Elon Musk has quietly reached a settlement with four former top Twitter executives over their abrupt dismissal on the day he took control of the social media platform, now renamed X. The agreement, according to court documents filed on Wednesday, involves an undisclosed sum.
When Musk completed his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter in October 2022, one of his first actions was to sack CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal, and senior legal executives Vijaya Gadde and Sean Edgett. He accused them of serious misconduct and mismanagement during their time at the company.
In March 2024, the ousted executives filed a lawsuit in a San Francisco federal court, demanding $128 million in compensation. They argued that Musk terminated their contracts without valid cause and later attempted to invent reasons to justify their removal. The group also alleged that Musk hastened the acquisition to prevent them from receiving about $200 million in stock options that were scheduled to vest the following day.
While the settlement details remain confidential, the provisional agreement is still awaiting final approval by the court. Should any conditions fail to be met, the lawsuit could resume by the end of October.
Musk’s 2022 takeover of Twitter was marked by sweeping layoffs that saw nearly two-thirds of the company’s workforce dismissed and several lawsuits filed by ex-employees, clients, and contractors.
By August 2024, Musk and X had already settled multiple legal actions brought by thousands of former staff members seeking unpaid severance packages. In a further reshuffling of his business empire, the billionaire transferred ownership of X to his artificial intelligence venture, xAI, earlier this year.
