Parag Agrawal, Ned Segal and Vijaya Gadde, the top executives of Twitter Inc, were said to be fired after Elon Musk officially took over the social media company with a $44 billion deal after a protracted legal battle and months of uncertainty. According to sources, CEO Parag Agrawal and CFO Ned Segal were “escorted out” of the social media company’s San Francisco headquarters after the deal with Elon Musk was closed, but, not with empty pockets.
According to the reports, all three top executives of Twitter Inc who were said to be sacked after Elon Musk completed his takeover are poised to collect more than $100 million in severance and payouts of previously granted equity awards.
“Parag Agrawal and Ned Segal were in Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters when the deal closed and were escorted out,” Reuters quoted sources as saying. The New York Times reported that “at least one of the executives who was fired was escorted out of Twitter’s office.”
Parag Agrawal, who took over as Twitter CEO less than a year ago, is eligible to receive roughly $50 million or ₹412 crore, Bloomberg News calculations said. Ned Segal and Vijaya Gadde may receive about ₹305 crore and ₹140 crore each, respectively.
The three – Parag Agrawal, Ned Segal and Vijaya Gadde – were among the top Twitter executives who were fired after Elon Musk took over the reins of the social media company.
Their exits cap more than six months of public and legal wrangling that now have ended with Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, seizing the CEO job.
Like many top leaders at big public companies, Parag Agrawal and his lieutenants were entitled to severance equal to a year’s salary and cash-outs of unvested equity awards if Twitter was bought and they lost their jobs in the process, according to the terms of the company’s severance policy.
Twitter must also cover their health insurance premiums for a year, amounting to about $31,000 each, a report said.
While Ned Segal has confirmed his departure from the company, Parag Agrawal is yet to confirm the developments.
‘BIRD IS FREED’
Late Thursday, Elon Musk tweeted, “the bird is freed,” a reference to Twitter’s logo, signalling the completion of his takeover.
Earlier in the week, he strolled into the company’s San Francisco headquarters carrying a porcelain sink, changed his Twitter profile to “Chief Twit,” and tweeted “Entering Twitter HQ — let that sink in!”
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