King Charles’ real estate company has filed a lawsuit against Twitter for lapsed rent payments in its London offices.
Key Details
- Twitter has been accused by multiple landlords of skipping rent payments since the company was taken over by Elon Musk in late October. The company no longer has the communications team necessary to facilitate leasing discussions.
- Crown Estate, a commercial real estate company that represents the holdings of the British Monarchy, has filed a lawsuit against Twitter’s 20 Air Street, London, offices over unpaid rent.
- A subsequent lawsuit in San Francisco is escalating for the company’s 1335 Market Street location, whose owner SRI Nine Market Square LLC is alleging that Twitter has lapsed on $3.4 million in rent.
- Colorado landlord Bill Reynolds told Axios that he is willing to evict Twitter from its Boulder, Colorado, lease, saying, “If you don’t pay, you don’t stay. They aren’t paying, so they aren’t staying.”
Why It’s News
Musk has been heavily criticized for his chaotic leadership style since he became the new owner and CEO of Twitter. He has stated that his vision is to turn the social media giant into a more efficient platform focused on defending free speech and expression. The weeks of chaos erupted put the platform’s future at risk, with thousands of administrative staff being fired in short order and advertisers pulling their contracts.
Twitter’s first order of business, aside from the release of the Twitter Files by independent journalists working with the company and attempting to roll out a Blue Check subscription service, was cutting costs to make up for lost revenue. The company has already cut over $1 billion in IT support, fired staff, and auctioned off office furniture.
Fortune reports that the London offices have been abandoned for several months since the change in ownership resulted in scaled-down operations, with offices in New York, Colorado, Washington, and California similarly downsizing.
The rent delinquency is so rampant that analysts are predicting that it is a purposeful business policy, Axios reports.
