X settles severance suit with four ex-Twitter executives

Elon Musk and X Corp have reached a settlement with four former Twitter executives who alleged they were owed about $128 million in severance after Musk acquired the company in 2022 and dismissed them, a court filing in San Francisco shows. A federal judge on October 1 postponed filing deadlines and a scheduled hearing so the parties could complete the agreement, the filing said.

The plaintiffs are former Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal, former chief financial officer Ned Segal, former chief legal officer Vijaya Gadde and former general counsel Sean Edgett. In a lawsuit filed last year, they said they were each owed roughly one year’s salary plus substantial stock-option compensation that had been promised before the takeover. The executives contend the payments were withheld after they sued Musk for attempting to back out of his agreement to buy the company and that he later accused them of misconduct. Musk and X have denied wrongdoing and said the executives were terminated for performance reasons.

The litigation referenced portions of an authorized biography of Musk that, according to the complaint, described his reluctance to allow the executives to collect severance and his...