The Twitter executives who were immediately fired when Elon Musk took over the company could end up with much larger bank accounts because of it.
Shares of company stock that had been acquired during years of work by Parag Agrawal, Twitter's CEO at the time of Musk's late-October takeover; Ned Segal, then the CFO; and Vijaya Gadde, then the chief legal officer, are poised to convert to cash at $54.20 a share under the terms of the $44 billion merger agreement.
Upon being fired by Musk the day his ownership of Twitter became official, all of the executives became entitled to payouts of common stock and accelerated vesting of any unvested restricted stock, according to provisions of their contracts earlier disclosed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
A representative for two of these of executives confirmed the payouts hadn't yet happened. Previously, Musk contended that all of the executives were fired "for cause" and therefore wouldn't be paid out as their contracts called for.
Agrawal held roughly 927,000 shares of common stock at the time of his firing, which would convert to $50.2 million at Musk's purchase price, according to an SEC filing. Agrawal had another 241,508 shares of restricted stock that should have vested upon his firing, giving him another payout of $13 million. He could walk away from Twitter with $63 million in converted stock.
Segal held roughly 945,000 shares of common stock when he was fired, which would convert to $51.2 million. The former CFO is the only member of Twitter's C-suite to have spoken publicly about the monthslong acquisition process with Musk, saying in a Twitter thread last month that the deal "pulled on every mental muscle" he had. Segal, too, had 241,508 shares of restricted stock that should've vested upon his firing, giving him another payout of $13 million. He could walk away from Twitter with more than $64 million in converted stock.
Gadde held just over 1 million shares in common stock when she was fired, having worked there for more than 11 years, which would convert to $59.5 million. As Agrawal and Segal did, she also had 241,508 shares of restricted stock that should've vested, turning into an additional $13 million payment. Gadde could walk away from Twitter with the most money, seeing all of her converted stock total $72 million. The former chief legal officer has continued to be something of a target of Musk in the weeks since he took over the company.
On Friday night, at about the same time these stock disclosures were filed publicly, Musk through the newsletter writer Matt Taibbi released what he called "The Twitter Files." The report, done entirely via Twitter thread, consisted mainly of email correspondence with Gadde and other Twitter employees, including the cofounder and former CEO Jack Dorsey, discussing the company's decision in 2020 to block access to a New York Post story regarding Hunter Biden's stolen personal laptop. It led right-wing politicians and commentators to again target and blame Gadde for their belief that Twitter's operations are politically biased.
Neither Agrawal nor Gadde has said anything publicly about Musk or his acquisition.
A Twitter representative didn't respond to a request for comment.
Correction: December 5, 2022 — An earlier version of this story misstated whether the executives had been paid out already. The story was updated to say a representative for two of these executives confirmed the payouts hadn't yet happened.
