing out during a storm would not be a good look for an exec who wants another key role somewhere else
    - andsoitis 1y ago
      Another possibility is that she was fired.
    - mdasen 1y ago
      If she were trying to time it, this timing seems weird. This is literally the day after Grok kept posting anti-semitism, praising Hitler, and calling itself MechaHitler. This might not be the least graceful moment for an exit, but there were so many more graceful exit times.
      - steveBK123 1y ago
        The speed at which replies mentioning Groks Nazi freakout get downvoted here make me really question where things are headed..
        selectodude 1y ago
        All the race science phrenology bullshit is coming out of Silicon Valley. It's not a surprise to me that HN would be full of people "just reading the stats".
      - bikezen 1y ago
        FTA this was announced last week to employees. "Ms. Yaccarino had discussed her plans to leave with X employees earlier this week, before the incident with Grok"
  - snickerdoodle12 1y ago
    You'd be insane to leave a job with such few responsibilities and such insane compensation. Set for life.
    - ceejayoz 1y ago
      Unless you think said job is edging into "oh shit I might be part of the Nuremberg Trials II" territory. Life got short for quite a few historical Nazis.
      - snickerdoodle12 1y ago
        Sure, and I agree, but that's not really related to what GP is saying
        ceejayoz 1y ago
        It's related to what you are saying. It's a non-monetary reason it'd be non-insane to leave the role; "set for life" doesn't do you much good if you're in The Hague.
        snickerdoodle12 1y ago
        No, it's not. Here, I'll repeat the context for you: > > Arguably a competent person wouldn't have persisted in a role where it was obvious they were not able to make a meaningful difference. > You'd be insane to leave a job with such few responsibilities and such insane compensation. Set for life. Pay special attention to the phrasing "a role". We are not talking about specifically this role.
        ceejayoz 1y ago
        > You'd be insane to leave a job with such few responsibilities and such insane compensation. Set for life. Again: you would not be insane to do so if staying in the job has substantial non-compensation consequences. Like jail.
    - 1y ago
- cjbgkagh 1y ago
  My guess of what they meant; On the assumption she had influence she was unable to use that influence prevent a collapse in value. It's a hedge to cover both options.
- sheepscreek 1y ago
  Influencing the person pulling the strings is also a key skill. I won’t colour her entire person as inept but perhaps, wrong person wrong time. Musk doesn’t like or need yes men but if you say no him or want to try something different, you better have a well thought out idea/plan. There lies the challenge. How do you impress upon a very intelligent individual ever so often? Very few can.
- deleted 1y ago
  [deleted]
- deleted 1y ago
  [deleted]
sorcerer-mar 1y ago
It's weird that you say both she had no material power and also seem to imply the valuation drop and lawsuits were due to her ineptitude? Anyway she volunteered to be a puppet for a man who is clearly off the rails and her legacy will forever be stained.
- mcphage 1y ago
  (1) She had no power (2) If she did have power, nothing good happened during her tenure, so what would she even be thanked for?
  - sorcerer-mar 1y ago
    I'm not suggesting she should be thanked. I'm suggesting that the failures listed are hard to ascribe to her ineptitude.
    - anonymars 1y ago
      Right but the point was: > *I love all the replies on Twitter thanking her* but during her time the valuation dropped 80% and they were suing advertisers for not advertising. Remarkably inept. What was there to thank her for?
      - sorcerer-mar 1y ago
        Nothing! That's why I didn't comment on that. I commented on "remarkably inept."
        anonymars 1y ago
        Gotcha. I guess another episode of "both participants think the other is crazy" My read wasn't that the "inept" was specifically her, but rather the leadership of the company at the time in general (for which, regardless, she is being thanked on Twitter). In other words, either (1) she was a figurehead that didn't do anything and thanking her is stupid (2) she wasn't a figurehead and actually was in charge, in which case thanking her is still stupid because such leadership was inept (suing their advertisers, etc.)
misiti3780 1y ago
it didnt drop 80%: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/mar/19/value-elon-musk-x-rebounds-purchase-price https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/mar/19/value-elo...
- lostlogin 1y ago
  Even if the valuation is the same (seems unlikely), a fairly small rate of inflation on that sum of money is likely to be a number that matters.
