The company hasn’t calmed down since Elon Musk took over Twitter in October. Now the new boss is causing a stir with questionable austerity measures. According to a report, the rent for Twitter offices has not been paid for weeks.
In his quest to make Twitter a more profitable company, Elon Musk is apparently increasingly implementing extreme austerity measures. According to the “New York Times”, the social media group has stopped paying rent for its global offices for weeks. Even the rent for the headquarters in San Francisco is long overdue. The newspaper relies on three informants who are said to be close to the company.
Musk also instructed his employees to stop paying Twitter’s suppliers. According to The Times, citing a recent lawsuit filed in New Hampshire, Twitter also refused to pay nearly $200,000 for private flights it operated in late October, when Musk owned the company accepted.
To save money, Twitter laid off 50 percent of its more than 7,000 employees last month. In addition, Musk had announced that he would only employ people who work “extremely hardcore” and commit to extreme working hours. Anyone who leaves the company should receive a severance payment of three months’ salary. According to the research of the “New York Times”, these should now also be on the brink. According to the report, there is a possibility that Musk’s team will consider not paying the severance package at all, risking lawsuits from disgruntled former employees.
Twitter is already preparing for several lawsuits. The company is reportedly facing a Federal Trade Commission investigation and a possible class action lawsuit by former employees. Musk has restructured Twitter’s legal department in recent weeks and brought in lawyers from one of his other companies, SpaceX, to support the department.
The company also faces a hefty interest bill: it has to pay out about $1 billion a year to the banks because Musk borrowed money to fund his $44 billion purchase of Twitter.
