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Twitter HQ bird statue
On Wednesday, Elon Musk auctioned off furniture, decorations, cooking equipment, and other items from Twitter’s offices in downtown San Francisco. A statue of a bird sold for $100,000.
Heritage Global Partners auction service reported that a 10-foot neon light in the style of Twitter’s bird emblem sold for $40,000. The online auction of “surplus corporate office assets of Twitter” lasted little more than 24 hours.
Espresso makers, ergonomic workstations, TVs, bicycle-powered charging stations, pizza ovens, and a planter in the style of the “@” symbol were just some of the 631 items up for bid.
In December, when Musk began searching for a new CEO for his struggling social media network, he claimed that drastic cost cutbacks at Twitter had fixed the company’s poor finances.
The unpredictable billionaire said in a live chat room that Twitter would have lost $3 billion annually had he not made the adjustments, which included laying off more than half of the company’s workforce.
Musk said that he had “reduced expenses like crazy” at the $44 billion platform he had acquired.
During his first few weeks as owner, Musk let go of half of Twitter’s 7,500 employees, which alarmed governments and advertisers alike for fear that the platform would not be adequately staffed to moderate its content.
Musk has said that his plan is to drastically cut expenses while increasing income, and that a new $8 monthly service dubbed Twitter Blue would assist in this endeavour.
Mass layoffs, the reinstatement of banned accounts, and the banning of journalists who have been critical of the South African-born entrepreneur have all been symptoms of the instability that has engulfed Twitter since Musk took control.
There was an increase in racist or offensive comments after Musk took charge, which drew the attention of authorities and scared off major advertisers, Twitter’s primary source of income.
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