Twitter sued for allegedly failing to pay $136,000 rent on office block
Twitter has been hit with a lawsuit after allegedly failing to pay more than $136,000 in rent for one of its office spaces in San Francisco.
The legal action comes from landlord Columbia Reit, which claims it gave Twitter notice on 16 December that it would be in violation of its lease if the company failed to cough up the rent money for the 30th floor of the Hartford Building in San Francisco.
The building is also home to tenants including the Omnicom Group, Affirm and Credit Suisse, though it's not where Twitter's headquarters are located.
The social media company HQ, which CEO Elon Musk filmed himself entering after buying the company a few months ago, is located less than two miles away along Market Street.
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Columbia Reit gave Twitter five days to pay the $136,250 (£112,621) in rent or risk violating their agreement, but the landlord claims Twitter still didn't hand over the cash, Bloomberg reports.
The lawsuit was filed in state court in San Francisco on Thursday (29 December), and comes after the New York Times reported earlier in December that Twitter had not paid rent for its San Francisco headquarters or any of its global offices for weeks, according to three people close to the company.
The failure to pay is said to be part of moves taken as Musk prepared for possible future legal battles, with the Times sources claiming the CEO and his team had instructed Twitter employees to not pay vendors in anticipation of potential litigation.
As well as being sued by Columbia Reit, Twitter was also hit with a lawsuit after failing to pay a $197,725 (£163,436) bill for private charter flights made the week Musk took over the social media company after purchasing it for $44 billion (£36.3b)
Two people familiar with the action told the Times Twitter has stopped paying rent at its Seattle office, leading it to face eviction, while at the headquarters Musk was accused of moving workers onto two floors and closing four others.
The alleged result of the now-confined workspace is a noticeable smell of leftover takeout food and body odour, while bathrooms have grown dirty as Musk is also said to have cancelled janitorial services.
The CEO addressed cost cutting in a Twitter Spaces voice chat on 20 December, claiming he had to make cuts in order to save the company from a $3 billion hole in its budget
“That is why I spent the last five weeks cutting costs like crazy,” Musk said, adding: “This company is like, basically, you are in a plane that is headed toward the ground at high speed with the engines on fire and the controls don’t work.”
UNILAD has reached out to Twitter for comment.
Emily Brown