John Nitti has left his post as advertising chief of Ax after just ten months, the Financial Times reports.
Nitti, who joined as global head of revenue operations and advertising innovation, was considered a possible successor to former CEO Linda Yaccarino, who resigned in July. His exit adds to a series of high-level departures from Elon Musk’s increasingly turbulent executive group. Among others, X’s CFO Mahmoud Reza Banki left in October after less than a year, while XAI’s CFO and general counsel both left in the summer.
The revolving door reportedly reflects deep tensions. Sources told the FT that executives have been frustrated by Musk’s sudden change of strategy and unilateral decision-making, including banning the hashtag from advertising without discussing the move with his own advertising team.
Advertisement Pressure on leadership has increased as Musk has poured billions of dollars into AI development to compete with OpenAI and DeepMind. While some brands have bounced back after Musk told them to “go fuck yourself” in late 2023 and XAI has secured partnerships with companies like Disney, others have complained of feeling forced to advertise privately after XAI sued brands including Shell and Pinterest over alleged boycotts.
Before joining X, Niti spent nearly nine years with Verizon and another long time with American Express.
