Elon Musk agrees to settle with fired Twitter execs over severance dispute

Elon Musk and the social media platform X have come to an agreement with former executives regarding a contentious severance package totaling $128 million. The group, which includes notable figures such as former CEO Parag Agrawal and former CFO Ned Segal, claimed that Musk failed to pay the severance since his acquisition of Twitter in 2022. The executives initiated legal action in 2024, asserting that Musk had withheld their severance as an act of 'revenge' following the $44 billion purchase deal, which he had initially sought to avoid. All involved executives were terminated shortly after Musk took control in October 2022, just a day before they would have been eligible for $200 million in severance and stock options. A court order issued on October 1 by the US Northern District Court of California revealed that both parties have reached a settlement, although specific terms of the agreement were not disclosed. The order has postponed depositions, including that of Musk, which were scheduled for the end of October to facilitate compliance with the settlement conditions. The lawsuit referenced parts of a biography on Musk by Walter Isaacson, published in 2023, which indicated Musk's belief that the executives misled him, leading to his decision to expedite the sale's closure to terminate them 'for cause.' The termination letters cited by the lawsuit reportedly lacked substantiated justification. As of now, representatives for the former executives, Musk, and X have not responded to requests for comments. This settlement follows another agreement made in August between Musk and a different group of former Twitter employees who also claimed they were owed substantial severance payments.