Twitter looks set to close its Australia headquarters with its staff to continue its operations working from home.
A source told the Sydney Morning Herald on Monday that the staff of the social media platform would be working from home indefinitely as the office would be closing.
Twitter currently leases one floor above the Galleries shopping centre on 2 Park Street in the Sydney CBD.
A Twitter spokesperson told the publication that no decision was made and that consultations with employees were still to be had.
“Over the past two years, we’ve proven we can operate our business successfully with a distributed workforce, regardless of whether our employees work from an office or full-time from home,” they said.
“This approach has allowed us to evaluate our existing footprint and consider various flexible work options for our Sydney employees, including alternative office spaces to lease,” the Twitter spokesman added.
The publication also noted that property industry sources said Twitter’s lease on the floor is due to expire by the end of August and that renewing would cost $2.8 million a year.
This comes after Twitter reported poor performance in its second quarter results. Revenue was down 1% year-over-year to $USD1.18 billion, a contrast to the expected $1.32 billion.
In its investor relations release, the platform noted that the results reflected: “advertising industry headwinds associated with the macroenvironment as well as uncertainty related to the pending acquisition of Twitter by an affiliate of Elon Musk.”
The platform also detailed the events leading up to the fall out on the merger in the Q2 results. It read: “On July 8, 2022, representatives of Mr. Musk delivered a notice purporting to terminate the merger agreement. Twitter believes that Mr. Musk’s purported termination is invalid and wrongful, and the merger agreement remains in effect.
“On July 12, 2022, Twitter commenced litigation against Mr. Musk and certain of his affiliates to cause them to specifically perform their obligations under the merger agreement and consummate the closing in accordance with the terms of the merger agreement.
“On July 19, 2022, Twitter’s request for an expedited trial was granted, and the trial is being scheduled for October 2022.
The platform added: “Adoption of the merger agreement by our stockholders is the only remaining approval or regulatory condition to completing the merger under the merger agreement.
“The exact timing of completion of the merger, if at all, cannot be predicted because the merger is subject to ongoing litigation, adoption of the merger agreement by our stockholders and the satisfaction of the remaining closing conditions.”