Twitter Landlord Sues Elon Musk Company for Unpaid Rent

The Columbia Property Trust, Twitter’s landlord, is suing the social media company for failing to pay rent for its downtown San Francisco headquarters.

Elon Musk, Twitter’s new owner, is apparently seeking to renegotiate the lease conditions as the company desperately strives to slash expenses.

According to a complaint filed last week by the Columbia Property Trust, Twitter owes $136,260 in rent.

According to the New York Times, Twitter is now engaging in an aggressive cost-cutting push, including the closure of one of its data centers in California, a 75 percent reduction in personnel numbers, and a reduction in housekeeping and security services. In addition, the corporation has ceased paying rent for its Seattle headquarters.

The NYT Reports:

The data center shutdown was one of many drastic steps Mr. Musk has undertaken to stabilize Twitter’s finances. Over the past few weeks, Twitter had stopped paying millions of dollars in rent and services, and Mr. Musk had told his subordinates to renegotiate those agreements or simply end them. The company has stopped paying rent at its Seattle office, leading it to face eviction, two people familiar with the matter said. Janitorial and security services have been cut, and in some cases employees have resorted to bringing their own toilet paper to the office.

Since early November, Mr. Musk has sought to save about $500 million in nonlabor costs, according to an internal document seen by The New York Times. He has also laid off or fired nearly 75 percent of the company’s work force since completing the purchase.

Twitter’s cost-cutting measures follow a large withdrawal of advertising that happened quickly after Musk took control of the firm and began restoring prominent conservative accounts.

The case is Columbia Reit – 650 California LLC v. Twitter Inc., CGC-22-603719, State of California Superior Court in San Francisco.

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