The settlement would cover about 6,000 workers who were laid off after Elon Musk bought the company for $44 billion and rebranded it as X.

Billionaire Elon Musk and his social media firm X have reached a tentative settlement with former employees who had sued for $500m (£373m) in severance pay. The parties reported the deal in a court filing on Wednesday, jointly requesting the US appeals court in San Francisco to postpone an upcoming hearing to allow time to settle the paperwork.

The tentative $500 million deal, filed in federal court, covers about 6,000 workers who were laid off after Musk bought the company for $44 billion and rebranded it as X.