Elon Musk takes control of Twitter: Fires top executives and gives $122 million in payouts

Additionally, the executives are set to receive a collective $65 million from Musk in exchange for shares they held in the company, that has now been taken private by the businessman.


Daniel Neira
Daniel Neira - Los Angeles
Senior WriterLos Angeles
OCTOBER 28, 2022 2:25 PM EDT

Elon Musk has already made a series of drastic changes after completing his $44 million acquisition of Twitter. The billionaire is now in control of the social media platform, and his first tweet after firing top executives at the company was “the bird is freed.”

The Tesla CEO fired Twitter Chief Executive Parag Agrawal, Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal, and legal affairs and policy chief Vijaya Gadde. It was reported that Musk had accused the executives of misleading him and Twitter investors over the number of fake accounts on Twitter.

© GettyImages

Vijaya Gadde, had been put in charge by prior CEO Jack Dorsey, and she was the one who made the decision to permanently ban former President Trump from the platform, suspending his account.

A new report by Reuters says that the three top executives are set to receive separation payouts, $122 million. Agrawal will be receiving $57.4 million, while Segal will be receiving $44.5 million and Gadde $20 million.

Additionally, the executives are set to receive a collective $65 million from Musk in exchange for shares they held in the company, that has now been taken private by the businessman. Gadde’s stake seems to be the most valuable, worth $34.8 million, followed by $22 million for Segal and $8.4 million for Agrawal.