Fired Twitter execs sue Musk for $128M in unpaid severance

The four top Twitter executives whom Elon Musk fired “for cause” right after buying the social media platform are suing him for a collective $128 million in severance pay they say they are owed.

No sooner had Musk paid $44 billion for Twitter in 2022 than he canned CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal, legal and policy departments chief Vijaya Gadde and general counsel Sean Edgett. The foursome had strongly criticized Musk’s handling of the takeover, suing him when he tried to renege on issues with bots.

Their contracts contained clauses saying that if the company were taken private, they would be entitled to severance. However, Musk triggered their layoff moments before it went private, according to the lawsuit, beating out the moment their stock options would vest and telling biographer Walter Isaacson, “There’s a 200 million differential in the cookie jar between closing tonight and doing it tomorrow morning,” the lawsuit claims.

The same moment the four were let go, their email access was cut off. Agrawal lost his access just as he was trying to hit send on his own resignation letter, preventing him from doing so until after he was fired.

“This is the Musk playbook: to keep the money he owes other people and force them to sue him,” the plaintiffs wrote. “Even in defeat, Musk can impose delay, hassle and expense on others less able to afford it.”

Not only is he trying to avoid spending money, but he also is out for “lifelong revenge,” claims the lawsuit filed in California’s Northern District. The suit claims Musk is holding onto a “special ire” against the four and alleges he told Isaacson “that he would ‘hunt every single one of Twitter’s executives and directors ’till the day they die.’”

Many others fired by Musk have sued. Former managers and engineers sued Twitter seeking $500 million in alleged unpaid severance in a class action filed last July. Settlement talks on that lawsuit broke down Monday, according to CNBC.