The Twitter shareholders set to make millions from Elon Musk’s takeover

theguardian.com:

Elon Musk’s $44bn (£35bn) takeover of Twitter could lead to multimillion-dollar payouts for its co-founder Jack Dorsey, along with key executives and board members, while staff could also share a $1bn windfall if stock options pay out.

A regulatory filing dated 12 April, submitted ahead of the company’s annual meeting in May and after Musk’s raid on the company’s shares, discloses the major stock-holders and their stakes.

Twitter’s co-founder is in line to collect almost $1bn in cash once the deal goes through. Dorsey, who stepped down as chief executive last year after pressure from activist investor Elliott Management, still owns 18m shares, or almost 2.4% of its stock, worth $978m at Musk’s agreed offer of $54.20.

Other board members hold shares too, and would collect smaller amounts. Dotcom pioneer Martha Lane Fox is a director, and her 32,545 shares would be worth $1.7m (or £1.4m), while Robert Zoellick, the former US deputy secretary of state and ex-president of the World Bank, would get $1.1m.

Twitter’s former executive chairman, Omid Kordestani, would receive over $50m, based on his holding of 934,247 shares. Current chair Bret Taylor’s stake would be worth around $3m at Musk’s price.

Several Twitter executives, including Dorsey’s successor, Parag Agrawal, would collect payouts if Musk ends their employment, triggering the accelerated vesting of shares awarded as restricted stock units (a form of compensation and performance-related pay popular in Silicon Valley).

Agrawal would receive a $38.7m package if his tenure ends through a change in control (CiC) event, such as the company being taken private, a proxy statement filed this month with the SEC shows.

Ned Segal, Twitter’s chief financial officer, would receive a