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Twitter is being evicted from its Boulder office over unpaid rent
- zamalek 3y agoSo where are the employees going to go for their in-office experiences?
- jmclnx 3y agoThat is my question, do the WFH or will they be fired ? Another question, shouldn't this cause Twitter's bond rating to fall ? That would mean they will see an interest rate raise, thus costing Musk more.
- monocasa 3y agoI was under the impression that the whole Boulder office had been laid off.
- jxramos 3y agosecond life!
- the_shivers 3y agoWhat are the odds of this eviction actually happening? The deadline is the end of July and it sounds like pocket change to Musk. I'd lean towards "No, they won't actually be evicted."
- Raed667 3y agoUnless musk is making some sort of point.
- benatkin 3y agoThe odds are 100% because it is already "actually happening". Whether it happens completely or not remains to be seen. But it's already a huge disgrace.
- Ekaros 3y agoAre they paying any part of rent? If not just kick them on the curb, lock the doors and get someone to reposes anything inside for junkyard value.
- mvdtnz 3y agoThe eviction has already been ordered. It must be carried out by the end of July. That's not a new deadline to pay owed rent, that's just the timeline for executing the eviction.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- mikestew 3y agoWhy wouldn't an eviction take place? Your comment implies that the money will just show up at the last minute, but as I read it it's way too late for the that when the sheriff gets called up to assist in the eviction. All of the pieces are in place, and who wants a demonstrably unreliable tenant? End of July, call up the sheriff and shovel Twitter's stuff onto the streets. I don't own the building (or any building other than my own house), but I'd go looking for a tenant who pays their bills.
- Macha 3y agoIt's not unheard of for businesses to pay up when the punitive action is real and on their doorstep (see BoA branch being foreclosed on for failing to pay a legal settlement paying up on the day of: https://business.time.com/2011/06/06/homeowner-forecloses-on-bank-of-america-yes-you-heard-that-right/ https://business.time.com/2011/06/06/homeowner-forecloses-on...)
- FireBeyond 3y agoTrue, but in that case, apropos of the homeowner's frustration, he likely didn't want to shut down BoA's branch entirely, just force them into action. This landlord, however, may well be done with Twitter. "Pay what you owe, AND GTFO."
- pianoben 3y agoMy impression is that he'd prefer fewer offices, more conveniently-located for him. I'd be surprised if he actually paid up.
- benatkin 3y agoIt's quite likely Boulder is actually more than fine, his brother Kimbal is or was involved with at least one restaurant there, but he doesn't like the airport situation. The one in Boulder is too small and the one in Superior is too far away. Edit: was until veeeery recently: https://www.denverpost.com/2023/01/05/kitchen-streetbar-closes-kimbal-musk-restaurant-group/ https://www.denverpost.com/2023/01/05/kitchen-streetbar-clos...
- crop_rotation 3y agoIs this another innovating business move from Musk? Does anyone have a rational justification for all these Twitter unpaid rent stories?
- theanti9 3y agohttps://int.nyt.com/data/documenttools/twitter-employee-lawsuit-v/e5d27a60a7b7d51e/full.pdf https://int.nyt.com/data/documenttools/twitter-employee-laws... > "Elon doesn't pay rent" Among the many absolutely bonkers things in there, Elon appears to believe he just doesn't need to pay for things.
- Quarrel 3y agoI've seen this several times and just not really understood the end game. Surely they'll be pursued for the rent (plus costs) & evicted along the way. The landlords aren't individual employees he can just shit on and assume they won't sue.
- theanti9 3y agoFor me this was the final nail in the coffin for the "Elon's just playing 4D chess we don't understand" argument and really just shows that he's a dude that thinks he can do whatever he wants with no consequences, because so far there haven't really been any. If there were a logic to it, I'd guess that it's more important he make the interest payments on the billions of dollars in loans he took out for the purchase than it is to not get sued for non-payment of a lease.
- JohnFen 3y ago> he's a dude that thinks he can do whatever he wants with no consequences That's been clear to me for many years, but for me, the nail in that coffin was the whole "pedo guy" thing. It was a great demonstration of what a despicable person he is.
- 1270018080 3y ago
- caseysoftware 3y agoWhat does this mean? > the Chicago-based landlord that owns Twitter’s offices at 3401 Bluff St in Boulder, was provided a $968,000 letter of credit back in February of 2020, which it has been drawing on to pay the rent in lieu of ordinary payments (the details of this arrangement are somewhat obscure). Does this mean that Twitter hasn't been paying for this office in over three years? That there's just a line of credit the landlord has been drawing on?
- jsty 3y agoIt sounds like Feb 2020 was when the letter of credit was arranged, not when it started to be drawn on
- bgirard 3y agoIt sounds to me like they pre-paid $968,000 and the prepayment has ben exhausted. I found this confusing as well.
