Who is ex-Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal and what was his Twitter salary?

Elon Musk has wasted little time in making an impact at Twitter HQ after taking control of one of the world’s most influential social media companies.

Parag Argawal, Neg Segal and Vijaya Gadde fired by new Twitter owner Elon Musk

The Tesla and Space X CEO’s $44bn acquisition of the company was officially finalised on Thursday before a court-ordered deadline to buy the business expired, and was announced by Twitter on Friday. And although it appears that the reported culling of staff will not take place, one of Musk’s first acts following the takeover was to fire a number of top executives, including CEO Parag Argawal, CFO Neg Segal and Vijaya Gadde, the head of legal policy, trust and safety.

Why did Elon Musk carry a sink into Twitter HQ this week?

Argawal to receive $57.4m compensation, including $1m annual salary

And it has been revealed that the dismissal of the trio will come at no little cost. Although figures in the media vary, both CNN and the Guardian have stated that Musk will likely have to shell out almost $200m as a result of the sackings. Under the golden parachute clause, Argawal, Segal and Gadde will be entitled to compensation for previous share awards, a year’s salary plus insurance payments. Argawal’s compensation is expected to account for $57.4m of the total, which includes his annual salary of $1m.

The trio’s shares in the company will also almost certainly be bought out by Musk, standard practice in any takeover. Aragawal, who has the fewest number of shares, would be due $8.4m, Segal $22m and Gadde $34.8m

Parag Argawal became Twitter CTO in 2017 and CEO in 2021

Indian-American Argawal obtained computer science degrees from the Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay and Stanford University. Having previously worked at Microsoft and Yahoo, Argawal joined Twitter back in 2011 as a software engineer and worked his way up to the position of Chief Technology Officer in 2017. He was then named CEO less than 12 months ago, in November last year.

Argawal’s dismissal has come as a surprise to few, as it has been reported that he and Musk have endured a strained relationship over the last months. The hostility is thought to have stemmed from Musk’s criticism of Twitter back in April, the South African-born business magnate tweeting “Most of these “top accounts tweet rarely and post very little content. Is Twitter dying?”, a message which Argawal seemingly took exception to.