Elon Musk has reached a settlement to resolve a $128 million lawsuit filed by several former Twitter executives, including ex-CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal, and chief legal officer Vijaya Gadde.
The lawsuit, initiated earlier this year, accused Musk of unlawfully withholding severance payments that were contractually owed to these leaders following his 2022 acquisition of the social media platform, now rebranded as X.
Following the takeover, Musk swiftly removed key figures such as Parag Agrawal, Ned Segal, and senior legal executives Sean Edgett and Vijaya Gadde as part of his initial overhaul of the company’s leadership.
The plaintiffs contend that their severance packages were withheld because they opposed Musk’s efforts to back out of the $44 billion acquisition deal.
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According to Walter Isaacson’s biography of Musk, cited in the lawsuit, Musk reportedly vowed to “relentlessly pursue every single one” of Twitter’s top executives.
At first, Musk’s legal team claimed the executives were terminated “for cause,” which would void their severance rights. However, legal experts examining internal communications and board records found no evidence supporting this assertion, prompting Musk to settle to avoid a lengthy and costly legal dispute.
The forthcoming settlement brings closure to a drawn-out conflict that epitomizes the tumultuous start of Musk’s leadership at Twitter. It also underscores his broader strategy to clear outstanding legal challenges as he pushes forward with his vision of evolving X into a “fully monetized all-in-one app.”