Wall Street Advisory Firm Sues Twitter Over Unpaid Bill

Wall Street corporate advisory firm Innisfree M&A has become the latest to sue Twitter over unpaid bills, amidst a reorganisation of the company’s finances following Elon Musk’s takeover last October.

The company filed its lawsuit against Twitter on Friday in New York State Supreme Court seeking about $1.9 million (£1.6m) in what it says are unpaid bills for advisory services to Twitter on its sale to Elon Musk last year.

Twitter hired Innisfree to help communicate with its shareholders about the $44bn deal, but was never paid, the firm said in its lawsuit.

“As of December 23, 2022, Twitter remains in default of its obligations to Innisfree under the agreement in an amount of not less than $1,902,788.03,” states the lawsuit.

Cost-cutting

Musk saddled Twitter with $13bn in debt as part of the deal and the company must pay back those loans while also making large interest payments.

As a result Musk has launched a cost-cutting drive, laying off about half of Twitter’s staff and also apparently stopping payments some vendors and service providers.

In January Crown Estate launched legal proceedings against Twitter over alleged unpaid rent on the company’s London headquarters.

The firm that owns Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters also sued in January over what it claimed was more than $3m in rent payments.

Staff claims

US lawyer Lisa Bloom told the BBC she is representing about 100 former Twitter staff who have a variety of legal claims against the company, including alleged breaches of contract and discrimination.

Former staff have said they were paid less compensation than was promised under Twitter’s former ownership.

One former staff member told the BBC’s Tech Tent programme that staff were previously promised four months’ pay as severance but were finally offered only one month.

Bloom told the broadcaster that the number of staff she is representing in claims against Twitter “goes up daily”.