$128 million for “hunting” for tops: Musk settles court case, but faces new lawsuits
9 October 18:04
Elon Musk has agreed to settle a $128 million lawsuit filed by four former Twitter executives. These are CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal, and lawyers Sean Edgett and Vijay Gadde, who were fired immediately after the company’s acquisition in 2022. TechCrunch writes about it, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports.
- The plaintiffs claimed that they did not receive full compensation after their dismissal.
- In their opinion, the reason was that they tried to force Musk to fulfill the $44 billion deal to buy Twitter, which he initially wanted to refuse.
Why is this important?
- The lawsuit intensified criticism of Musk for his chaotic management of the company.
- Former executives quoted his words from Walter Isaacson’s biography in court: Musk said he would “hunt down everyone” from the top of Twitter “until the day they die.”
- The payout could set a precedent for other pending lawsuits.
Other lawsuits against Musk
Compensation claims were filed not only by executives, but also by ordinary employees who were fired after Musk’s arrival.
- Some of them have not yet received the promised payments.
- The company also stopped paying rent for some offices, which led to a wave of lawsuits and even evictions.
These processes create an image of Musk as an owner who neglects his contractual obligations.
What do we know about the deal?
Although the parties have reached a settlement, the details of the agreement remain unknown. It is likely to include monetary payments to the plaintiffs, but the terms may include other arrangements.
How Musk changed Twitter
- Musk bought Twitter on October 27, 2022 for $44 billion and renamed it X.
- A month later, he launched a poll on whether he should remain CEO – most users voted against it.
- Under his management, Twitter/X has drastically reduced staff, changed its moderation policy, and lost a significant number of advertisers.
- In March 2025, Musk announced the sale of the company to his own artificial intelligence startup xAI.
It is worth reminding that in 2022-2023, Musk carried out massive staff reductions – more than 6 thousand employees.
Twitter/X has faced a drop in advertising revenue and harsh criticism for the growth of disinformation on the platform.
Lawsuits have become one of the many challenges for the billionaire, who also runs Tesla, SpaceX, and xAI.
