[schoolornot]

I wonder why a landlord would even entertain such an offer. It's not uncommon for leases to be ~15 years. That is a hell of a risky move to think that you'll be ahead by offering a buyout with the hope of finding new tenants.

[varenc]

The early cancellation payout was probably part of the original lease agreement. Big commercial contracts are dense and cover a lot of contingencies.

You can usually find a public company's leases in SEC fillings. I couldn't find one for Pinterest, but I found Dropbox's 200+ page lease agreement here: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001467623/000119312...

(it's a 15 year lease, with the cost increasing from $45 million/year to $68 million/years over the 15 years. Hope there's some option to re-negotiate in there)

[notherthrowaway]

You could use the $90 million to diversify your real estate assets or pay down your debt.

[ghaff]

It's entirely possible it was in a contract.

[ponker]

For a large commerical real estate deal, the termination fee is always negotiated as part of the lease contract.