Elon Musk Reaches Settlement with Former Twitter Executives Over Unpaid Severance
Elon Musk has agreed to a settlement with four former top Twitter executives following a lawsuit regarding over $128 million in unpaid severance, with the agreement contingent on Musk meeting “certain conditions” in the near term, reports 24brussels.
The settlement emerged from a case filed in the US Northern District Court of California, involving Musk and Twitter’s ex-CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal, chief legal officer Vijaya Gadde, and general counsel Sean Edgett. Although the details of the settlement remain undisclosed, the agreement takes into account obligations that Musk must satisfy, leading to a postponement of existing deadlines in the lawsuit.
The legal dispute began when the former executives accused Musk of altering the timeline of his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter to avoid paying out severance linked to their stock options, which were set to vest the day after the deal closed. A notable claim within the complaint references a statement from Musk in Walter Isaacson’s biography, suggesting that closing the acquisition early would lead to a significant financial gain at the expense of the executives.
If Musk fails to fulfill the conditional terms by October 31, the lawsuit will resume. In a broader context, Musk’s company, now rebranded as X, has previously settled “thousands” of cases involving former employees who claimed they were not given the legally required notice prior to mass layoffs in 2022.
This settlement represents a significant moment in Musk’s ongoing legal battles related to his management of X, amid criticism and scrutiny of his leadership style and corporate governance.