  - shkkmo 1y ago
    "lost money due to inflation" (or even "lost money compared to an equivalent investment is a basket of similar stocks" is very different claim than "lost 80% of value". Currently the stock is down less than 10% from the purchase price (41 billion vs 44 billion). Down 10% vs 80% is the kind of egregious factual "error" that gets made so frequently around Musk, that it is hard to take any criticism at face value. You don't like the guy and want to call him out? Get your facts straight or you're being counter productive.
    - lostlogin 1y ago
      A breathless defence against points never made.
    - deleted 1y ago
      [deleted]
mrtksn 1y ago
I don't think she ever was a fall guy, Elon run a poll on should someone else be CEO of Twitter and lost the poll. It was quite entertaining, He didn't seem happy with the outcome and probably had to pay CEO level salary due to the stunt.
- joot82 1y ago
  She was mainly brought on to fix relationships with advertisers, they were just pulling out that time because of rampant nazi and hate speech (by users) on the platform, after they fired the content moderation teams. I think she did what she could over the last 2 years and some of the ad revenue came back, but after the latest MechaHitler escapades I guess she got some texts from people...
- gitremote 1y ago
  "The glass cliff is a hypothesized phenomenon in which women are more likely to break the "glass ceiling" (i.e. achieve leadership roles in business and government) during periods of crisis or downturn when the risk of failure is highest." https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass_cliff https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass_cliff
  - snypher 1y ago
    Is this what happened at Reddit? I feel like they made some unpopular changes and used Ellen Pao as a patsy.
- mrguyorama 1y ago
  You might have a point if he didn't ignore every other one of those polls he ran.
bhouston 1y ago
> The most immaterial and inconsequential hire ever. I understand she did convince a lot of advertisers to come back and provided a veneer of credibility.
- tinco 1y ago
  Given the circumstances, is an 80% drop that bad? Many people were expecting Twitter to simply go bankrupt. Perhaps she's the one that saved Twitter.
Invictus0 1y ago
She got her bag and got out. Seems perfectly rational to me.
AtlasBarfed 1y ago
So you are saying Elon musk is inept? We all know who wanted to sue advertisers, we aren't stupid.
odo1242 1y ago
Genuinely, I wasn't even aware that Musk had actually done the initially promised thing of appointing a different CEO.
zzzeek 1y ago
if she had no power to make decisions then how would the company's decline in valuation be her fault?
deleted 1y ago
[deleted]
reactordev 1y ago
Top executives fail upwards. She did exactly what she set out to do.
- JumpCrisscross 1y ago
  Hiring her would be a favour to Elon. She likely knew this when she took the job.
gorwell 1y ago
[flagged]
- anigbrowl 1y ago
  Bullshit. Look how normal it is for people on X to cens*r c*rtain w*rds to avoid having their posts downranked.
  - deleted 1y ago
    [deleted]
  - eric-p7 1y ago
    Isn't the X ranking algorithm open source? Does it have hardcoded keywords or how does this censoring work?
    - saagarjha 1y ago
      It's not open source.
cm2012 1y ago
Twitter valuation dropped for two primary reasons: 1) Most tech valuations dropped about 50%-80% in between Elon's offer and Reddit formally accepting it. This was the end of the 2021 tech boom. 2) Elon being a moron and turning off brand advertisers in any way he can when direct response ads don't really work on the platform.
- dzhiurgis 1y ago
  [flagged]
  - sleepybrett 1y ago
    his own fucking 'ai' was nazi posting, wtf are you talking about?
    - dzhiurgis 1y ago
      [flagged]
  - frankzinger 1y ago
    The owner of Twitter sieg heiled twice in front of millions of viewers. There is no need for anybody else to prove anything.
    - dzhiurgis 1y ago
      Those attacks happened way before. If you don’t see that someone is trying to build a narrative here - I’m sorry for you.
      - frankzinger 1y ago
        So the narrative Antifa were working so hard to build turned out to be true? Well then I guess the joke's on them for having wasted their time.
mandeepj 1y ago
> the valuation dropped 80% and they were suing advertisers for not advertising That already happened before she got onboard. > One time they let her speak publicly it turned out to be a disaster. One time? She has spoken publicly many times. Care to share more about what you are referring to? I have no recollection of such a thing being done by her. It's not easy to recover from your unpredictable boss shouting "FU" to your advertisers from a stage.
lonmydadda 1y ago
[flagged]

