Elon Musk To Cough Up $204 Million As Severance To Fired Twitter Execs
Twitter Inc.’s (NYSE: TWTR) top executives are walking away from the company with a big payday.
Chief Executive Parag Agrawal, Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal, and Vijaya Gadde, Twitter’s general counsel and head of legal policy were reportedly fired Thursday evening as Elon Musk officially took control of the social media giant, marking the end of the long and tumultuous period since Musk offered $44 billion for the company.
The move provides the three executives a “golden parachute” clause equivalent to US$204 million in compensation and stock awards according to a US Securities and Exchange Commission filing. Agrawal, Segal, and Gadde will receive a year’s salary and health benefits. The 2021 base pay for Agrawal was $623,000 while Segal and Gadde’s was $600,000 each.
As with all the company’s stockholders, they will also be compensated for their stake in the company. The three will receive a payout of about $65 million, equivalent to 1.2 million shares total, with $34.8 million belonging to Gadde.
But the largest chunk of the package will be coming from accelerated vesting of promised future stock compensation. The clause in the deal approved by the company’s shareholders provides that, if terminated, the three would automatically vest stock worth $119.6 million as severance, with $56 million of it for Agrawal.
Agrawal will walk away with a bag of cash worth $65 million, Segal with $66 million, and Gadde with the heaviest bag at almost $74 million.
Twitter last traded at $53.70 on the NYSE, close to the $54.20 share price Musk is paying.
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