Current:Home > InvestTwitter auctioned off office supplies, including a pizza oven and neon bird sign -Blueprint Wealth Network
Twitter auctioned off office supplies, including a pizza oven and neon bird sign
View
Date:2025-04-16 13:52:45
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! (787)
Related
- 'No Good Deed': Who's the killer in the Netflix comedy? And will there be a Season 2?
- Why Jim Harbaugh should spurn the NFL, stay at Michigan and fight to get players paid
- Texans wrap up playoff spot with 23-19 victory over Colts
- What 5 charts say about the 2023 jobs market and what that might spell for the US in 2024
- Woman dies after Singapore family of 3 gets into accident in Taiwan
- Christian Oliver's wife speaks out after plane crash killed actor and their 2 daughters
- Florida can import prescription drugs from Canada, US regulators say
- 7 Palestinians, an Israeli policewoman and a motorist are killed in West Bank violence
- Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow owns a $3 million Batmobile Tumbler
- NBA reinstates Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green from indefinite suspension
Ranking
- Google unveils a quantum chip. Could it help unlock the universe's deepest secrets?
- 'There were no aliens': Miami police clarify after teen fight spawns viral conspiracy theory
- Sam Kerr suffers torn ACL, jeopardizing Olympic hopes with Australia
- Texas Tech says Pop Isaacs 'remains in good standing' despite lawsuit alleging sexual assault
- Backstage at New York's Jingle Ball with Jimmy Fallon, 'Queer Eye' and Meghan Trainor
- How the Golden Globes is bouncing back after past controversies
- 5 people have died in a West Virginia house fire, including four young children
- 11-year-old killed in Iowa school shooting remembered as a joyful boy who loved soccer and singing
Recommendation
Gen. Mark Milley's security detail and security clearance revoked, Pentagon says
Erdogan names candidates for March election. Former minister to challenge opposition Istanbul mayor
Polish farmers suspend their blockade at the Ukrainian border after a deal with the government
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vows harsh response to deadly bomb attack
Could your smelly farts help science?
Marc-Andre Fleury ties Patrick Roy for No. 2 in all-time wins as Wild beat Blue Jackets
New Year, New Shoes— Save Up to 80% on Kate Spade, UGG, Sam Edelman, Steve Madden & More
Halle Bailey and DDG's Baby Boy Makes His Music Video Debut