- mistrial9 3y agoit sounds to me like the line of credit is just a loan, such that the money for "rent" comes from a "loan" .. no cash flow involved. whoever wrote the line of credit is the one paying the rent. In large finance groups, I get the feeling this is ordinary back-scratch behavior.
- gingerrr 3y agoOne major difference is that with standard lines of credit it's a transaction between the bank loaning funds and the borrower only. With letters of credit, the payee is also a signatory to the contract. edit: and I guess the payee's receiving financial institution is also a signatory if those are different entities from the payee! Or at least can be, I'm running into Dunning Kruger so I'll tap out now.
- eadler 3y agoIt's not a prepayment. It's a line of credit. Think closer to a credit card with a limit instead of money out of pocket.
- yardie 3y agoThat is one shitty way of finding out you're fired. Finding all your stuff dumped on the street.
- dylan604 3y agoit's not uncommon. the company nextdoor to a place i used to work had a bit of chaos one morning when everyone showed up to work only to find the constable had chain locked the front door. none of the employees had a clue that the company was not paying rent. lots of pleading to be allowed in long enough to gather personal effects. i was only 20 at the time, and it was a big influence on me to not bring a lot of personal items to my work place.
- anotherhue 3y agoHow exactly are they getting so much leeway? Is everyone just assuming they'll work their shit out? At what point are they considered non-grata? Edit: typo / etymology. Thank you.
- scarface_74 3y agoEven for individuals, the eviction process sucks and is expensive. As a landlord, you really only do an eviction as a last resort.
- ulrashida 3y agoFYI, the phrase is "leeway". It comes from ship movement off of the intended course.
- devindotcom 3y agofor those curious, making way is forward movement IIRC, and lee is opposite windward, e.g. if the wind is coming from the east and your ship is pointed north, the lee side is the west side, or something west of it is in its lee. I'm not actually sure where "leeway" would come to have its idiomatic meaning though, possibly that one has room for error in how carefully to direct the ship.
- lultimouomo 3y agoShips naturally drift to their lee, especially at low spend, so when maneuvering they must keep some leeway to avoid hitting stuff.
- devindotcom 3y agoInteresting, thank you.
- ulrashida 3y agoThe proliferation of sailing terms into common paralance is one of the coolest things about English. :D
- jxramos 3y agoIs there anyone actually occupying the building or is it mostly empty?
- toss1 3y agoYet Musk has a Return-To-The-Office mandate I can't figure out why Musk of all people, especially since he clearly resents paying rent, cannot figure out that one of the key the benefits of WFH is that the company avoids rent and basically co-opts the offices of it's employees (while remote workers also cost less and are a far larger hiring pool). Of course it may have to do with the same management bias leading Musk to post that "Perhaps we just need a modern day Sulla" [0], a late despot of Rome who in the very reference that Musk posted was noted for "...to despotism, slavery, cruelty, and inhumanity, and the absence of any principle of good government."[1]; IOW, Musk is just a junior wannabe dictator. [0]https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1668673066115711011 https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1668673066115711011 [1] https://www.britannica.com/biography/Sulla https://www.britannica.com/biography/Sulla
- idlewords 3y agoWhy does Twitter need a Boulder office?
- RandallBrown 3y agoBecause their employees want to live in Boulder?
- idlewords 3y agoI'm sure they have employees that want to live in Tahiti too, but they just fired thousands of them and could presumably pick and choose.
- hnburnsy 3y agoTwitter has had a Boulder presence since 2014, when it acquired Boulder-based tech company Gnip Inc.
- thewataccount 3y ago> Why does Twitter need a Boulder office? Let's say they don't need it. You can't just stop paying your lease. Usually there's a provision to terminate a lease with a hefty fee attached, or you wait until it expires and don't renew it. Otherwise you still owe the money you agreed to in your contract (and likely other breach fee clauses as per lease). If you don't need the office you can't just decide to stop paying but still occupy it.
- dkarras 3y agoElon thinks they need it because they did not vacate it or break the lease. I don't think there are many tech companies that need a physical office in this day and age. That doesn't mean you can squat offices though.
- agilob 3y agoHow does this move play with mandatory work from the office? :D
- dylan604 3y agoSounds like he fixed the glitch
- vinnymac 3y agoSeems in addition to unpaid rent, they also haven't been paying to have the office cleaned. https://www.denverpost.com/2023/05/22/twitter-boulder-colorado-lawsuit-office-cleaners/ https://www.denverpost.com/2023/05/22/twitter-boulder-colora... I wonder if this office was still occupied.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- est31 3y agoAnd the cloud bills are also not paid: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36274884 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36274884
- nocsi 3y agoWhen you're too big of a customer that you can't be shut out. Strategic toxism
- rad_gruchalski 3y agoToo big customer who doesn’t pay is a liability.
- berniedurfee 3y agoBut they might pay enough to turn a profit. Worth the gamble. Sounds pretty typical for real estate.
