Advisory Firm Sues Elon Musk’s Twitter, Saying It Hasn’t Been Paid

Innisfree M&A says Twitter, which Elon Musk bought last year, has not paid it $1.9 million for services it rendered for the deal.

“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,” the lawsuit says.

Twitter and a lawyer for Innisfree did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Last month, the company that owns Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters accused Twitter of refusing to make more than $3 million in rent payments. Twitter also faces legal proceedings in London over a failure to pay rent.

A private jet company sued Twitter last year, claiming it had failed to pay $197,725 for flights taken by a former executive during the closing of the deal.

Mr. Musk has also avoided making payments to some of Twitter’s former executives, who were set to receive multimillion-dollar payouts when he fired them. And the severance offered to laid-off employees was lower than what had been promised by Twitter’s previous management team, prompting suits by many of those former employees.

In its lawsuit, Innisfree says it first sent an invoice to Twitter around Sept. 26. Around Oct. 28, Twitter said the invoice had been “successfully processed.” When Innisfree did not receive payment, it followed up twice in December, the complaint says. The advisory firm, through its lawyer, sent a letter to Twitter on Dec. 23 demanding payment but has not heard back from the company.

Other Wall Street firms also may not have profited from Mr. Musk’s deal for Twitter, which was the largest leveraged buyout for a technology company. The investment banks Morgan Stanley, Bank of America and Barclays collectively lent about $13 billion to finance Mr. Musk’s acquisition. But they committed those funds before inflation, rising interest rates and an attempt by Mr. Musk to break up the deal. They have since been unable to sell that debt, which is on their balance sheets.

Category: Technology

Source: NYTimes Technology