Musk, X Settle $128M Severance Dispute With Ex-Executives
After a protracted legal battle, Elon Musk and X (formerly Twitter) have reached a settlement with four former top executives who alleged they were denied $128 million in promised severance pay following Musk's acquisition of the social media platform in 2022.
The group included Parag Agrawal, the former CEO, Ned Segal, the former CFO, Vijaya Gadde, the former chief legal officer, and Sean Edgett, the former general counsel. They contended that Musk manufactured false accusations of misconduct and unjustly terminated their employment after they initiated legal action against him for attempting to back out of the acquisition agreement.
Musk and X maintained their denial of any wrongdoing, asserting that the executives were terminated due to performance-related issues.
The settlement's specifics remain confidential, as indicated in a recent court filing in San Francisco federal court.
The lawsuit also alleged that Musk reneged on severance packages promised to these executives long before his takeover of Twitter. The plaintiffs claimed they were each entitled to a year's salary plus substantial stock options. Neither X nor the legal representatives for the former executives immediately responded to requests for comments.
Additional Legal Challenges
This settlement follows a previous agreement in August where X settled a separate lawsuit from former rank-and-file Twitter employees who were laid off during widespread staff reductions. These employees claimed they were owed $500 million in unpaid severance.
These cases are part of a series of legal complications that Musk, recognized as one of the world's wealthiest individuals, has encountered since acquiring Twitter for $44 billion in 2022. The acquisition was followed by significant workforce reductions, impacting over half of the employees, and the subsequent rebranding of the company to X.