- digging 3y agoA recent Behind the Bastards on Musk said that he decided to stop paying all of Twitter's bills. Claimed that SF was a "shithole" in an attempt to argue his rent there was too high. Lots of illegal orders and actions going on.
- mytailorisrich 3y ago
- WheatMillington 3y agoMusk really is the ultimate deadbeat. Does he think these obligations just go away if you stop meeting them?
- ramesh31 3y ago>Does he think these obligations just go away if you stop meeting them? When you have enough money, they do. There are two completely separate justice systems in this world.
- positr0n 3y agoCan you expand on the mechanism behind this other justice system? If it takes more money than rent, why do it. If it takes less money than rent, then everyone could not pay rent then have access to the money to access the separate justice system.
- runarberg 3y agoThe “two justice systems” is a common rhetoric in class aware propaganda. The point is not that it you can buy your way into the “other justice system” it is that crimes committed by the owning class is prosecuted differently—if at all—than by the working class. The most clear cut example of this is how crack and cocaine possession had different punishments, crack popular among the working poor had harsher sentences than cocaine—which was popular among the rich—even thought it is the same drug. Today you can see an equally clear cut example in e.g. Seattle’s attempt at re-criminalizing drug consumption. It is only public use which is being recriminalized, meaning this is basically just legislation against the homeless, The housed have a safe space where they can safely use and not be arrested. Relating to OP, the two justice systems is simply how differently failure to meet financial obligation is prosecuted between the two classes. If a working person owed this much in rent, they would be forced into bankruptcy, or worse. Wage theft is allowed to fester unhindered without consequences. A working person who commits financial fraud and steals only a fraction of what their bosses have stolen from them, is usually met with a SWAT raid.
- 3y ago
- censor_me 3y ago[dead]
- api 3y agoThey could go remote except that Elon now apparently believes this is "immoral."
- Insanity 3y ago"Let's all return to the office, but let's also avoid paying for office space". That seems to have been Musk's strategy. Seems it has some obvious flaws.
- stevesearer 3y agoIf you’re curious about what the office itself is like, you can see it here: https://officesnapshots.com/2022/12/05/twitter-offices-boulder/ https://officesnapshots.com/2022/12/05/twitter-offices-bould...
- sschueller 3y agoI wonder how much longer the property owner SF is going to wait for rent until they finally evict.
- dannylandau 3y agoAre there any employees in the Boulder office now? Does anyone know.
- Dudelander 3y agoGuys everyone in your office getting kicked out by the cops is a normal part of the negotiation process. You dumb people just don't know how businesses work. /s just in case
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- bboygravity 3y ago[flagged]
- gizmo 3y agoStiffing your cleaning staff is a real nasty thing to do. Moral condemnation is entirely justified.
- rektide 3y agoWhat's the point in having an office if the head honcho can't stare over your shoulder whenever he wants? /s
- Helithumper 3y agoOriginal Article that TechCrunch is summarizing. https://www.bizjournals.com/denver/news/2023/06/13/boulder-twitter-office-eviction.html https://www.bizjournals.com/denver/news/2023/06/13/boulder-t... Unsure how I feel about TechCrunch just summarizing another source's article like this.
- aerio 3y ago>Unsure how I feel about TechCrunch just summarizing another source's article like this. Do you just feel that way about Techcrunch or in general? Because that behaviour is blatant amongst news outlets, they report on each other's stories all. the. time.
- freeAgent 3y agoI guess Musk loves WFH after all.
- lapcat 3y agoI'd like to see the Venn diagram of the people who think that Musk is just being savvy by breaking contracts and the people who are vehemently against any student loan debt forgiveness, crying "You signed a contract!" and "It only benefits the wealthy!"
- pxmpxm 3y agoPretty asinine comparison, unless your argument is that us tax payers should be picking up twitter's unpaid rent.
- lost_tourist 3y agoWhat if you believe Musk should pay his contractual obligations and that student loan people should do the same? I suspect that is a pretty big overlap.
- llbbdd 3y agoI'm not sure there's an apples-to-apples comparison to be made between the social and business decisions of an ostensibly-savvy 50+ year-old billionaire and the often-predatory loan schemes aimed at young adults with no leverage in the world yet.
- kaliqt 3y agoOf course not, but a lot of people are being extremely biased, you can't deny that.
- SecretDreams 3y agoAnd, yet, I'm now surprised Musk isn't in the student loans game.
- mynonameaccount 3y ago[flagged]
- smegsicle 3y ago[flagged]
- floatinglotus 3y agoMusk is just doing the grifter thing, in this case he’s being a squatter.
- ldehaan 3y ago[dead]
- thisarticle 3y agoThis and the commercial real estate walk aways are just wild. I never want to hear elites wringing their hands at individuals walking away from bad/upside down mortgages ever again.