San Francisco Landlord Takes Twitter To Court For Nonpayment Of Office Rent
USA – A San Francisco State Court filing last week showed that a commercial property owner has initiated legal action against Twitter for the latter’s failure to pay office rent amounting to US$136,260 for its office space in the city, reported CBS News on Sunday evening (1 January, SGT).
The social media platform is being sued for nonpayment of office rent for level 30 of the Hartford Building, a 34-storey office tower situated at the outskirts of San Francisco’s Financial District. The commercial property is owned by Columbia REIT – 650 California LLC.
The office landlord had informed Twitter that it would default on its office rent if payment is not given by 21 December 2022. In 2017, Twitter’s old management had entered into a deal to occupy the office space for 7 years.
But after the social media platform was acquired by Elon Musk in October 2022 for US$44 billion, the billionaire has taken extreme measures to slash operating costs. These include laying off thousands of Twitter employees and not paying office rent in a bid to renegotiate rental agreements.
The New York Times reported earlier that the social media platform has failed to pay office rent for its offices across the world in weeks, including for its headquarters in San Francisco’s Civic Center.
Aside from that, Private Jet Services Group has taken Twitter to court for the latter’s failure to pay for 2 charter flights in October costing US$197,725. The lawsuit was filed in New Hampshire District Court in December 2022.
