Guwahati: Twitter’s senior executives, including Parag Agrawal and Vijaya Gadde, will be eligible for “golden parachute” bonuses totaling more than USD 122 million after being fired by the company’s new owner, Elon Musk.
In essence, a golden parachute is a contract that guarantees top executives of business significant benefits in the event that they lose their employment as a result of a merger, takeover, or purchase. This precaution is also referred to as a “poison pill” because it can prevent hostile takeovers.
According to a report released in August by the US-based corporate research firm Equilar, the former CEO Paras Agrawal could earn a payment of USD 42 million if he is fired following the buyout.
Even for Musk, the richest man in the world, the debt-financed deal has turned into a pricey endeavour.
Particularly after Musk attempted to end the agreement with Twitter in July, claiming that the business had misled him over the number of bot accounts on the social network, legal fees are likely to have reached the tens of millions of dollars.
According to corporate papers, Agrawal is set to earn the greatest compensation, amounting to USD 57.4 million, while Segal and Gedde are entitled to USD 44.5 million and USD 20 million, respectively.
Additionally, the three executives each own 1.2 million shares, which Musk will probably purchase as is customary in any takeover. These payments to Agrawal, Segal, and Gadde would total USD 8.4 million, USD 22 million, and USD 34.8 million, respectively.
Elon Musk is moving quickly to overhaul the microblogging platform’s regulations after finalising the USD 44 billion acquisition deal including laying off employees and establishing plans for a council to make content decisions, the Hill reported.
He fired the company’s top management as soon as he concluded the anticipated acquisition, which resulted in Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal and finance chief Ned Segal leaving the company’s San Francisco headquarters. This was one of his first few moves.