thih9 1y ago

> One time they let her speak publicly it turned out to be a disaster. Context?

deleted 1y ago

[deleted]

andsoitis 1y ago

You’re saying two things: - she is inept - she never had any say (which I interpret, perhaps incorrectly, that she is competent but had her hands were tied) Which is it?

Xiol32 1y ago
Arguably a competent person wouldn't have persisted in a role where it was obvious they were not able to make a meaningful difference.
- mingus88 1y ago
  Can’t speak for her, obviously, but personally I tend to wait to make my exit once I know the role is not working out If I were in her shoes, I would have known I was going to leave during the worst of his tantrums, but I would have timed my exit for a more graceful moment. Dramatically bailing out during a storm would not be a good look for an exec who wants another key role somewhere else
  - andsoitis 1y ago
    Another possibility is that she was fired.
  - mdasen 1y ago
    If she were trying to time it, this timing seems weird. This is literally the day after Grok kept posting anti-semitism, praising Hitler, and calling itself MechaHitler. This might not be the least graceful moment for an exit, but there were so many more graceful exit times.
    - steveBK123 1y ago
      The speed at which replies mentioning Groks Nazi freakout get downvoted here make me really question where things are headed..
      - selectodude 1y ago
        All the race science phrenology bullshit is coming out of Silicon Valley. It's not a surprise to me that HN would be full of people "just reading the stats".
    - bikezen 1y ago
      FTA this was announced last week to employees. "Ms. Yaccarino had discussed her plans to leave with X employees earlier this week, before the incident with Grok"
- snickerdoodle12 1y ago
  You'd be insane to leave a job with such few responsibilities and such insane compensation. Set for life.
  - ceejayoz 1y ago
    Unless you think said job is edging into "oh shit I might be part of the Nuremberg Trials II" territory. Life got short for quite a few historical Nazis.
    - snickerdoodle12 1y ago
      Sure, and I agree, but that's not really related to what GP is saying
      - ceejayoz 1y ago
        It's related to what you are saying. It's a non-monetary reason it'd be non-insane to leave the role; "set for life" doesn't do you much good if you're in The Hague.
        snickerdoodle12 1y ago
        No, it's not. Here, I'll repeat the context for you: > > Arguably a competent person wouldn't have persisted in a role where it was obvious they were not able to make a meaningful difference. > You'd be insane to leave a job with such few responsibilities and such insane compensation. Set for life. Pay special attention to the phrasing "a role". We are not talking about specifically this role.
        ceejayoz 1y ago
        > You'd be insane to leave a job with such few responsibilities and such insane compensation. Set for life. Again: you would not be insane to do so if staying in the job has substantial non-compensation consequences. Like jail.
  - 1y ago
cjbgkagh 1y ago
My guess of what they meant; On the assumption she had influence she was unable to use that influence prevent a collapse in value. It's a hedge to cover both options.
sheepscreek 1y ago
Influencing the person pulling the strings is also a key skill. I won’t colour her entire person as inept but perhaps, wrong person wrong time. Musk doesn’t like or need yes men but if you say no him or want to try something different, you better have a well thought out idea/plan. There lies the challenge. How do you impress upon a very intelligent individual ever so often? Very few can.
deleted 1y ago
[deleted]
deleted 1y ago
[deleted]

sorcerer-mar 1y ago

It's weird that you say both she had no material power and also seem to imply the valuation drop and lawsuits were due to her ineptitude? Anyway she volunteered to be a puppet for a man who is clearly off the rails and her legacy will forever be stained.

mcphage 1y ago
(1) She had no power (2) If she did have power, nothing good happened during her tenure, so what would she even be thanked for?
- sorcerer-mar 1y ago
  I'm not suggesting she should be thanked. I'm suggesting that the failures listed are hard to ascribe to her ineptitude.
  - anonymars 1y ago
    Right but the point was: > *I love all the replies on Twitter thanking her* but during her time the valuation dropped 80% and they were suing advertisers for not advertising. Remarkably inept. What was there to thank her for?
    - sorcerer-mar 1y ago
      Nothing! That's why I didn't comment on that. I commented on "remarkably inept."
      - anonymars 1y ago
        Gotcha. I guess another episode of "both participants think the other is crazy" My read wasn't that the "inept" was specifically her, but rather the leadership of the company at the time in general (for which, regardless, she is being thanked on Twitter). In other words, either (1) she was a figurehead that didn't do anything and thanking her is stupid (2) she wasn't a figurehead and actually was in charge, in which case thanking her is still stupid because such leadership was inept (suing their advertisers, etc.)

misiti3780 1y ago

it didnt drop 80%: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/mar/19/value-elon-musk-x-rebounds-purchase-price https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/mar/19/value-elo...

