Elon Musk and his social media company X have reached a tentative agreement to settle a case filed by former employees over claims they were owed $500 million in severance pay.
Legal teams from both sides announced the deal in a Wednesday court filing, wherein both sides requested a US appeals court to delay an upcoming hearing so they could finalise an agreement that would allow payments to former employees, terminating the litigation.
Neither side disclosed the financial terms of the agreement.
The settlement would resolve a California class action suit filed by Courtney McMillian, who previously managed Twitter's employee benefits programmes, and operations manager Ronald Cooper.
A federal judge in San Francisco, meanwhile, dismissed the X employees' lawsuit in July 2024. They appealed to the 9th US Court of Appeals in San Francisco, and oral arguments had been scheduled on September 17.
The employees' lawsuit alleged Twitter had a 2019 severance plan that guaranteed most staff would receive two months of their base pay, in addition to one week of pay for each full year of service if they were terminated.
Senior employees, such as Mr McMillian, were owed six months of base pay, according to the lawsuit.
However, the company only gave terminated workers one month of severance pay at most, and several did not receive anything, the lawsuit added.
The employees, who filed lawsuits over their terminations and severance pay in a number of courts, are among approximately 6,000 staff fired over the course of the billionaire's tumultuous takeover of the company formerly known as Twitter in 2022 and 2023.
During that time, Mr Musk, who in October 2022 finalised a deal to buy Twitter for $44 billion, made a series of controversial moves, including cutting staff numbers, introducing paid subscriptions and ditching the iconic bird logo. He also faced accusations of using the platform for his own gains.
Mr Musk, the world's richest person with a net worth of about $364 billion as of Friday, added X to his business empire, which includes SpaceX and xAI, which he is using to take on former ally Sam Altman's OpenAI in the artificial intelligence race.
The Tesla chief executive also ended his stint as a special adviser to US President Donald Trump three months ago. During his time at the White House, Mr Musk was a major influence, but once he left, he engaged in a very public spat with Mr Trump over policy disagreements.
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More Expo 2020 Dubai pavilions:
Who's who in Yemen conflict
Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government
Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council
Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south
Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory
PREMIER LEAGUE RESULTS
Bournemouth 1 Manchester City 2
Watford 0 Brighton and Hove Albion 0
Newcastle United 3 West Ham United 0
Huddersfield Town 0 Southampton 0
Crystal Palace 0 Swansea City 2
Manchester United 2 Leicester City 0
West Bromwich Albion 1 Stoke City 1
Chelsea 2 Everton 0
Tottenham Hotspur 1 Burnley 1
Liverpool 4 Arsenal 0
Cinco in numbers
Dh3.7 million
The estimated cost of Victoria Swarovski’s gem-encrusted Michael Cinco wedding gown
46
The number, in kilograms, that Swarovski’s wedding gown weighed.
1,000
The hours it took to create Cinco’s vermillion petal gown, as seen in his atelier [note, is the one he’s playing with in the corner of a room]
50
How many looks Cinco has created in a new collection to celebrate Ballet Philippines’ 50th birthday
3,000
The hours needed to create the butterfly gown worn by Aishwarya Rai to the 2018 Cannes Film Festival.
1.1 million
The number of followers that Michael Cinco’s Instagram account has garnered.
Key findings of Jenkins report
- Founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al Banna, "accepted the political utility of violence"
- Views of key Muslim Brotherhood ideologue, Sayyid Qutb, have “consistently been understood” as permitting “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” and “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
- Muslim Brotherhood at all levels has repeatedly defended Hamas attacks against Israel, including the use of suicide bombers and the killing of civilians.
- Laying out the report in the House of Commons, David Cameron told MPs: "The main findings of the review support the conclusion that membership of, association with, or influence by the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered as a possible indicator of extremism."
Williams at Wimbledon
Venus Williams - 5 titles (2000, 2001, 2005, 2007 and 2008)
Serena Williams - 7 titles (2002, 2003, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2015 and 2016)
Zayed Sustainability Prize
