Several former Twitter executives filed a lawsuit this week alleging Elon Musk illegally tried to stiff them out of severance totaling roughly $US128 million. Musk is portrayed in the lawsuit as a petty and vindictive man who, “uses his wealth and power to run roughshod over anyone who disagrees with him.” And it gets even more pointed in its attacks from there.
The lawsuit, a copy of which was first published by Platformer, was brought by former Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal, former CFO Ned Segal, and former Twitter lawyers Vijaya Gadde and Sean Edgett. And their lawyers aren’t holding back when it comes to ways to describe Musk.
Musk agreed to buy Twitter in early 2022 for $US44 billion before trying to back out of the deal. After a court in Delaware forced Musk to go through with the purchase, the billionaire took control and fired virtually everyone in top leadership. Musk said he fired them “for cause,” believing he wouldn’t need to pay huge severance packages to the executives, but this lawsuit will answer that question.
Musk would go on to make other dramatic changes to the site, including changing its name to X and allowing anyone with $US8 to buy a blue “verification” checkmark. X doesn’t actually verify the identity of anyone with a checkmark, which means anyone can now get boosted by the social media site’s algorithm for the low, low price of just $US8.
One thing that shines through in the lawsuit is that Musk’s words are being used against him, including quotes from Walter Isaacson’s biography of the billionaire published in 2023.
Click through the slideshow to see some of the most brutal quotes from the lawsuit, which don’t spare the billionaire’s feelings.
“Believes the rules don’t apply to him…”
“Rantings of a self-centered billionaire…”
“He tried to resign…”
“Cause” is not “Board-approved business decisions Musk dislikes”
“without citing a single fact…”
“This is the Musk playbook…”
“…because Musk objects to them.”
