Twitter Sued by Britain's Crown Estate Over Alleged Unpaid Rent for UK Headquarters

Twitter's office in London was left deserted after the company laid off half its workforce following its takeover by Elon Musk last October.

By Reuters | Updated: 24 January 2023 10:22 IST

Photo Credit: Reuters

Twitter's full-time headcount has reduced to about 1,300 active, working employees

Highlights

Twitter laid off half its workforce after it was taken over by Elon Musk
It currently has fewer than 550 full-time engineers by title
Twitter plans to lay off 50 workers in its product division

Britain's Crown Estate, an independent commercial business that manages the property portfolio belonging to the monarchy, said on Monday it had begun court proceedings against Twitter over alleged unpaid rent on its London headquarters.

Court lists showed the case against Twitter had been filed at the High Court in London last week.

In a statement, the Crown Estate, which owns some of the most expensive land in central London, said the action related to "rental arrears" on the social media platform's office space in the British capital.

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Twitter did not immediately respond for a request for comment.

The company laid off half its workforce after it was taken over by Elon Musk last October. In London, the office was left deserted and any evidence that Twitter had once occupied the building were erased.

Last week, Elon Musk said Twitter has about 2,300 active employees, a day after CNBC reported that Twitter's full-time headcount has reduced to about 1,300 active, working employees, including fewer than 550 full-time engineers by title.

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About 75 of the company's 1,300 employees are on leave including about 40 engineers, CNBC said, citing internal records. "The note is incorrect. There are about 2300 active, working employees at Twitter," billionaire Musk tweeted in a response to a tweet quoting CNBC. "There are still hundreds of employees working on trust & safety, along with several thousand contractors," Musk added.

Musk took over Twitter in October and swiftly moved through a number of product and organisational changes. The company rolled out the Twitter-verified Blue check-mark as a paid service and also laid off about 50 percent of staff.

Last week, it was reported that Twitter plans to lay off 50 workers in the social media site's product division in the coming weeks. The layoffs, which come six weeks after top boss Elon Musk reportedly told staff that there would not be further retrenchment, could reduce the company's headcount to under 2,000, according to the report.

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