Elon Musk Settles $128M Twitter Exec Lawsuit
▼ Summary
– Elon Musk has settled with four former Twitter executives he fired after acquiring the company, resolving their lawsuit over $128 million in unpaid severance.
– The settlement involves former CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal, chief legal officer Vijaya Gadde, and general counsel Sean Edgett, with undisclosed terms and specific conditions to be met.
– The executives sued Musk in March 2024, alleging he closed the Twitter acquisition early to avoid paying $200 million in stock options that were set to vest the next day.
– Musk was quoted in a biography stating that closing the deal early would save $200 million and that he would pursue Twitter executives indefinitely.
– The lawsuit will resume on October 31st if settlement terms aren’t met, and X previously settled thousands of cases with laid-off employees over insufficient termination notice.
A major legal dispute involving Elon Musk and four former Twitter executives has reached a turning point, with a confidential settlement now on the table. The agreement, filed in the U.S. Northern District Court of California, brings Musk and the company now known as X closer to resolving a lawsuit centered on over $128 million in unpaid severance. The case involves ex-CEO Parag Agrawal, former CFO Ned Segal, former chief legal officer Vijaya Gadde, and ex-general counsel Sean Edgett. While the exact terms remain private, the settlement hinges on Musk meeting certain unspecified conditions in the near future. Court deadlines have been extended to allow time for these obligations to be fulfilled.
The legal action originated in March 2024 following a prolonged disagreement. The executives alleged that Musk deliberately accelerated the closing of his $44 billion Twitter acquisition to prevent them from receiving approximately $200 million in stock options that were scheduled to vest the very next day. Their court filing referenced a passage from Walter Isaacson’s biography of Musk, which quoted the billionaire as stating that finalizing the purchase a day early would result in a “two-hundred-million differential in the cookie jar.” The complaint further asserted that Musk told Isaacson he intended to “hunt every single one of” the company’s executives and directors “till the day they die.”
Should Musk fail to satisfy the settlement conditions by the specified date, the lawsuit will recommence on October 31st. This development occurs against a backdrop of other legal challenges for X. In August, the company settled thousands of additional cases brought by former employees who were part of a mass layoff in 2022. Those individuals had sued, claiming the company did not provide the legally mandated 60-day notice before terminating their employment.
(Source: The Verge)
