Chief Executive Officer Parag Agrawal, Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal and Vijaya Gadde, Twitter’s head of legal policy, and Trust, received a “golden parachute” clause in Twitter’s TWTR merger with Musk’s X Holdings.
Elon Musk had taken ownership of Twitter on Thursday with brutal efficiency by firing top executives but providing little clarity over how he will achieve his ambitions he has outlined for the influential social media platform.
When Twitter Inc.’s top executives walked out of its San Francisco headquarters Thursday, they may as well have been carrying bags of Elon Musk’s cash.
According to Twitter’s filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Muskwill be obligated to give more than $204 million of it to the trio.
Agrawal, Segal and Gadde own roughly 1.2 million shares of Twitter, alongside a $34.8 million stake owned by Gadde.
The trio’s roughly $65 million stake would be purchased by the world’s richest man like any other shareholder’s stock.
Additionally, a clause in the merger agreement provided accelerated vesting of promised future stock compensation — and that’s where the biggest chunk of money comes in.
The “Golden Parachute Compensation” clause in Twitter’s SEC filing — which was the deal approved by Twitter shareholders — shows the trio would automatically vest stock worth $119.6 million as severance if terminated, with the largest payout there going to Agrawal at $56 million.
They’re also entitled to a year’s salary and health benefits.
In 2021, Agrawal had a base pay of $623,000, while Segal and Gadde’s base pay was $600,000 each.
In total, Gadde is set to walk away from Twitter with the biggest haul: Nearly $74 million.
Agrawal and Segal aren’t far behind her, though, at roughly $65 million and $66 million, respectively.
Twitter shares have rallied 26% over the past month and closed Thursday at $53.70, close to the $54.20 share price Musk, who’s also CEO of Tesla Inc. TSLA, -0.57% and the world’s wealthiest individual, agreed to pay in April.