lostlogin 1y ago
Even if the valuation is the same (seems unlikely), a fairly small rate of inflation on that sum of money is likely to be a number that matters.
- shkkmo 1y ago
  "lost money due to inflation" (or even "lost money compared to an equivalent investment is a basket of similar stocks" is very different claim than "lost 80% of value". Currently the stock is down less than 10% from the purchase price (41 billion vs 44 billion). Down 10% vs 80% is the kind of egregious factual "error" that gets made so frequently around Musk, that it is hard to take any criticism at face value. You don't like the guy and want to call him out? Get your facts straight or you're being counter productive.
  - lostlogin 1y ago
    A breathless defence against points never made.
  - deleted 1y ago
    [deleted]

mrtksn 1y ago

I don't think she ever was a fall guy, Elon run a poll on should someone else be CEO of Twitter and lost the poll. It was quite entertaining, He didn't seem happy with the outcome and probably had to pay CEO level salary due to the stunt.

joot82 1y ago
She was mainly brought on to fix relationships with advertisers, they were just pulling out that time because of rampant nazi and hate speech (by users) on the platform, after they fired the content moderation teams. I think she did what she could over the last 2 years and some of the ad revenue came back, but after the latest MechaHitler escapades I guess she got some texts from people...
gitremote 1y ago
"The glass cliff is a hypothesized phenomenon in which women are more likely to break the "glass ceiling" (i.e. achieve leadership roles in business and government) during periods of crisis or downturn when the risk of failure is highest." https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass_cliff https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass_cliff
- snypher 1y ago
  Is this what happened at Reddit? I feel like they made some unpopular changes and used Ellen Pao as a patsy.
mrguyorama 1y ago
You might have a point if he didn't ignore every other one of those polls he ran.

bhouston 1y ago

> The most immaterial and inconsequential hire ever. I understand she did convince a lot of advertisers to come back and provided a veneer of credibility.

tinco 1y ago
Given the circumstances, is an 80% drop that bad? Many people were expecting Twitter to simply go bankrupt. Perhaps she's the one that saved Twitter.

Invictus0 1y ago

She got her bag and got out. Seems perfectly rational to me.

AtlasBarfed 1y ago

So you are saying Elon musk is inept? We all know who wanted to sue advertisers, we aren't stupid.

odo1242 1y ago

Genuinely, I wasn't even aware that Musk had actually done the initially promised thing of appointing a different CEO.

zzzeek 1y ago

if she had no power to make decisions then how would the company's decline in valuation be her fault?

deleted 1y ago

[deleted]

reactordev 1y ago

Top executives fail upwards. She did exactly what she set out to do.

JumpCrisscross 1y ago
Hiring her would be a favour to Elon. She likely knew this when she took the job.

gorwell 1y ago

[flagged]

anigbrowl 1y ago
Bullshit. Look how normal it is for people on X to cens*r c*rtain w*rds to avoid having their posts downranked.
- deleted 1y ago
  [deleted]
- eric-p7 1y ago
  Isn't the X ranking algorithm open source? Does it have hardcoded keywords or how does this censoring work?
  - saagarjha 1y ago
    It's not open source.

cm2012 1y ago

Twitter valuation dropped for two primary reasons: 1) Most tech valuations dropped about 50%-80% in between Elon's offer and Reddit formally accepting it. This was the end of the 2021 tech boom. 2) Elon being a moron and turning off brand advertisers in any way he can when direct response ads don't really work on the platform.

dzhiurgis 1y ago
[flagged]
- sleepybrett 1y ago
  his own fucking 'ai' was nazi posting, wtf are you talking about?
  - dzhiurgis 1y ago
    [flagged]
- frankzinger 1y ago
  The owner of Twitter sieg heiled twice in front of millions of viewers. There is no need for anybody else to prove anything.
  - dzhiurgis 1y ago
    Those attacks happened way before. If you don’t see that someone is trying to build a narrative here - I’m sorry for you.
    - frankzinger 1y ago
      So the narrative Antifa were working so hard to build turned out to be true? Well then I guess the joke's on them for having wasted their time.

mandeepj 1y ago

> the valuation dropped 80% and they were suing advertisers for not advertising That already happened before she got onboard. > One time they let her speak publicly it turned out to be a disaster. One time? She has spoken publicly many times. Care to share more about what you are referring to? I have no recollection of such a thing being done by her. It's not easy to recover from your unpredictable boss shouting "FU" to your advertisers from a stage.

lonmydadda 1y ago

[flagged]