Four former Twitter top managers are jointly demanding $128 million (118 million euros) from Elon Musk, the current owner of the social media platform. Musk paid $44 billion to acquire Twitter in October 2022 and later changed the name of the platform to X.
The four former managers, including then-CEO Parag Agrawal, sued Musk in San Francisco court on Monday. They were fired immediately after the takeover and are now demanding severance pay. In addition to Agrawal, the names include Ned Segal, the former chief financial officer, Vijaya Gadde, the former chief legal officer, and Sean Edgett, a former general counsel.
Just minutes after Musk took control of Twitter, the four were fired. They allege Musk falsely accused them of misconduct and forced them to leave Twitter after they sued the billionaire for trying to renege on his offer to buy the company.
The plaintiffs say their contract included a severance package of one year’s salary each and hundreds of thousands of stock options. “This is Musk’s playbook: keep the money he owes other people and then force them to file a lawsuit against him,” the former executives said in the 39-page lawsuit.
Other former employees of X have also filed class action lawsuits seeking millions of dollars in severance pay. X denies owing the former employees anything.
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