Ex-Twitter GM Nick Caldwell sues Elon Musk, X over unpaid severance

Former Twitter exec Nick Caldwell is suing Elon Musk and X, alleging a breach of contract and a failure to pay severance and advantages he was owed after resigning from the corporate in 2022.

Within the go well with, filed in a California federal courtroom on Wednesday, attorneys for Caldwell claimed that, following the shut of Musk’s $44 billion acquisition of Twitter, the corporate “cheated Mr. Caldwell and different executives out of a mixed $200,000,000 in severance advantages by falsely accusing them of misconduct and purporting to fireside them for ‘Trigger.'”

Caldwell’s go well with is just like one other filed by former Twitter executives, together with ex-CEO Parag Agrawal, who declare they’re owed $128 million in unpaid severance.

Caldwell is now chief product officer for Peloton and sits on the board of a number of different tech ventures, in accordance with his LinkedIn profile. He beforehand managed a crew of a whole lot of engineers at Twitter as basic supervisor of the Pink Hen, or core tech, group.

In line with the criticism, Caldwell labored to retain key expertise at Twitter as much as the completion of the buyout, after which despatched a letter to the corporate on Oct. 28, 2022, indicating that he was resigning “for good motive.” Two days earlier, Musk tweeted a video of his entrance into the corporate’s headquarters, and wrote, “Coming into Twitter HQ – let that sink in!”

Twitter accepted Caldwell’s resignation, which triggered a “Twitter Change of Management and Involuntary Termination Safety Coverage,” for executives leaving the corporate in good standing, Caldwell’s attorneys argued.

Twitter instructed Caldwell his final day of employment can be Nov. 27, a month after his resignation letter. The corporate lower off his entry to inner techniques instantly and did not keep in communication with him, the criticism says. By Nov. 27, Twitter was claiming that Caldwell was terminated for trigger.

“With no factual foundation, Musk merely accused Mr. Caldwell of misconduct as a ploy to evade paying him tens of millions of {dollars} in severance advantages that Musk / Twitter owed to Mr. Caldwell,” his attorneys wrote,

The go well with notes that Musk introduced in numerous kinfolk, buyers and present and former staff from his different corporations, SpaceX and Tesla, together with some who labored “to disclaim the severance claims filed by Mr. Caldwell and the opposite executives as a part of the severance profit plan administration course of.”

The go well with names Brian Bjelde and Lindsay Chapman who work at SpaceX, and Dhruv Batura who beforehand labored in finance at Tesla, as defendants alongside Musk.

Caldwell’s attorneys say within the submitting their shopper is owed round $19.3 million in severance advantages plus curiosity, and round half 1,000,000 {dollars}, which represents the worth of restricted inventory items that he ought to have been paid in November 2022, and curiosity of round $3 million, plus attorneys’ charges.

Musk and X did not instantly reply to requests for remark. Caldwell’s attorneys declined to remark and referred CNBC to the submitting.

A couple of days earlier than his resignation from Twitter, Caldwell shared a publish on social media saying, “My spouse and soulmate Tia Caldwell handed away abruptly the fifteenth of October. She was solely 39 years previous but lived a full stunning and completed life overflowing with love.” The go well with would not point out the loss of life of his spouse.

Learn the complete criticism — Nicholas Caldwell v. Elon Musk, X Corp. et al (Case 3:24-cv-02022) — beneath.