Twitter recently conducted an auction at its San Francisco HQ for about 631 lots of “surplus corporate office assets”. The auction ended on Wednesday with a statue of Twitter’s famous bird logo claiming the most expensive bid and getting sold for a whopping $100,000. The sale comes amid the company’s multiple cost-cut measures as it battles a financial crunch. The microblogging platform is facing several lawsuits over non-payment of its dues to vendors and office rent.
The 27-hour-long auction featured a 10-foot neon light in the shape of the company’s bird logo, industrial-scale kitchenware, office furniture like whiteboards and desks, quirky signage, more than 100 boxes of KN95 masks along with a mix are a range of designer chairs, coffee machines, iMacs and stationary bike stations capable of charging appliances. Some memorabilia like a large “@” symbol sculpture planter, had starting bids of $25 but got sold for nearly $15,000.
The company’s former vice president of products Kevin Weil tweeted, “weird to see the Twitter office on auction,” adding “great memories from a different era.”
Wild to see the Twitter office on auction. Board room tables, phone booths, chairs, monitors… even the Twitter bird statue. Great memories from a different era. https://t.co/kLOx69ZbeI pic.twitter.com/BFfvFy6Pg4
— Kevin Weil ???????? (@kevinweil) January 15, 2023
The auction’s administrator, Heritage Global Partners told Fortune magazine last month that “this auction has nothing to do with their financial position.”
Just weeks after taking over Twitter for $44, Elon Musk fired about half of its 7,500-strong workforce, which led to criticism that the company was insufficiently staffed to carry out content moderation. In December, Musk said that severe cost cuts at the company had repaired the company’s dire finances. He also announced that he is finding a new CEO for his troubled social media platform.
