Elon Musk agrees to $128 million settlement with ex-Twitter

Elon Musk has agreed to settle a $128 million lawsuit filed by several former Twitter executives, including former CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal, and prominent legal advisor Vijaya Gadde.

The lawsuit, filed earlier this year, accused Musk of wrongfully withholding promised severance payments under their contract after he took over the company—now renamed X—in 2022.

Musk fired CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal, and prominent lawyers Sean Edgett and Vijaya Gadde as one of his first actions after buying Twitter.

They assert that the reason the four executives never received severance pay was because they were trying to fulfill Musk’s $44 billion promise when he attempted to back out of buying the business.

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According to Musk’s book written by Walter Isaacson, which was cited in the case, Musk will “hound every single person” in Twitter’s C-suite “until they die.”

Reports say Musk’s team initially claimed that the executives were fired “for cause,” voiding their severance pay. However, legal experts noted that internal communications and board records weakened those arguments, prompting Musk to pursue a settlement rather than risk a costly trial.

The deal, said to be completed within weeks, marks the end of a long-running dispute that typified Musk’s tumultuous early days at Twitter. It also underscores Musk’s broader efforts to clear up unresolved legal disputes as he steers X toward what he calls a “fully monetized everything app.”