Former Twitter CEO and other executives sue Elon Musk and X for $128 million in unpaid bonus

There are a group of former Twitter executives, including former CEO Parag Agrawal prosecution Elon Musk and X are sitting on millions of dollars in unpaid severance pay. These claims are due to the chaotic circumstances surrounding Musk’s acquisition of the company in October 2022.

When Musk took control of the company, he had to fire Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal, Chief Legal Officer Vijaya Gade, and General Counsel Sean Edgett. According to the lawsuit, Musk had “private anger” toward the group because of the role they played in the months-long legal battle that forced Musk to pursue the acquisition after he tried to back out of the deal. According to the lawsuit, Agrawal is entitled to $57.4 million in severance benefits, Segal is entitled to $44.5 million, Gadde $20 million, and Edgett $6.8 million, for a total of about $128 million.

The lawsuit cites Musk’s biographer Walter Isaacson’s account of the events, which explains that Musk rushed the Twitter deal to close a day early so he could fire the executives “for cause” just before their final stock options were set to vest. According to Isaacson, Musk bragged that the legal maneuver saved him about $200 million.

“Musk doesn’t pay his bills, believes the rules don’t apply to him, and uses his wealth and power to attack anyone who disagrees with him.” The suit “Because Musk decided he didn’t want to pay severance pay to the plaintiffs, he simply fired them without cause, then fabricated a fake case and hired employees at his various companies to support his decision.”

X did not respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit. It should be noted that this is not the first time that former Twitter employees have filed a lawsuit against the company due to its failure to pay end-of-service compensation. A separate lawsuit claimed that Twitter owes the former employees more than… On unpaid leave. Agrawal, Segal, and Gadde also filed the company for unpaid legal bills as a result of shareholder lawsuits and other investigations that resulted from Musk’s takeover of the company.