Twitter is being sued for failing to pay $136,250 rent for its office space in San Francisco. The landlord notified the company on December 16th to pay the amount in the next five days, or the space will automatically be on lease.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - NOVEMBER 04: Twitter headquarters stands on 10th Street on November 4, 2022 in San Francisco, California. Twitter Inc reportedly began laying off employees across its departments on Friday as new owner Elon Musk is reportedly looking to cut around half of the company's workforce.David Odisho/Getty Images
(Photo : David Odisho/Getty Images) SAN FRANCISCO, CA - NOVEMBER 04: Twitter headquarters stands on 10th Street on November 4, 2022 in San Francisco, California. Twitter Inc reportedly began laying off employees across its departments on Friday as new owner Elon Musk is reportedly looking to cut around half of the company's workforce.
Failing to Pay Office Space Rent
California Property Trust sued Twitter for failing to pay rent for its office space. According to a report from Bloomberg, the rent for the 30th floor of the Hartford Building costs $136,250. This is located at 650 California Street in San Francisco.
Twitter was notified on December 16th that the whole space will be for lease if the company will not pay the due rent in five days. But as per the complaint, the tenant failed to comply, hence the filed lawsuit in San Francisco's state court.
The possible reason behind this is that the company is taking steps to cut costs. Engadget reported that Twitter Chief Elon Musk has been experiencing several setbacks, such as safety issues, legal battles, and cost-cutting.
Aside from its San Francisco headquarters, other global offices' rent was also not paid for weeks. The case is Columbia Reit - 650 California LLC v. Twitter Inc., CGC-22-603719, Superior Court, State of California.
Other Company Setbacks
Earlier this month, Musk has been preparing for several legal battles at Twitter which made him revamp the legal department of Twitter to gear up for upcoming lawsuits. He disbanded a council that advised the company on safety issues and pushed out one of his closest advisers during the process.
Apart from the rent issues, New York Times reported that Twitter has refused to pay the bills for private charter flights since Musk's takeover. Based on the filed lawsuit in New Hampshire District Court, the bill costs $197,725.
Other bills were left unpaid, according to the same report. The company leaders discussed the outcome of denying payments to several laid-off employees. According to an internal email, Musk has threatened employees if they talk to the press regarding this matter. He advised them to "act in a manner contrary to the company's interest.
Janitors were also included in the layoffs, which made the social media company's physical officer no longer kept clean. Employees faced dirty bathrooms, food leftovers, persistent smells, and body odors around the headquarters. The lack of toilet paper was also one of the problems in the company.
Musk has been taking off a cost-cutting campaign since he closed the acquisition. He began this strategy by cutting half of the company's workforce, which affected 7,500 employees, and fired several workers rapidly.
Employees were also warned of potential bankruptcy, based on the financial position of the company that Twitter has not turned a profit since 2019. Adding to this is the decline of ad revenue since Musk's leadership.
He then said that this is the main reason why the company keeps on pushing the Twitter Blue subscription, as it is the one that keeps Twitter alive.
