Former Twitter Executive Sues Musk’s X Platform for $20 Million

Omid Kordestani, the former Executive Chairman of X (formerly known as Twitter), has filed a lawsuit against the social media platform, claiming that billionaire owner Elon Musk is withholding over $20 million worth of stock compensation owed to him.

The lawsuit, reported by Bloomberg, alleges that Musk has refused to release these shares.

Kordestani served as Executive Chairman of Twitter from 2015 to 2020 and remained on the board for two additional years, even after Musk acquired the platform for $44 billion.

According to the complaint, the majority of Kordestani's compensation was in stock, which he asserts Musk is now refusing to honor.

Kordestani’s legal team argues that X, the rebranded Twitter, is attempting to benefit from Kordestani’s seven years of service without compensating him for his contributions.

The lawsuit, filed in California’s San Francisco Superior Court, is the latest in a series of legal actions against Musk by former Twitter executives.

In March, four former executives sued Musk for allegedly withholding over $128 million in severance payments following their termination.

Before his tenure at Twitter, Kordestani, an Iranian-American, had a long career at Google, a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc. 

He was instrumental in overseeing revenue, customer operations, marketing, and partnerships at Google, joining the company in 1999.

Kordestani was one of the key figures in the growth of the internet giant and continued to serve as an advisor to the company even after leaving his executive role.