Elon Musk is never too far from controversy, and now the world’s richest man is facing a multi-million dollar lawsuit for debts that have allegedly not been paid by X Corp.
The plaintiff in the case, the Wiwynn Corporation – a Taiwanese cloud IT infrastructure provider – is claiming damages of no less than $61 million.
The sum has been calculated as the amount it says it has spent on ‘custom components’ it bought in order to manufacture products for the use of X Corp, which it has otherwise been unable to recoup.
Three Counts of Action
All of the details of the claim can be seen in the full complaint document filed at the District Court of Northern California.
It shows three counts of action being brought by Wiwynn against X Corp: for breach of contract, promissory estoppel, and breach of covenant of good faith and fair dealing.
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In seeking relief for at least $61 million, the claim requests a trial by jury.
This is an action for damages arising out of X Corp.’s failure to compensate Wiwynn for custom components ordered by Wiwynn with X Corp.’s approval, which were to be used in connection with Wiwynn’s manufacture of custom products for X Corp. – Summary of Wiwynn’s action against X Corp
“Abruptly Stopped Making Any Payments”
The detailed ‘Background’ section of the claim sets out the plaintiff’s case against X Corp, going all the way back to a 2014 agreement between the cloud IT infrastructure provider and Twitter Inc.
An ongoing arrangement – under which Wiwynn purchased custom components to be used in connection with the manufacture of custom products for the social media company – had been followed for around eight years “without issue.”
Wiwynn says, however, that at the start of November 2022, “X Corp. abruptly stopped making any payments to Wiwynn—including for delivered finished products—and failed to respond to multiple communications from Wiwynn inquiring about and demanding the past-due payments for delivered finished products.”
By Wiwynn’s account, it had procured to pay around $120 million for the components – $59 million of which it has since managed to mitigate through cancelling orders and reselling items.
Musk Misdemeanors
It is perhaps no surprise that the world’s richest man would have a target on his back, but the list of controversies and lawsuits courted by the man voted as the most overrated CEO in the US seems to be growing at an alarming rate.
Having previously been sued by another social media company called X, by the mother of his children Grimes over custody, and for defamation on multiple occasions, perhaps the most high profile lawsuit brought against him was by 2,000 ex-Twitter employees who were laid off when Musk bought the social media platform.
Earlier this year, several former X executives brought suits against Musk for unpaid severance claims.
And as recently as the last couple of weeks, Musk actively dared former First Minister of Scotland Humza Yousaf to sue him, following a bitter public spat.
