Twitter’s Top Executives Are Set to Exit With $100 Million Payout as Musk Takes Over

Elon Musk's Twitter profile on a smartphone placed on printed Twitter logos, on April 28, 2022. Dado Ruvic/Illustration/Reuters

After Elon Musk fired Twitter’s top three executives immediately after his takeover, they were granted multimillion-dollar payouts on their way out.

The former executives are set to collect more than $100 million in severance and payouts of previously granted equity awards.

CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal, and Vijaya Gadde, Twitter’s top legal and policy executive, were among those fired. Sean Edgett, who had been general counsel at Twitter since 2012, was also escorted out of the building.

The owner and founder of Tesla closed the deal on Oct. 27, after spending months trying to pull out of the agreement with Twitter.

Musk became the official owner of Twitter for $54.20 per share, or about $44 billion.

Musk Cleans Up Twitter’s Executive Suite

Agrawal, who was the CEO for less than a year, is eligible to receive roughly $50 million, according to Bloomberg News.

Other Twitter executives were among those fired after the takeover, sources familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.

Ned Segal and Vijaya Gadde are expected to take about $37 million and $17 million, respectively.

Agrawal, 38, who had been at Twitter for almost a decade before become CEO, has had a tempestuous relationship with the new owner.

Musk surprised the world with his bid to acquire Twitter in the spring.

After the Tesla CEO expressed hesitancy over the deal due to his lack of confidence in Twitter’s management, Aragwal attempted to force Musk to purchase the social media company with a lawsuit.

Gadde, meanwhile, was notorious for being responsible for the censorship and banning practices at the social media company. She actively used her position to censor conservatives or any views that she personally opposed, while hurting Twitter’s brand image.

The head of legal, policy, and trust even called former President Donald Trump, on her own Twitter feed, “ill informed, evasive, puerile and deceptive,” and later banned him from the platform.

The New Boss Arrives

After Musk confirmed his takeover, he wrote in a tweet, “The bird is freed,” and immediately updated his Twitter description to “Chief Twit.”

Musk arrived at Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters this week, meeting with workers and holding impromptu discussions with them, Business Insider reported.

He arrived carrying a sink, and posted the scene on Twitter, announcing: “Entering Twitter HQ—let that sink in!”

Musk will be attending an all-hands meeting at Twitter today, after rumors that the new owner would cut 75 percent of the staff, which he has since refuted, according to Bloomberg.

The deal puts an end to Twitter’s six-month legal dispute against Musk, after he was initially reluctant to take over the company, as the Delaware Court of Chancery will likely drop it now that he is the new owner.

Earlier this year, Musk was able to secured some debt financing from a number of investment banks and several high-profile investors, including venture capital firms and tech CEOs.

“We’re excited to be able to help Elon realize a new vision for Twitter. We aim to play a role in bringing social media and Web3 together in order to broaden the use and adoption of crypto and blockchain technology,” Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao said in a statement, reported CNBC.

Binance, a cryptocurrency exchange, was one of Musk’s first backers, and confirmed to CNBC that it will fulfill its role as an equity investor in the purchase.

Musk Hints at Future Plans While Reassuring Advertisers

Musk addressed some of the changes at Twitter after his takeover of the social media giant.

“Twitter obviously cannot become a free-for-all hellscape, where anything can be said with no consequences!” Musk wrote in a tweet, reassuring advertisers with the words, “Dear Twitter Advertisers.”

“The reason I acquired Twitter is because it is important to the future of civilization to have a common digital town square, where a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner, without resorting to violence,” Musk said in his post.

“There is currently great danger that social media will splinter into far-right wing and far left-wing echo chambers that generate more hate and divide our society.”

“Twitter should be a platform that both follows the laws of the land and is warm and welcoming to all, where you can choose your desired experience according to your preferences,” he continued.

“Fundamentally, Twitter aspires to be the most respected advertising platform in the world that strengthens your brand and grows your enterprise,” Musk added.

Many advertisers were worried that Musk’s conflict of interest as owner of Tesla would force him to scale back content moderation and restrict ads on the platform, The Wall Street Journal reported.

As a free speech advocate, Musk said that he also intends to scrap lifelong bans on users and allow people previously booted off the platform to return, which likely would include Trump.

Like many former top executives at major companies, the former Twitter bosses were entitled to severance pay equal to a year’s salary and payouts of unvested equity awards upon termination, according to the terms of the company severance package.

Twitter will also cover their health insurance premiums for a year, estimated to be about $31,000 each.