Current:Home > StocksTwitter auctioned off office supplies, including a pizza oven and neon bird sign -Edge Finance Strategies
Twitter auctioned off office supplies, including a pizza oven and neon bird sign
Ethermac Exchange View
Date:2025-04-09 08:03:01
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! (2223)
Related
- Person accused of accosting Rep. Nancy Mace at Capitol pleads not guilty to assault charge
- New state climatologist for Louisiana warns of a ‘very active’ hurricane season
- Alec Baldwin's Rust denied New Mexico tax incentives ahead of actor's involuntary manslaughter trial
- Propulsion engineer is charged with obstructing probe of deadly 2017 US military plane crash
- How to watch new prequel series 'Dexter: Original Sin': Premiere date, cast, streaming
- Victoria and David Beckham Celebrate 25th Wedding Anniversary in the Most Posh Way Possible
- As Gunnar Henderson awaits All-Star turn, baseball world discovers his 'electric' talent
- What is the Nathan's hot dog eating contest record? List of champions, records
- Tree trimmer dead after getting caught in wood chipper at Florida town hall
- Robert Towne, legendary Hollywood screenwriter of Chinatown, dies at 89
Ranking
- Paula Abdul settles lawsuit with former 'So You Think You Can Dance' co
- In letters, texts and posts, Jan. 6 victims react to Supreme Court ruling on Trump immunity
- Minnesota prosecutor provides most detailed account yet of shooting deaths of 3 first responders
- In North Carolina, Eastern Hellbenders Are a Species of Concern, Threatened by the Vagaries of Climate Change
- The Louvre will be renovated and the 'Mona Lisa' will have her own room
- Avian flu confirmed in a Colorado farmworker, marking fourth human case in U.S. since March
- GloRilla Reveals “Wildly Hypocritical” DM From Rihanna
- Q&A: How a Land Purchase Inspired by an Unfulfilled Promise Aims to Make People of Color Feel Welcome in the Wilderness
Recommendation
Bill Belichick's salary at North Carolina: School releases football coach's contract details
Jürgen Klopp for USMNT? Alexi Lalas, Tim Howard urge US Soccer to approach ex-Liverpool boss
David Spade visits Kentucky fireworks stand in 'Joe Dirt' homage: Watch the moment
Separated by duty but united by bond, a pair of Marines and their K-9s are reunited for the first time in years
Pregnant Kylie Kelce Shares Hilarious Question Her Daughter Asked Jason Kelce Amid Rising Fame
Cleveland officer fatally shot while trying to serve a warrant
Ford recalls more than 30,000 Mustangs over potential loss of steering control
Sheryl Lee Ralph shelters in Jamaica ahead of Hurricane Beryl: 'Stay inside'