Elon Musk Fired Top Execs ‘For Cause’ To Avoid $122M Payout

Chief Twit Elon Musk fired four top Twitter executives on Thursday immediately following his acquisition of the company: CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal, Chief Legal Officer Vijaya Gadde, and General Counsel Sean Edgett.

A report from Reuters stated that the payouts for the four former executives would total some $122 million. Explaining as follows:

In an email to Reuters, Equilar, known for its research on executive compensation, valued Agrawal's so-called "golden parachute" at $57.4 million, while Segal's was $44.5 million and Gadde's was $20 million.
In addition to those payouts, the three executives also will receive a collective $65 million from Musk in exchange for shares they held in the company he has now taken private.

But Musk has other plans. According to The Information, Musk classified the termination of each exec as “for cause," which voids a clause that entitles them to such severance and unvested stock options.

The outlet stressed it's unclear what Musk cited as his reasoning "for cause." Generally, an employee fired for cause put the company at risk, broke the law, or violated a company policy.

Unfortunately, simping for censorship under previous ownership does not qualify.

Elon Musk fired Twitter executives "for cause."

Agrawal, Segal, Gadde, and Edgett surely will take Musk to court should they not receive compensation. Each of the four is seeking annual base salary, healthcare premiums, and accelerated vesting of equity awards, per the report.

Elsewhere, Musk denied a claim in the New York Times that he's planning to initiate mass layoffs before a Tuesday deadline to avoid paying out severance in the form of stock grants. On Tuesday, year-end compensation kicks in for employees across Twitter Inc.

“This is false,” Musk tweeted in response to the report.

Chief Twit reportedly told Twitter employees at the company’s San Francisco headquarters that he does not plan to lay off 75% of staffers, as various reports state.

Musk's first two objectives were to dismiss previous management, for which he had understandable disdain, and open up the service as a haven for free speech.

He's off to a sufficient start.