The Guy With Rs 100 Crore Salary Fired By Elon Musk Started His Own AI Firm—Know His Connection With India

Today, some of the biggest tech companies are run by IIT graduates, and one such Indian-origin professional had a salary package of Rs 100 crores. Despite being dismissed by Elon Musk, this individual didn't give up and now runs his own successful AI firm.

Elon Musk acquired the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) for a staggering 44 billion dollars. Following the acquisition, Musk made several executive changes, including firing the then-CEO, Parag Agrawal. Agrawal, an IIT graduate, had gained significant popularity as the CEO of Twitter.

Parag Agrawal, who had an All India Rank (AIR) of 77 in IIT-JEE, was well-known in the tech world. His salary included Rs 8 crores plus restricted stock units worth about Rs 94 crores, bringing his total compensation to over Rs 100 crores. His leadership at Twitter garnered substantial media and social media attention.

According to a book by Bloomberg’s Kurt Wagner, Agrawal was dismissed because he refused a request to block an account tracking Elon Musk’s private jet. This decision was made before the finalization of the Twitter acquisition. After Musk took over, he fired Agrawal and had the tracking account blocked.

Following his dismissal, Agrawal was entitled to a severance payment of approximately Rs 400 crores but received no compensation. He and other former Twitter executives filed a lawsuit against Musk, claiming they were denied severance payments exceeding Rs 1000 crores.

Parag Agrawal has now ventured into the AI sector, securing Rs 249 crores in funding for his new startup. His company focuses on developing software for large language models, similar to the technology behind OpenAI's ChatGPT. Reports indicate that Khosla Ventures, led by Vinod Khosla, and early supporters of OpenAI are leading the investment in Agrawal's venture with Index Ventures and First Round Capital also joining the funding round.