Four ex-Twitter execs sued Elon Musk on Monday. They claim he withheld $128 million in severance pay after firing them in his 2022 takeover. Musk axed Parag Agrawal, Ned Segal, Vijaya Gadde, and Sean Edgett when he bought Twitter for $44 billion. He renamed it X.
The execs had contracts entitling them to severance if Twitter went private. Musk made it private in October 2022, triggering the payments. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court, alleges they were owed a year’s salary plus unvested stock.
Musk claimed he could fire them “for cause” to avoid paying severance. He admitted he planned to deny their payments, saving $200 million. He vowed to pursue them endlessly.
The execs’ lawyers criticized Musk’s tactics in court filings. They accused him of withholding owed money and making them sue him to get it. They had previously sued him for legal fees related to investigations, winning $1.1 million in October.
X’s rep and Musk’s lawyer did not respond to requests for comment.