The 27-hour online auction is the latest sign of change in the company
Fancy an espresso machine once used by Twitter Inc. employees? Or a neon display of its logo? Fans of the social media company have a chance to get their hands on them in a distress sale of items from its San Francisco headquarters starting Tuesday.
The 27-hour online auction, organized by Heritage Global Partners Inc., is the latest sign of upheaval at the company, which billionaire Elon Musk acquired for $44 billion last year.
The 631 lots of “surplus company office assets” range from the mundane — industrial-scale kitchen appliances and typical office furniture like whiteboards and desks — to less-typical office auction fares, such as office furniture. B. quirky signage and more than 100 boxes of KN95 masks. Also in the mix are a range of designer chairs, coffeemakers, iMacs, and stationary bike stations that can charge devices.
Most of the items, including company memorabilia like a large Twitter bird statue and a planter with the @ symbol, had starting bids of $25. With about 20 hours remaining in the auction, the neon logo had received 64 bids, valuing it at $17,500 – the lot’s highest current bid. The bird statue had 55 bids, bringing the price down to $16,000, while the “@” sculpture had 52 bids for a value of $4,100.
Wild to see the Twitter office being auctioned off. Conference tables, phone booths, chairs, monitors…even the Twitter bird statue. Great memories from another time. https://t.co/kLOx69ZbeIpic.twitter.com/BffvFy6Pg4
– Kevin Weil 🇺🇸 (@kevinweil) January 15, 2023
Organizers have said the sale is not intended to shore up Twitter’s finances. A representative from Heritage Global Partners told Fortune magazine last month that “this auction has nothing to do with their financial condition.” The auction house was not immediately able to respond to inquiries received outside of normal business hours.
Still, more cash is likely welcome for Musk, who’s trying to radically cut costs at the company and has failed to pay rent on another San Francisco address, leading to a lawsuit. Other offices, including the Asia Pacific base in Singapore, weren’t spared either, with staff there being asked to evict and work from home.
Twitter, which no longer has a media relations team, did not respond to email inquiries from Bloomberg News.
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