Twitter's headquarters in San Francisco, California. It is looking to renegotiate terms of its leases on offices, including its San Francisco headquarters, according to the New York Times. AFP
Twitter's headquarters in San Francisco, California. It is looking to renegotiate terms of its leases on offices, including its San Francisco headquarters, according to the New York Times. AFP
Twitter's headquarters in San Francisco, California. It is looking to renegotiate terms of its leases on offices, including its San Francisco headquarters, according to the New York Times. AFP
Twitter's headquarters in San Francisco, California. It is looking to renegotiate terms of its leases on offices, including its San Francisco headquarters, according to the New York Times. AFP

How Twitter's bid to cut costs are weighing on an obscure group of investors


  • English
  • Arabic

Elon Musk’s efforts to cut costs at Twitter are hitting an obscure group of investors: holders of bonds tied to the company’s headquarters building in San Francisco.

Twitter hasn’t paid rent on its headquarters, or any of its other global offices, in weeks, the New York Times reported on December 13.

Its main office at 1355 Market Street in San Francisco has a mortgage that was packaged into a $400 million bond in 2015.

Prices on one portion of the bond dropped to about 85 cents on the dollar in the middle of the week, from around 99 cents on Tuesday, according to price data compiled by Bloomberg. Those securities were originally rated B- by Morningstar.

Twitter isn’t the only tenant in the building, but it’s the biggest by far.

The social media company is also looking to renegotiate terms of its leases on offices, including its San Francisco headquarters, according to the New York Times.

Shorenstein Realty Investors manages the building and owns a portion alongside outside investors.

Twitter’s efforts to cut lease expenses only adds to the owners’ difficulty.

The mortgage on the building matured in September and the borrower failed to refinance it, according to Morningstar Credit Information and Analytics.

Getting mortgages on big office buildings is difficult enough now, but missed lease payments from the biggest tenant will only make efforts to refinance the property harder, said David Putro, head of commercial real estate analytics at MCIA.

“In an already difficult lending environment, even a temporary cessation of lease payments would further complicate a refinancing,” said Mr Putro.

If Shorenstein and others on the hook for repayments fail to repay the mortgage loan again in January, lenders have a handful of options to try to ensure they get paid.

That could include giving the borrowers more time to repay bondholders in exchange for other borrower concessions and equity contributions, or foreclosing on the building and selling it, said Michael Cohen, managing partner at Brighton Capital Advisers.

Gulf Under 19s final

Dubai College A 50-12 Dubai College B

Usain Bolt's World Championships record

2007 Osaka

200m Silver

4x100m relay Silver

 

2009 Berlin

100m Gold

200m Gold

4x100m relay Gold

 

2011 Daegu

100m Disqualified in final for false start

200m Gold

4x100m relay Gold

 

2013 Moscow

100m Gold

200m Gold

4x100m relay Gold

 

2015 Beijing

100m Gold

200m Gold

4x100m relay Gold

 

THE BIO

Favourite author - Paulo Coelho 

Favourite holiday destination - Cuba 

New York Times or Jordan Times? NYT is a school and JT was my practice field

Role model - My Grandfather 

Dream interviewee - Che Guevara

Who's who in Yemen conflict

Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government

Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council

Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south

Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory

The President's Cake

Director: Hasan Hadi

Starring: Baneen Ahmad Nayyef, Waheed Thabet Khreibat, Sajad Mohamad Qasem 

Rating: 4/5

Generation Start-up: Awok company profile

Started: 2013

Founder: Ulugbek Yuldashev

Sector: e-commerce

Size: 600 plus

Stage: still in talks with VCs

Principal Investors: self-financed by founder

What vitamins do we know are beneficial for living in the UAE

Vitamin D: Highly relevant in the UAE due to limited sun exposure; supports bone health, immunity and mood.Vitamin B12: Important for nerve health and energy production, especially for vegetarians, vegans and individuals with absorption issues.Iron: Useful only when deficiency or anaemia is confirmed; helps reduce fatigue and support immunity.Omega-3 (EPA/DHA): Supports heart health and reduces inflammation, especially for those who consume little fish.

AndhaDhun

Director: Sriram Raghavan

Producer: Matchbox Pictures, Viacom18

Cast: Ayushmann Khurrana, Tabu, Radhika Apte, Anil Dhawan

Rating: 3.5/5

Farage on Muslim Brotherhood

Nigel Farage told Reform's annual conference that the party will proscribe the Muslim Brotherhood if he becomes Prime Minister.
"We will stop dangerous organisations with links to terrorism operating in our country," he said. "Quite why we've been so gutless about this – both Labour and Conservative – I don't know.
“All across the Middle East, countries have banned and proscribed the Muslim Brotherhood as a dangerous organisation. We will do the very same.”
It is 10 years since a ground-breaking report into the Muslim Brotherhood by Sir John Jenkins.
Among the former diplomat's findings was an assessment that “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” has “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
The prime minister at the time, David Cameron, who commissioned the report, said membership or association with the Muslim Brotherhood was a "possible indicator of extremism" but it would not be banned.

The biog

From: Ras Al Khaimah

Age: 50

Profession: Electronic engineer, worked with Etisalat for the past 20 years

Hobbies: 'Anything that involves exploration, hunting, fishing, mountaineering, the sea, hiking, scuba diving, and adventure sports'

Favourite quote: 'Life is so simple, enjoy it'

COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
Updated: December 17, 2022, 7:30 AM