X CEO Linda Yaccarino Touts Advertiser Return After Musk Takeover

Technology|At X Staff Meetings, Executives Talk Up Return of Advertisers

Leaders at Elon Musk’s social media company, X, told employees this week that 65 percent of advertisers had returned to the platform since January, according to recordings of all-hands meetings obtained by The New York Times, and that smaller companies now made up the bulk of its revenue.

The executives, including Linda Yaccarino, who was appointed to run the company a year ago, admitted that the company continued to face challenges as it rebuilt its beleaguered advertising business. They did not provide updated sales figures, according to three people in attendance on Wednesday and Thursday, who noted that the return of advertisers did not necessarily reflect an increase in revenue.

The meetings took place as Mr. Musk, who acquired the company for $44 billion in 2022, faced a Tesla shareholder vote Thursday on his pay package, worth more than $45 billion. Some investors at Tesla, which accounts for the bulk of Mr. Musk’s wealth, have expressed concern he has been distracted by X. Later in the day, the company announced that shareholders had approved his compensation.

Since Mr. Musk took over the social media company, the billionaire has cut 75 percent of staff, restored hundreds of banned accounts and remade the platform to allow most speech, without consequences. In November, he told advertisers not to spend on X, dismissing them using an expletive during an interview at The Times’s DealBook conference.

Still, Ms. Yaccarino painted a rosier picture this week as she spoke with employees, promoting the increase in advertising by small and medium-size businesses on the platform. She and Mr. Musk are expected to continue to make their case to brands in meetings next week, as the two executives head to the Cannes Lions festival, an ad industry summit.

“Hundreds of client meetings will happen, and many moments will take place where we get to showcase X,” she said. The recordings were verified by employees at the meetings.