Twitter has not paid rent since billionaire Elon Musk’s takeover and may cut off severance for thousands of laid-off workers, The New York Times reports.
Twitter has not paid rent for its San Francisco headquarters or any of its global offices for weeks, according to the report.
The company also refused to pay a $197,000 bill for private charter flights made the week of Musk’s takeover in October.
Twitter officials have also discussed the consequences of cutting off severance payments to thousands of employees fired after the takeover.
Musk and his advisers agreed to pay severance for the laid-off workers in October due to federal and state laws requiring three months of severance for lay-offs. But Musk’s team is now considering whether it makes more sense to just face lawsuits from former employees.
Legal shakeup:
Musk has shaken up Twitter’s legal team ahead of possible lawsuits.
Musk in October fired Twitter’s chief legal officer and general counsel hours after buying the company.
He installed his personal lawyer, Alex Spiro, to lead the company’s legal team but Spiro has since been pushed out after Musk was unhappy with some of his decisions.
Musk was particularly unhappy with Spiro’s decision to retain Twitter deputy general counsel James Baker, a former FBI general counsel.
Musk fired Baker last week after learning he was reviewing documents related to the release of Twitter files related to the company’s decision to suppress a story about Hunter Biden’s laptop.
No longer the richest man:
Musk on Tuesday lost his title as the world’s wealthiest person as his moves at Twitter bounce back at Tesla.
Most of Musk’s wealth is tied to Tesla stock. His wealth skyrocketed over the last two years as the stock rose more than 1,000%.
But Tesla shares closed down over 6% on Tuesday and the share price has fallen by more than 50% since Musk’s Twitter acquisition.
