Twitter slaps ‘misleading’ label on claim Twitter faces $100 million payout for sacking employee

Twitter owner Elon Musk’s humiliating backflip after publicly mocking a disabled employee has taken a new twist.

Iceland-based former Twitter employee Haraldur Thorleifsson. Picture: Twitter

Twitter has slapped a “misleading” fact check on a viral claim that the social media platform may be on the hook for a $US100 million payout to a disabled Icelandic entrepreneur who was sacked and then un-sacked in an ugly public spat with Elon Musk.

“Although Twitter may owe the previous employee for the acquisition of his company, the 100 million figure is misleading as it uses assumptions and not facts for the amount it was purchased at,” the Community Note reads.

The viral claim, which spread like wildfire on the platform, came from programmer and entrepreneur William LeGate — who later admitted he had pulled the figure out of thin air as an “educated guess”.

Did you just make up the $100m? Lol

— Peter Pham (@peterpham) March 7, 2023

“Turns out the disabled Twitter employee who Elon publicly ridiculed for asking about the status of his employment sold his company to Twitter for ~$100 million, and the deal was structured in a way which requires payment for the entire deal upon his termination — whoops,” he wrote in the original tweet, which has been viewed nearly eight million times.

Later asked where the $US100 million figure came from, LeGate replied, “Typical acquihires in the engineering space are priced at $1 million / head, and his company had 50-100 employees from what I read. So the $100 million figure is an educated guess based on what I’ve seen to be industry standards.”

Others slammed him making up the figure. “If you know the exact acquisition price, I’d love to know!” he wrote.

Another user replied simply, “Less than $8.5 million, based on Twitter’s public filings.”

Iceland-based former Twitter employee Haraldur Thorleifsson. Picture: Twitter

Musk issued a grovelling public apology to Haraldur “Halli” Thorleifsson this week after mocking his employee as “the worst”, claiming he “did no actual work” and accusing him of using his disability as an “excuse” to get out of typing while “simultaneously tweeting up a storm”.

Mr Thorleifsson, 45, had initiated the conversation by publicly tweeting at Musk to ask whether he had been sacked, along with around 200 other employees, after his work computer access was cut late last month.

The pair then engaged in a public back-and-forth, described by one user as “the most entertaining exit interview I’ve ever witnessed”, with Musk accusing Mr Thorleifsson of trying to “get a big payout”.

Mr Thorleifsson, who suffers from muscular dystrophy, a condition that sees progressive weakness of the muscles, replied in a lengthy viral thread that his disease had progressed to the point where he could not do “manual work (which in this case means typing or using a mouse) for extended periods of time without my hands starting to cramp”.

I would like to apologize to Halli for my misunderstanding of his situation. It was based on things I was told that were untrue or, in some cases, true, but not meaningful.

He is considering remaining at Twitter.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 7, 2023

“As I told HR (I’m assuming that’s the confidential health information you are sharing) I can’t work as a hands on designer for the reasons outlined above,” he wrote.

“I’m typing this on my phone btw. It’s easier for because I only need to use one finger.”

In a stunning about-face, Musk then announced he was going to call Mr Thorleifsson directly “to figure out what’s real vs what I was told”, and soon backtracked, deleting several tweets.

“I would like to apologise to Halli for my misunderstanding of his situation,” he then wrote. “It was based on things I was told that were untrue or, in some cases, true, but not meaningful. He is considering remaining at Twitter.”

Mr Thorleifsson has not commented on whether he will remain at the company.

In other news, I'm opening a restaurant in downtown Reykjavik very soon.

It's named after my mom. Like many mom's she was the best mom in the world.

Kind, funny, hard working and a wonderful artist. And cool, oh boy was she cool.

See you soon at @AnnaJonapic.twitter.com/YfmcXo3s9k

— Halli (@iamharaldur) March 7, 2023

His role was senior director in product design, having joined as an employee when he sold his design agency Ueno to Twitter in early 2021 for an undisclosed sum.

At the time Mr Thorleifsson — named Iceland’s Person of the Year Awards by multiple media outlets — drew praise for choosing to take the payout in wages as opposed to a lump sum or stocks, in order to maximise the amount of tax paid to Icelandic authorities.

“Halli, however, gladly paid the higher tax rate, having spoken publicly on many occasions about the benefits he has received from the Icelandic social system,” the Icelandic Review noted in January.

Online speculation suggested Musk’s humiliating backflip was because Twitter was facing the prospect of a heavy financial penalty if it sacked Mr Thorleifsson.

Elon Musk issued a grovelling apology. Picture: Justin Sullivan/Getty/AFP

It had been reported that he was one of several former Ueno employees on a “do not fire” list because it was too costly to do so, as it would have to pay out a large chunk of the remaining purchase price.

Nether Twitter nor Mr Thorleifsson has confirmed a financial penalty would be payable if he left the company — although the employee concluded his viral thread with, “I hope that helps! Let me know if you are going to pay what you owe me? I think you can afford it?”

Speaking to the BBC, Mr Thorleifsson explained he decided to sell the company he founded in 2014 “for a few reasons but one of them is that I have muscular dystrophy and my body is slowly but surely failing me”.

“I have a few good work years left in me so this was a way to wrap up my company, and set up myself and my family for years when I won‘t be able to do as much,” he said.

He said he was worried Musk would not honour the contract he signed with Twitter.

“This is extremely stressful,” he said.

“This is my retirement fund, a way to take care of myself and my family as my disease progresses. Having the richest man in the world on the other end of this, potentially refusing to stand by contracts is not easy for me to accept.”

Since taking control of the company Musk has sacked nearly three quarters of Twitter’s workforce, from around 7500 to just over 2000.

Originally published as Twitter slaps ‘misleading’ label on claim Twitter faces $100 million payout for sacking employee