Musk to settle $128M lawsuit with ex-Twitter CEO, top executives
What's the story
Elon Musk has agreed to settle, pending certain conditions, a $128 million lawsuit with four former Twitter executives he had fired after acquiring the company in 2022. The executives—Parag Agrawal (former CEO), Ned Segal (CFO), Vijaya Gadde (Chief Legal Officer), and Sean Edgett (General Counsel)—sued Musk last year over unpaid severance payments. The case was filed in the US Northern District Court of California.
Confidential agreement
Settlement reached but terms undisclosed
The settlement agreement has been reached, contingent on certain conditions being met, but its terms remain undisclosed. The lawsuit was filed in March 2024 after a long dispute between the former executives and Musk. They had accused Musk of hastening his $44 billion Twitter acquisition to "cheat" them out of $200 million before their stock options vested the next day.
Allegations detailed
Musk allegedly said he would 'hunt' Twitter executives
The lawsuit also cites a quote from Musk in Walter Isaacson's biography, where he allegedly said that closing the deal a day early would create a "two-hundred-million differential in the cookie jar." The complaint further claims, based on the biography, that Musk said he would "hunt every single one of" Twitter's executives and directors "till the day they die."
Court proceedings
Lawsuit against Musk and X to continue if settlement fails
The lawsuit against Musk and his rebranded company X will continue on October 31 if the settlement terms are not met. This comes after a similar case was settled in August, where former employees laid off during a mass firing in 2022 had sued the company for failing to provide the required 60 days of advance notice prior to termination.