3 years after firing them, Elon Musk agrees to pay severance to ex-Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal and other executives

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Nearly three years after Elon Musk fired Parag Agrawal and his top team from Twitter, the billionaire has finally agreed to settle their severance pay dispute.

According to a court filing in San Francisco, Musk and his company X Corp have reached a settlement with four former Twitter executives — ex-CEO Parag Agrawal, former CFO Ned Segal, former legal head Vijaya Gadde, and ex-general counsel Sean Edgett. The group had sued Musk, claiming they were collectively owed $128 million in severance that was never paid after Musk’s dramatic takeover of Twitter in 2022.

While the exact terms of the settlement haven’t been revealed, a federal judge recently paused court deadlines to allow both sides to finalize the deal. This comes after Musk’s X also agreed to settle a separate lawsuit in August involving $500 million in unpaid severance to rank-and-file employees laid off during the company’s massive downsizing.

The dispute dates back to late 2022, when Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion and swiftly fired several top executives. The lawsuit claimed Musk falsely accused them of misconduct to avoid paying severance that had been guaranteed long before the acquisition. Each executive said they were entitled to one year’s salary plus substantial stock benefits.

Musk and X Corp, however, denied any wrongdoing. They argued that the executives were dismissed due to performance issues — not to dodge severance payments.

The settlement brings closure to one of the many legal battles Musk has faced since taking control of Twitter and rebranding it as X. His cost-cutting spree, which included firing over half the company’s workforce, triggered a series of lawsuits from former employees and contractors over unpaid benefits and compensation.

Neither Musk nor the lawyers representing the former executives have commented on the settlement yet, but it marks a rare moment of resolution in the billionaire’s long list of post-Twitter controversies.