Photo Credit: Getty Images
Elon Musk has reached a settlement in a $128m (£100m) lawsuit filed by four former Twitter (now X) executives over unpaid severance following his acquisition of the company. The executives, including former CEO Parag Agrawal, claimed they were terminated "without reason" after Musk's 2022 takeover and subsequently denied severance payments. Attorneys for the plaintiffs disclosed the settlement in a court filing last week, noting that "certain conditions" must be met, but did not reveal specific terms.
The suit, filed last year, is one of several legal challenges over unpaid severance for workers who were laid off after Musk took over.
The former top brass - Mr Agrawal, former chief financial officer Ned Segal, former chief legal officer Vijaya Gadde and former general counsel Sean Edgett - contended in their lawsuit that they are owed one year's salary and stock awards, under a years-old severance plan. They also said Musk's move was part of a pattern of refusing to pay former staff what they were due.
In August, Musk and X agreed to settle a separate lawsuit filed by roughly 6,000 former rank-and-file Twitter employees who argued they were owed $500m in severance pay.
Musk purchased Twitter in 2022 for $44bn, after initially trying to back out of his offer. After the acquisition closed, he immediately moved to fire top leaders at the company, including the four executives. Musk slashed Twitter's workforce by more than half.
In their lawsuit, the former top officials contend that Musk was frustrated about being forced to complete the purchase and that the multi-billionaire falsely accused them of misconduct to push them out.
Lawyers for the former Twitter executives, and for Musk and X, did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the settlement.
