Current:Home > MyTwitter auctioned off office supplies, including a pizza oven and neon bird sign -Ascend Finance Compass
Twitter auctioned off office supplies, including a pizza oven and neon bird sign
View
Date:2025-04-15 06:13:30
Are you in need of some mid-century modern furniture, industrial kitchen equipment or audio-visual systems? Or looking to brighten up your apartment with a giant neon bird sign?
Then you're in luck. Twitter's San Francisco headquarters auctioned off "surplus corporate office assets" online for a fleeting 27 hours, giving potential lucky bidders the chance to take a piece of the struggling company home with them.
Auction house Global Heritage Partners is running the de facto fire sale, which closed at 10 a.m. PT (1 p.m. ET) on Wednesday and charged a buyer's premium of 18%.
The 631 lots include office supplies like projectors and massive white boards (in both old-school and digital form), kitchen equipment from espresso machines to refrigerators (including a kegerator beer dispenser), a wide variety of chairs and couches and miscellaneous modern-day workplace staples like assorted power adapters and KN95 masks in bulk.
There's also a bit of Twitter-specific memorabilia, including a six-foot-tall "@"-shaped planter sculpture filled with artificial flowers (with a high bid of $8,250), a blue neon sign in the shape of the app's bird logo ($22,500) and a smaller, sturdier bird statue ($20,500).
Other notable items include a pizza oven ($10,000), a conference room-sized booth ($7,250) and several individual soundproof phone booths, packs of high-end desk chairs ($4,900) and sit-stand desks ($900) and two stationary bikes that double as recharging stations ($2,400).
Overall, an eclectic assortment of goods and a jarring sight for those who once used them.
"Weird to see the Twitter office on auction," tweeted Kevin Weil, the company's former senior vice president of product. "Great memories from a different era."
Scott Budman, an NBC News tech and business reporter, pointed out some familiar items: A table where he interviewed former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey got a bid for $1,000, the espresso machine where former editorial director Karen Wickre offered him coffee is going for $1,700.
"Good luck, I guess," he wrote.
Ross Dove, chief executive of Heritage Global, the parent company of Heritage Global Partners, told the New York Times that more than 20,000 people had registered to bid online — the most of any of the firm's auctions over the last 90 years and a fact he attributes to the public's fascination with Twitter and Musk himself. He estimated that the auction would net Twitter some $1.5 million.
The auction comes at a tough time for the company, which lost many major advertisers — as well as employees, thanks to layoffs and mass resignations — after Elon Musk took over in October and has since sought to aggressively cut costs and raise revenue.
Musk — who has announced his plans to resign as CEO — said in December that the company was "not, like, in the fast lane to bankruptcy anymore."
Still, its financial outlook remains murky, with the New York Times reporting that same month that Twitter had not paid rent for its San Francisco headquarters or any global offices for weeks and was considering denying people severance payments. Employees have also discussed the possibility of selling usernames to make money, the Times reported last week.
This month, Guinness World Records confirmed that Musk had broken the record for largest amount of money lost by one individual. He lost between $180 billion and $200 billion since November 2021, largely due to the poor performance of Tesla stocks in recent years.
Musk remains the second-richest person in the world and, as of this week, is on trial for securities fraud over a series of 2018 tweets teasing a Tesla buyout that never happened.
veryGood! (5)
Related
- Intel's stock did something it hasn't done since 2022
- 'Dreams do come true': Man wins $837K lottery prize after sister dreams he'd find gold
- Kirk Herbstreit, Chris Fowler ready to 'blow people's minds' with EA Sports College Football 25
- Dale Earnhardt Jr. joining Amazon and TNT Sports as NASCAR commentator starting in 2025
- Mets have visions of grandeur, and a dynasty, with Juan Soto as major catalyst
- Travis Kelce Scores First Major Acting Role in Ryan Murphy TV Show Grotesquerie
- Zendaya Aces With 4th Head-Turning Look for Met Gala 2024 After-Party
- Aaron Hernandez's fiancée responds to jokes made about late NFL player at Tom Brady's roast: Such a cruel world
- A South Texas lawmaker’s 15
- Most FTX customers to get all their money back less than 2 years after catastrophic crypto collapse
Ranking
- Realtor group picks top 10 housing hot spots for 2025: Did your city make the list?
- The TWR Supercat V-12 is the coolest Jaguar XJS you (probably) forgot about
- Indiana professors sue after GOP lawmakers pass law regulating faculty tenure
- Afghan diplomat Zakia Wardak resigns after being accused of smuggling almost $2 million worth of gold into India
- Selena Gomez engaged to Benny Blanco after 1 year together: 'Forever begins now'
- Russia plans tactical nuclear weapons drills near Ukraine border, citing provocative statements from NATO
- Official resigns after guilty plea to drug conspiracy in Mississippi and North Carolina vape shops
- Easily track your grocery list (and what's in your fridge) with these three apps
Recommendation
Travis Hunter, the 2
Starbucks rolling out new boba-style drinks with a fruity 'pearl' that 'pops in your mouth'
Drake and Kendrick Lamar’s feud — the biggest beef in recent rap history — explained
You’ll Love Jessica Biel’s Behind-the-Scenes Glimpse at Met Gala 2024 Look
A Mississippi company is sentenced for mislabeling cheap seafood as premium local fish
NFL schedule's best grudge games: Who has something to settle in 2024?
Taylor Swift bill is signed into Minnesota law, boosting protections for online ticket buyers
Doja Cat Explains How Her Wet T-Shirt Look at 2024 Met Gala Was On-Theme