John Nitti has resigned from his position as head of advertising at Company X after just 10 months, the Financial Times reports.
Nitti, who joined as global head of revenue operations and advertising innovation, was seen as a potential successor to former CEO Linda Yaccarino, who resigned in July. His departure adds to a string of high-level departures from Elon Musk’s increasingly turbulent executive suite. Notably, X’s CFO Mahmoud Reza Banki left in October after less than a year, and xAI’s CFO and general counsel both left over the summer.
The revolving door reportedly reflects deeper tensions. People familiar with the matter told the FT that executives were growing frustrated with Musk’s sudden shifts in strategy and unilateral decisions, such as banning hashtags from ads without first consulting with the advertising team.
Pressure on advertising industry leadership is increasing as Mr. Musk pours billions of dollars into developing AI that competes with OpenAI and DeepMind. While some brands returned after Musk told them to “fuck you” at the end of 2023, and xAI has secured partnerships with companies like Disney, others quietly complain that they were forced to advertise after X sued brands like Shell and Pinterest for boycotting.
Prior to joining X, Nitti spent approximately nine years at Verizon and then an even longer period at American Express.
