Ex-Twitter chairman sues X for $20m

Omid Kordestani joined Twitter on a $50,000 salary, but the bulk of his compensation was in stock options, according to the lawsuit

Twitter’s former chairman, Omid Kordestani, has sued the social media company — now called X — claiming that CEO Elon Musk is refusing to cash out his more than $20m in shares.

Kordestani worked in the position of executive chairman between 2015 and 2020. He remained with the company on its board for two more years until Musk bought the social media giant for $44bn.

According to the lawsuit, Kordestani left a lucrative position at Google and was given a $50,000 salary when he was hired by Twitter — a modest sum for a tech executive at one of the largest social media platforms in existence — and took the majority of his compensation in stocks, according to National Technology News.

Now, Musk is allegedly refusing to pay out Kordestani's owed shares.

The lawsuit claims that Kordestani was originally supposed to be paid the money within days of Musk's acquisition of Twitter.

Elon Musk’s X social media platform is being sued by former Twitter chairman Omid Kordestani for more than $20m in stock options he claims the company is refusing to pay out (Getty Images)

Kordestani's filing claims that X "seeks to reap the benefits of Mr. Kordestani's seven years of service to Twitter without paying him for it, despite clear contractual language requiring X Corp. to do so"

The former executive held 800,000 stock options and additional stock payouts amounting to $3m on top of the $20m he says he is already owed.

The lawsuit claims that Musk and X "now refuses to meet" the obligated payments, "adding to a long list of unpaid bills accruing under Mr Musk's watch."

"X Corp. faces suits and claims from many employees, landlords, and vendors Mr. Musk has failed to pay," the lawsuit says.

Kordestani isn't the only former Twitter executive suing Musk. Four former executives, including the company's former CEO and former chief financial officer, have also sued Musk for unpaid compensation. Thousands of former employees have also join mass lawsuits alleging they'd been wrongfully terminated or been given insufficient severance pay, according to National Technology News.

Musk has defended himself from the lawsuits saying the employees and executives he let go had committed gross negligence and willful misconduct.

Following Musk's takeover of Twitter, the company saw seismic shifts in staffing, numerous executives and employees let go, operational changes, and an advertiser exodus from the platform as bots, parody accounts, and right-wing extremism content became more prevalent on the platform.

The lawsuit was filed in the California Superior Court in San Francisco last week.