Billionaire Elon Musk and his social media company X have reached a tentative settlement with thousands of former employees who sued for $500 million in severance pay following mass layoffs after Musk’s 2022 takeover of Twitter.
In a joint filing submitted to a San Francisco court on Wednesday, both parties asked the US appeals court to delay an upcoming hearing to allow time to finalise the agreement. The settlement terms remain confidential and require court approval.
The lawsuit, led by former employee Courtney McMillian, alleged that around 6,000 workers were denied severance benefits promised under the company’s plan. Plaintiffs argued they were entitled to payments of up to six months’ salary and other benefits, but Twitter provided only one month of pay—or none at all in some cases.
The dispute stemmed from Musk’s $44 billion acquisition of Twitter, which was followed by sweeping cost-cutting measures that eliminated more than half of the company’s global workforce. Teams handling trust and safety, human rights, and media operations were among the most affected.
The mass layoffs at Twitter were among the first in a wave of job cuts across the technology sector, with Meta, Google, and Microsoft also downsizing after rapid expansion during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Earlier this year, Musk drew attention in the public sector as well, reportedly cutting thousands of federal jobs while briefly leading the Department of Government Efficiency under former President Donald Trump
