Parag Agarwal was appointed CEO of Twitter only five months ago, but now potentially faces the axe as Elon Musk gets ready to take over the company. However, the good news for Agarwal is that he will be due $42 million in payouts if that happens.
Musk, whose offer to buy the social media company for $44 billion was accepted earlier today, has been critical of Twitter’s board and management recently. In a filing with the SEC on April 14, he mentioned that he didn’t have confidence in the company’s management.
However, Agarwal will be due $42 million if he is terminated within 12 months, according to research firm Equilar. This number is based on a year’s worth of salary, plus accelerated vesting of all Agarwal’s shares in the company due to the acquisition.
In 2021, when Agarwal spent most of the month as the company’s CTO before being elevated to the top position in November, his total compensation was $30.4 million, largely in stock awards.
However, while Agarwal may be under fire from Twitter’s new owner, co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey has announced his support. Dorsey said Agarwal was much like Musk in the sense that both individuals wanted to build a “maximally trusted and broadly inclusive” platform.
At a townhall with employees, Agarwal mentioned that he was unclear about the future of the company while mentioning that there were no plans for layoffs.
