Three years after their dismissal, Elon Musk agrees to settle severance with ex-Twitter chief Parag Agrawal and others

Elon Musk Settles Severance Dispute with Former Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal and Top Executives

Almost three years after Elon Musk dismissed Parag Agrawal and his senior team from Twitter, the billionaire has agreed to resolve their severance pay dispute.

Court filings in San Francisco reveal that 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 executives had sued Musk, claiming they were collectively owed $128 million in severance following Musk’s high-profile acquisition of Twitter in 2022. While the exact settlement terms remain confidential, a federal judge recently paused court deadlines to allow both sides to finalize the agreement.

This settlement follows another recent resolution in August, when X Corp agreed to pay $500 million to rank-and-file employees who were laid off during Twitter’s massive workforce reductions.

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

Musk and X Corp denied any wrongdoing, arguing that the dismissals were performance-related rather than an attempt to withhold severance. The settlement brings closure to one of the many legal battles Musk has faced since taking over Twitter and rebranding it as X. His aggressive cost-cutting measures, which included terminating more than half of the company’s workforce, led to multiple lawsuits from former employees and contractors over unpaid compensation and benefits.

Neither Musk nor the executives’ lawyers have publicly commented on the settlement, but it represents a rare resolution amid the billionaire’s long list of post-Twitter controversies.