Twitter's new CEO told staffers they need to use 'hand-to-hand combat' to convince advertisers to come back, report says

• Linda Yaccarino said staff must deploy "hand-to-hand combat' to win back advertisers, per the FT.
• The Twitter CEO's remarks follow the NYT's report that Twitter ad sales have fallen 59% in a year.

Linda Yaccarino told Twitter staff they need to deploy "hand-to-hand combat" to win back advertisers who abandoned the platform, the Financial Times reported.

The new Twitter CEO reportedly made these comments in a meeting with the global sales team earlier this month, where she spoke about the need for hard work to convince companies to advertise with the platform, per the FT.

"Hand-to-hand combat" apparently referred to persuading advertisers in person rather than from behind a desk, a person with knowledge of the matter told the newspaper.

Leaked internal documents that were reported by The New York Times earlier this month, indicated that Twitter's ad revenue was down 59% in the US from April 1 to the first week of May versus the same period the year before.

Half of Twitter's advertisers pulled out shortly after Elon Musk bought the company in October. Musk later threatened to "name and shame" companies that had paused advertising.

In April, he told that BBC "almost all advertisers have come back," but The Times' data from the same month suggests that wasn't the case.

Yaccarino's comments further imply that more needs to be done to boost Twitter's ad business.

Some advertisers also appear to be irritated by Musk's erratic tweets.

Twitter introduced tools that allow advertisers to pick which tweets their content is kept away from. Four unnamed sources with knowledge of the situation told The Times that some brands are making sure their ads don't appear next to Musk's own tweets.

The world's biggest ad buyer had labeled Twitter "high-risk" for advertisers while warning about increased fake accounts and hate speech back in November.

But upon Yaccarino's appointment as CEO, the platform was no longer deemed "high-risk," The Verge reported.

Insider contacted Twitter for comment. The company responded with an automated message that didn't address the inquiry.