Supporters of former Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson could soon expect an influx of fresh content from the prominent conservative personality.
The CEO of X, formerly known as Twitter, Linda Yaccarino, made securing a deal with Carlson one of her primary objectives, and the revenue-sharing agreement has now been successfully completed, as reported on Friday.
The Washington Post reported:
On June 26, Yaccarino, Musk’s handpicked CEO, eagerly welcomed Justin Wells, longtime executive producer for Carlson’s show on Fox News, to talk about a potential partnership, a person familiar with the meeting said.
It was Yaccarino’s first day in the company’s New York offices — her office was festooned with “Welcome Linda” balloons — and she was trying to strike a deal. Forced from his slot as Fox News’s top-rated prime-time host, Carlson had been posting short videos to Twitter for weeks. But Yaccarino wanted to formalize the relationship and share advertising revenue. A Republican who hailed from NBC News, she aimed to recruit top television talent to X — part of an effort to make the platform more like YouTube or TikTok: a hub for original video content.
This agreement was reportedly formalized earlier this month. As a result, it is highly probable that there will be a substantial increase in content from Tucker Carlson on the platform, as stated by journalist Sarah Ellison.
“Linda Yaccarino’s first day in X’s NYC offices, she sat down with Tucker Carlson’s longtime producer. They just signed a deal that is likely to result in lots more Tucker content here,” she said on X.
Christopher Rufo, a conservative activist, said to The Post that Musk had “shifted the balance of power.”
“Previously, it tilted the playing field to the left, and now I think it’s a pretty even split. On a relative basis, this is a huge advantage for the right,” he said.
But the Post said that the platform is struggling because of that.
Mediaite reported:
Overall activity has declined significantly since Musk bought the company about a year ago, as the number of active tweeters has dropped by over 30%. Traffic-measuring tools suggest that overall activity on the site, including from advertisers, has also plummeted.
The paper attributed the decline in usership to a partisan takeover of the platform exacerbated by the revenue-sharing program and Twitter Blue, the subscription-based service that amplifies the tweets of those who pay a monthly fee to the company and that replaced its old method of verifying notable users in government, entertainment, and journalism.
The former host has recently shared an intriguing forecast regarding the 2024 presidential election. He expressed his belief that President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump might not ultimately be contenders against each other.
Carlson emphasized that his description of Biden as “senile” was not intended to be unkind but simply accurate. He pointed out that Biden’s support is diminishing in comparison to Trump’s in various polls. Simultaneously, Trump is reportedly confronting numerous charges across four different indictments, totaling 90 or more.
“Take the opponent out of the race, and they’re still losing,” he noted. “So, I mean, I don’t know what’s going to happen. This is not going to be a race between Joe Biden and Donald Trump. I would bet my beloved fishing camp in Maine that that is not going to happen. That’s not going to happen.”
“So what will happen?” he asked. “Well, I don’t know. One of, like, 400 distinct other possibilities… pick one.”
But one of the possibilities is particularly worrisome to Carlson.
“If it’s Gavin Newsom,” he stated, “we should be very, very concerned. That guy’s scary, and I mean it. I mean it. Scary. But that’s a whole separate conversation.”
“These issues will be forced,” he said. “Soon. Like, in a year. And the road from here to November 2024 is going to be filled with developments nobody in this room could foresee; I can promise you that. So, it’s about to get very serious, for sure. Only the leadership of the world is at stake, which is also, by the way, we now know, the most lucrative possible franchise in human history.”
