Real Estate Advisory Firm Sues Twitter Over Nonpayment After Musk Buy

Twitter failed to pay real estate advisory firm Cresa after owner Elon Musk acquired the social media platform in a leveraged buyout in October, said a Monday complaint (docket 3:23-cv-04642) against Twitter and X in U.S. District Court for Northern California in San Francisco. Twitter hired Cresa in 2014 for its advisory services and the companies amended the master services agreement (MSA) in September 2020, the complaint said. During the years Cresa worked with Twitter, the defendant “never disputed an invoice from Cresa,” it said. The complaint alleges that a drop in revenue from advertisers who became alienated by Musk’s “moderation decisions” post-purchase caused “extreme belt-tightening” at the company. Its “instant financial crisis” led Twitter to stop paying several vendors whose services it was using, plus rent on some of its offices, it said. “Twitter also cancelled many contracts and stopped paying people to whom it owes money,” including Cresa, which alleges Twitter didn’t pay 14 invoices totaling $371,621 from August 2022 through March. Twitter didn’t respond to Cresa's requests for payment, though terms of the MSA called for payment within 45 days of invoice, it said. Cresa asserts a breach of contract claim and seeks compensatory damages, pre-and post-judgment interest and legal costs. Twitter didn’t comment.