Parag Agrawal and others: Elon Musk will have to pay three fired Twitter executives nearly $200 million

New York
CNN Business
—

The three top Twitter executives that Elon Musk fired on Thursday will walk away with about $187 million of Musk’s money.

Former CEO Parag Agrawal, former chief financial officer Ned Segal and former chief legal officer Vijaya Gadde were ousted after Musk took control of the company on Thursday night, according to a source familiar with the matter.

They would have received much of that money even if they had stayed on board under the new owner — they and other shareholders will receive payments from Musk after buying their shares for $54.20 each.

Agrawal, who only assumed the CEO title just under a year ago, held the smallest shares of the three: 155,000 shares worth $8.4 million at the price paid by Musk. Segal will receive $22 million for the 406,000 shares he owns while Gadde will walk away with $34.8 million for his 642,000 shares.

But they also receive “Golden Parachute Compensation” in the merger agreement approved by shareholders. That includes a year’s base salary — $1 million for Agrawal and $600,000 each for Segal and Gadde. They will also get a year of health insurance, worth about $73,000 among the three.

By far the most lucrative part is the accelerated acquisition of shares that they were to receive in the future, but for which they were not yet qualified. It will end up being worth $56.4 million for Agrawal, $43.8 million for Segal and $19.4 million for Gadde. Agrawal and Segal get accelerated vesting of all their shares while Gadde gets accelerated vesting of only half of his shares.

In total, the parachute payments amount to $121.8 million. Add the $65.2 million for buying the shares they already own and you get $187 million.