Ex-Twitter execs push for $200M severance as Elon Musk runs X into ground
Former Twitter executives, including former CEO Parag Agrawal, are urging a court to open discovery in a dispute over severance and other benefits they allege they were wrongfully denied after Elon Musk took over Twitter in 2022.
According to the former executives, they've been blocked for seven months from accessing key documents proving they're owed roughly $200 million under severance agreements that they say Musk willfully tried to avoid paying in retaliation for executives forcing him to close the Twitter deal. And now, as X's value tanks lower than ever—reportedly worth 80 percent less than when Musk bought it—the ex-Twitter leaders fear their severance claims "may be compromised" by Musk's alleged "mismanagement of X," their court filing said.
The potential for X's revenue loss to impact severance claims appears to go beyond just the former Twitter executives' dispute. According to their complaint, "there are also thousands of non-executive former employees whom Musk terminated and is now refusing to pay severance and other benefits" and who have "sued in droves."