Bisola David
Twitter’s British landlord said that it would sue the social media platform for failing to pay the rent on its headquarters in the heart of London on Tuesday.
The Crown Estate, a firm that looks after the British monarchy’s land and assets, announced that it has filed a lawsuit in the High Court for unpaid rent on an office building adjacent to Piccadilly Circus.
According to a spokesman, the company has spoken with Twitter before and is currently in negotiations with them.
An inquiry for comment was not immediately answered by Twitter.
Twitter was purchased by billionaire Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, in October of last year for $44 billion (£35 billion).
After incurring significant debt to purchase the business, he reportedly fired half of the workforce and stopped paying the rent on the office space in an effort to raise money.
According to a story published on Monday by the San Francisco Chronicle, Twitter is being sued by the owner of its San Francisco headquarters for allegedly failing to pay over $6.8 million in rent for the months of December and January.
The Crown Estate is the building’s landlord, and Air W1 on Air Street is where Twitter’s London office is located.
The Daily Telegraph said that Twitter’s signs and emblems had been taken down, but a staff member insisted that the business was still there.
According to Companies House, which lists this as its registered address, Twitter UK started working out of this location in 2014.
The Crown Estate is a collection of monarchy-owned lands, buildings, and other assets that is autonomously administered.
The Treasury receives its commercial revenue, and the sovereign receives a grant each year equal to 15% of its profits, known as the Sovereign Grant.
The Crown Estate claims to be the owner of office space measuring more than 2.6 million square feet (241,550 square meters) in the heart of London.
