Elon Musk's cost-cutting campaign at Twitter extended to not paying rent, claims landlord

Owner of our SF digs sues for $140,000

While we all enjoyed a brief holiday season of not having to think about Twitter or its new owner, one landlord has alleged that Elon Musk's cost-cutting campaign at the company has extended to not paying rent.

According to a lawsuit [PDF] filed by Columbia Property Trust, which owns the office tower at 650 California Street in San Francisco, where Twitter rents the 30th floor, the social media platform owes it an estimated sum of $136,260.00.

(Funny side note: The Register has an office on the sixth floor of 650 California and elsewhere in the city.)

Included in the filing is the default notice, sent on December 16, which warns Twitter to pay the outstanding balance within five business days or face the property owner's wrath.

With the lawsuit at the Superior Court of California for the County of San Francisco dated December 29, it's fair to guess the bill wasn't settled. We've asked but likely won't receive a response because Twitter's press office has been eliminated.

The New York Times last month claimed that Twitter had not paid rent for any of its global offices in weeks, according to "three people close to the company," and simply "refused" to pay a $197,725 bill for private charter flights made in the week of Musk's October takeover, for which it has also been sued.

It's also reported that a datacenter was switched off, janitors and security guards have been cut, and in some cases workers are bringing their own toilet paper to offices, all to save money.

It has been suggested that Musk holds that such services were authorized by former management, not him, so he's not paying. "His staff have since avoided the calls of the travel vendors," the NYT claimed.

These sums are drops in the ocean if Twitter is losing $4 million a day, as Musk claimed in November as justification for letting thousands of workers go. The company's legal team has also been revamped and employees have reportedly been instructed not to pay vendors in anticipation of potential litigation.

Potential litigation which is now starting to trickle down.

"Hope you're having a great day 1 2023!" the Chief Twit tweeted on New Year's Day. "One thing's for sure, it won't be boring." ®