Elon Musk's email to X staff says they'll get their stock option grants, but with a catch: Report

This comes when promotions were delayed without explanation at X, leading to tensions between the staff and leadership, making stock option grants long awaited

Elon Musk sent an email to the employees at his social media platform X (Formerly Twitter) saying that the company is planning to award them stock options based on how much they contributed to it, The Verge reported, adding that this comes with a catch.

Elon Musk had previously assured X employees that they can cash out the stock, just like SpaceX employees

What is the catch for X employees to get stock options?

Employees have to write a one-page summary describing their contributions in order to be considered for getting the stock options.

Why is this catch a problem?

This comes at a time when promotions were recently delayed without explanation at X, leading to tensions between the staff and leadership. This also made the stock grants a long-awaited ordeal. Employees also face fears of layoffs after Musk's acquisition of the company.

For example, Sreela Venkataratnam, a now-former Tesla vice president who left the company after a 11-year stint described how hard it is to work under Musk, saying it is “definitely not for the faint of heart.”

X also owes employees their annual equity refresher, which was originally supposed to have been given in April, according to the report which cited an unnamed source, and added that the most recent one given was in October 2023, with an individual share price of $45 each.

However, that refresher also valued the company at just $19 billion, which is significantly lesser than the $44 billion that Elon Musk paid to acquire it.

Elon Musk had previously assured X employees that they can cash out the stock, just like SpaceX employees, but hasn't followed through this promise, according to the report.