Orrich Lawson
Twitter has been sued by the owner of the company’s US headquarters building in San Francisco for allegedly failing to pay rent. This is the latest in several lawsuits alleging Twitter stopped paying bills after Elon Musk bought the company.
The lawsuit, filed on Friday by SRI Nine Market Square LLC, found that Twitter, which rents 462,855 square feet on eight floors of the 1355 Market Street Building, could not pay the $3.36 million in rent owed in December 2022. said there wasn’t. January 2023, according to a complaint filed in California Superior Court for San Francisco County.
SRI had a $3.6 million letter of credit with Twitter “as security for the defendants’ performance under the lease,” the lawsuit said. He is now down to $1 as a result of SRI’s use of a letter of credit because Twitter failed to pay his rent, according to the complaint. Twitter allegedly failed to replenish the letter of credit required in the lease.
According to SRI, the lease would require Twitter to increase its letter of credit by $10 million when it transfers control, and such a transfer was made when Musk acquired Twitter in late October. am. SRI said he requested Twitter to increase his letter of credit by $10 million in November, but Twitter complied with the notice, arguing it was not required to comply.
The building owner’s complaint seeks $3.16 million, plus late fees and interest on unpaid rent, additional damages for Twitter’s breach of lease, and a declaration that Twitter is obligated to increase its letter of credit by $10 million. increase.
Twitter faces a similar complaint in London High Court. Reuters reported that “UK Crown Estates, an independent commercial company that manages property portfolios belonging to the monarchy, announced Monday that it has launched legal proceedings against Twitter over allegations of non-payment of rent at its London headquarters.” rice field.
Four other lawsuits allege nonpayment
SRI’s complaint is the second lawsuit against Twitter filed by the landlord in San Francisco County Superior Court. In an earlier lawsuit filed by Columbia REIT-650 California LLC, Twitter said he failed to pay $136,000 in rent at San Francisco’s 650 California Street office tower. The space was leased by a mobile advertising company acquired by Twitter in May 2020.
The recent lawsuit isn’t all that surprising given previous reports that Twitter hasn’t paid the rent for its headquarters and other buildings. The New York Times reported on Dec. 13 that “To cut costs, Twitter has not paid rent for its San Francisco headquarters and offices around the world for weeks,” three people close to the company said. .
Last week, Twitter was also sued by a consulting firm, but in a lawsuit that finalized the acquisition of the company to Musk, the company said it was not paid $2.19 million for work done by the company. Earlier lawsuits alleging Twitter failed to pay fees after Musk took over were filed by software his vendor and private his jet provider.
Twitter faces $1.5 billion in annual interest payments on $13 billion in debt Musk used to fund the acquisition, with the first payments “potentially completed by the end of January,” Financial said. Times reported.
Musk Said On November 4, 2022, Twitter was losing over $4 million per day. He raised the possibility of bankruptcy, but reportedly said on a podcast in late December: There have been ups and downs to say the least, but overall things seem to be going in the right direction. “
As well as allegedly not paying bills, Musk has cut Twitter’s expenses by laying off half of its staff, issuing an ultimatum to lay off thousands of contractors, and resign many of its employees. reduced.
