With a series of layoffs and unpaid bills, Twitter’s takeover by Elon Musk last year is going through a rocky patch. Reportedly, Twitter has not paid its Boulder landlord for the past three months. Now, as per court documents, a judge has directed the eviction of the employees from Twitter’s office. Back in 2022, Musk was frequently seen declaring his vision of expanding the scope of public discourse and expressing his willingness to buy Twitter in a $44 billion deal. Even then, Musk soon got cold feet and tried to kill the deal. However, after a row of legal processes, Elon Musk concluded the deal, and by October, the microblogging site belonged to him.
Also Read: Elon Musk’s latest cost cutting plan may risk trust and safety of Twitter users
The landlord not being paid for months is unfortunate, but Twitter not being able to pay up for months implies that the platform’s operations are far from going well. According to reports, a Chicago-based landlord, Lot 2 SBO LLC, owns the 3401 Bluff St., Boulder, office of Twitter. The landlord was reportedly given a $968,000 letter of credit, from which it has been drawing to pay the rent. However, the details of this arrangement are not adequately presented. The issue arose when the money ran out in March. Since then, Twitter has not paid up.
After months of non-payment of rent, the Chicago-based landlord took this to court. Reports suggest that on May 31, 2023, the judge issued an order directing the sheriff to evict Twitter within the next 49 days, which means by the end of July. There was a time when there were about 300 employees who worked out of the Boulder office. Due to the layoffs, firings, and resignations, it is possible that the number is down to almost half now. The case is registered in Boulder District Court under the number 2023CV30342.
According to a report by TechCrunch, the publication received confirmation of the legal records, but the sheriff’s office has denied making any comment until the case is concluded. As per the report, this is not the only case of failure to pay. Twitter has another case to its name, reportedly filed by a cleaning company that is seeking $93,504. Twitter has not responded to the publication’s request for a comment.
Recently, Twitter has also refused to clear its Google Cloud bills. The contract signed between the two tech giants is nearing its renewal this month. According to Platformer, this refusal can pose a threat to the trust and safety of the platform. Prior to Musk’s takeover, the two companies signed a contract to take a stand against spam and to provide protection to the accounts on the platform, among other things.
Other information regarding how such a disruption will impact the security and safety of Twitter was missing, according to the platformer report. As per the report, Twitter has been attempting to renegotiate the terms of its agreement with Google since March. Additionally, according to reports, Amazon forwarded a warning to Twitter in the same month about withdrawing the advertising revenues due to Twitter’s unpaid fees to Amazon Web Services for using the cloud computing services.
