Elon Musk has reached a settlement with four former Twitter executives who sued him for more than $128 million over unpaid severance tied to his 2022 takeover of the social platform, now called X. Court papers filed last week say “the parties have reached a settlement” that requires “certain conditions to be met in the near term,” but do not disclose financial terms.
The case, brought in March 2024 by former CEO Parag Agrawal, former CFO Ned Segal, former chief legal officer Vijaya Gadde, and former general counsel Sean Edgett, alleged Musk fired them “without reason” immediately after closing the $44 billion acquisition and then manufactured “cause” to avoid severance. The executives argued they are owed one year of salary and stock awards under a long-standing severance plan.
Their complaint portrayed the firings as part of a broader pattern following the takeover, when Musk cut Twitter’s workforce by more than half and clashed with obligations to departing staff. In a separate matter announced in August, Musk and X agreed to settle a class action representing roughly 6,000 rank-and-file former employees who claimed they were collectively owed about $500 million in severance. Terms of that deal also were not publicly detailed.
The executives’ filing echoed reporting and biographical accounts that Musk raced to close the Twitter purchase late on 27 October 2022—hours before a tranche of executive stock options would have vested. Walter Isaacson’s biography quotes Musk as saying there was a “two-hundred-million differential in the cookie jar between closing tonight and doing it tomorrow morning.” After the deal closed, Agrawal and the other senior leaders were dismissed and, according to the suit, blocked from benefits they say the company had committed to pay.
Musk initially agreed to buy Twitter in April 2022 but tried to walk away months later, citing concerns about bots and spam. Twitter sued to force the deal through, and the acquisition ultimately closed that October. The severance case from the former executives argued Musk’s frustration at being compelled to complete the purchase colored his approach to the departing leadership team and led to unfounded misconduct allegations designed to nullify payouts.
While the newly disclosed settlement ends one of the most prominent legal battles stemming from the tumultuous takeover, it leaves key questions unanswered, including whether the executives will receive the amounts they sought. Lawyers for both sides did not immediately respond to requests for comment following the filing.
For X, the resolution removes a high-profile distraction as the company continues to reset its product strategy and advertising relationships under Musk’s ownership. For corporate observers, the case has served as a test of how aggressively acquirers can revisit legacy compensation commitments—and how far boards and courts will allow post-deal re-interpretations of “cause” to go.
The agreement now heads into an implementation phase while the parties satisfy the unnamed conditions. If finalized, it would mark a rare detente in a takeover saga defined by lawsuits, abrupt personnel moves, and a wholesale reinvention of one of the internet’s most influential platforms.
