Twitter's Singapore Staff Reportedly Forced Out of Office After Missing Rent Payment
Updated: Jan 13, 2023
EDIT 13/1/2023: CapitaLand has told CNA that Twitter is still a tenant at the CapitaGreen building, with the publication reporting that Singapore employees have been told to return to the office for work.
Employees at Twitter Singapore now have to work from home after their office was forced to close, with owner Elon Musk refusing to pay rent.
According to Platformer's Casey Newton, the employees were "walked out" of the office by the landlord on Thursday, 12 January over "nonpayment of rent". Twitter's Singapore office is a single-level space in CapitaGreen on Market Street. The space, which launched in 2015, serves as the social media giant's Asia-Pacific headquarters.
Newton did not share further details, so it’s still unknown what Twitter’s next moves might be or how it’ll continue to operate in Singapore moving forward.
Since taking over the company, Musk scrapped remote work arrangements – except in special circumstances that he’ll personally review and approve, requiring all employees to come in the office for a minimum of 40 hours per week. He also demanded employees commit to an “extremely hardcore” culture, which involves long work hours at high intensity, and said those who won’t be able to do so are free to quit the company.
Musk’s refusal to pay rent, however, is part of his plans to slash as many expenses as he can at Twitter, as previously reported, with “bankruptcy not out of the question”. The company was sued earlier this month by the landlord of its office in downtown San Francisco, with US$136,260 owed in overdue rent. The landlord is seeking damages covering the total back rent, attorney’s fees and other expenses.
“This company is like, basically, you’re in a plane that is headed towards the ground at high speed with the engines on fire and the controls don’t work,” Musk said in late December, defending his cost-cutting measures in a Twitter Spaces call.
Today’s development also comes less than a week after it was revealed that Twitter further laid off employees handling global content moderation. The move affected at least a dozen employees in the company’s Dublin and Singapore offices.
Twitter Singapore's staff may now have to work from home after their office was reportedly forced to close, with owner Elon Musk refusing to pay rent.
Employees were "walked out" of the office by the building's landlord over "nonpayment of rent".
No further details were reported, so it's still unknown how Twitter might continue to operate in Singapore moving forward.
The office, which launched in 2015, serves as the social media giant's Asia-Pacific headquarters.