Twitter office on auction as Musk fails to pay rent

Social media giant Twitter is auctioning its office furniture including its neon display blue bird sculpture and an expresso machine once used by its employees.

Starting Tuesday, fans of billionaire Elon Musk-owned microblogging site can their hands on 631 lots of ‘surplus corporate office assets’ in a giant fire sale from its San Francisco headquarters.

The items on offer range from mundane – industrial-scale kitchenware and typical office furniture like whiteboards and desks – to less typical fare for office auctions, such as peculiar signage and more than 100 boxes of KN95 masks.

They also include a range of designer chairs, coffee machines, iMacs and stationary bike stations capable of charging appliances.

Most items, items including company memorabilia like a large Twitter bird statue and an ‘@’ symbol sculpture planter, had starting bids of $25. With about 20 hours left in the auction, the neon logo had received 64 bids valuing it at $17,500 – the highest current bid of the lot. The bird statue had 55 bids, pushing the price to $16,000, while the ‘@’ sculpture had 52 bids for a $4,100 value.

The 27-hour online auction is being organised by Heritage Global Partners Inc., who said that the sale isn’t intended to shore up Twitter’s finances.

Fortune magazine quoted a representative of Heritage Global Partners last month saying ‘this auction has nothing to do with their financial position.’

Reports have indicated that Musk, who acquired Twitter for $44 billion last year, is trying to cut cost at the company, and has failed to pay rent for another San Francisco address.

As per reports, other Twitter offices, including its Asia-Pacific base in Singapore, have also not been spared, with staff there being asked to clear out and work from home.

As such, more cash is likely more than welcome for the social media company.