UK’s Crown Estate sues Twitter over unpaid rent at London HQ
Twitter was sued in two different countries for not paying rent by the Crown Estate in the UK and by its landlord in San Francisco.
The Crown Estate – which manages a range of assets from shops and offices to the seabed around England that is ultimately owned by the British monarch – filed a suit against Twitter over its London premises in the West End, according to court filings.
No further detail on the lawsuit was available. A spokesperson for the Crown Estate did not comment beyond confirming the suit.
Meanwhile in the US, Twitter stopped paying rent for its San Francisco headquarters in December, according to a lawsuit filed by the landlord.
The social media company failed to pay the US$3.36 million December rent for its offices at 1355 Market Street and the US$3.42 million for January rent, Sri Nine Market Square, the owner of the building, said in a lawsuit filed on Monday (Jan 23) in a California state court.
Since taking over Twitter, Elon Musk has been slashing costs. He fired half the staff, held back rent on the company’s other offices around the world and refused to pay some outstanding bills, such as a jet charter. Those measures come as Musk is facing his first payment on the US$12.5 billion in debt he took on to acquire Twitter.
BT in your inbox
Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox.
The suit also comes with Musk on the witness stand in a securities fraud trial in San Francisco where he is defending his tweet to take Tesla private. He is set to return on Tuesday to finish his testimony.
Twitter rents more than 460,000 square feet of space on eight floors of the San Francisco building, according to the complaint. Sri Nine Market Square held a letter of credit for US$3.6 million as security, which Twitter was required to increase to US$10 million if there were a transfer in control, which occurred when Musk bought the company in October for US$44 billion.
Twitter argued it did not have to boost the line of credit, according to the complaint.
Sri Nine said it drew upon the existing line of credit to cover the December rent of US$3.36 million and a portion of the January rent, leaving the balance of the line of credit at US$1.
Sri Nine is seeking to recover the unpaid rent and a court declaration that Twitter is in breach of the lease for failing to increase the line of credit to US$10 million.
Twitter, which has disbanded its public relations department, did not respond to a request for comment. BLOOMBERG
Share with us your feedback on BT's products and services
