Musk fired Twitter execs in attempt to avoid payouts, layoffs planned – reports

Twitter’s new owner Elon Musk fired top executives in an effort to avoid hefty severance payouts, while lining up other layoffs as soon as Saturday to avoid stock grants due on Nov. 1, according to media reports on Saturday, Reuters reported.
Musk fired Twitter Chief Executive Parag Agrawal, Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal and legal affairs and policy chief Vijaya Gadde on completion of a high-profile $44 billion buyout of the social media platform on Thursday, people familiar with the matter told Reuters.
He had accused them of misleading him and Twitter investors over the number of fake accounts on the platform. According to research firm Equilar, the executives stood to receive separation payouts totaling some $122 million.
Citing unidentified people familiar with the matter, The Information reported that Elon Musk terminated four top Twitter executives, including Agrawal and Segal “for cause,” in an apparent effort to avoid severance pay and unvested stock awards.
In a tweet on Saturday LightShed analyst Rich Greenfield said Musk fired top Twitter execs “for cause,” preventing their unvested stock from vesting as part of a change of control.