Twitter’s iconic ‘bird’ statue sells for $100,000 at Elon Musk’s mega fire sale of items at the San Francisco HQ that includes Eames chairs and a pizza oven – to help raise funds as revenue declined by 40% in a year
- Elon Musk sold off Twitter’s furniture and decorations in a 27-hour online auction
- The 3.5 foot bird statue sold for $100,000 while a neon sign went for $40,000
- It comes as it was revealed Twitter revenue is down from 40 per cent a year ago
Twitter’s iconic bird statue has sold for $100,000 at Elon Musk’s mega fire sale of items at the San Francisco HQ – in a bid to raise funds as revenue declined by 40 per cent in a year.
Elon Musk has auctioned off furniture, decorations, kitchen equipment in an online auction of ‘surplus corporate office assets of Twitter’, which ended at 10pm yesterday.
The three-and-a-half foot tall bird statue was the most expensive sale as it brought in £100,000 – despite a starting bid of only $25, according to one Twitter user.
It comes as it was revealed Twitter revenue was down 40 per cent from a year ago and more than 500 advertisers paused spending on the platform since Elon Musk’s $44billion takeover in October.
Twitter’s iconic bird statue has sold for $100,000 at Elon Musk’s mega fire sale of items at the San Francisco HQ
It comes as it was revealed Twitter revenue was down 40 per cent from a year ago and more than 500 advertisers paused spending on the platform since Elon Musk’s $44billion takeover in October (pictured on May 2, 2022)
Musk first announced in December that he was putting items from the company up for sale, claiming he wanted to clear out its HQ of its ‘woke’ supplies.
The 27-hour auction also featured a 10-foot neon light in the shape of Twitter’s bird logo, which brought in a winning bid of $40,000, Heritage Global Partners auction service confirmed.
Seven items sold at Elon Musk’s Twitter HQ auction
1. Bird Statue – $100,000
2. LED Twitter Light – $40,000
3. ‘@’ Planter – $15,000
4. Espresso machine – $13,500
5. Conference table – $10,500
6. Eames chair – $1,400
7. Speaker phone – $300
Among the 631 lots were espresso machines, ergonomically correct desks, televisions, bicycle-powered charging stations, pizza ovens and a decorative planter shaped like an ‘@’ sign.
But some of the used items sold for more than their retail value – as an Eames molded plywood chair that would usually sell for $1,195 went for at least $1,400.
One of the more unusual lots was 46 cases of KN95 protective masks – coming to a total of 70,000 masks in total.
Musk in December said that severe cost cuts at Twitter had repaired the company’s dire finances as he set out to find a new CEO for his troubled social media platform.
The mercurial billionaire told a live chat forum at the time that without the changes, including firing over half of Twitter’s employees, the company would have bled $3billion dollars a year.
Musk said he had been ‘cutting costs like crazy’ at the platform he bought for $44 billion.
But insiders told technology newsletter Platformer that the site’s daily revenue on January 17 was 40 per cent lower than the same day a year previously.
In the first quarter of 2022, Twitter generated $1.2billion in revenue – or the equivalent of $13.3million a day.
The 27-hour auction also featured a 10-foot neon light in the shape of Twitter’s bird logo, which brought in a winning bid of $40,000
Some of the used items sold for more than their retail value – as an Eames molded plywood chair that would usually sell for $1,195 went for $1,400
Among the 631 lots were espresso machines, ergonomically correct desks, televisions, bicycle-powered charging stations, pizza ovens and a decorative planter shaped like an ‘@’ sign
An espresso machine that is worth around $18,000 went for $13,500 in the auction ending yesterday
If its revenue is now running 40 percent below that, it would currently be making $8million a day.
Meanwhile, more than 500 advertisers have paused spending with the site since Musk’s takeover, reports The Information.
But Nick Dove from Heritage Global Partners, the company overseeing the auction, denied it was about trying to make up the amount.
According to the BBC, he said: ‘If anyone genuinely thinks that the revenue from selling a couple computers and chairs will pay for the mountain there, then they’re a moron.’
Just weeks into his ownership of Twitter, Musk fired about half of its 7,500-strong workforce, sparking concern that the company was insufficiently staffed to carry out content moderation and spooking governments and advertisers.
Some of the contractors said they didn’t realize they were sacked until they weren’t able to log onto work.
Dozens of laid-off workers are now trying to sue the company for firing them without warning.
Twitter revenue has dropped 40 percent, insiders claim, meaning daily revenue is estimated to be around $8million, based on figures from the first quarter of 2022
And the firm is also facing a lawsuit from the landlord of one of its San Francisco offices for failing to pay rent.
Court records show the social media giant missed a rent payment of $136,260 for its 650 California Street office.
Musk said his strategy is to massively reduce costs while building up revenue, and that a new $8 subscription service called Twitter Blue would help with that goal.
Musk-led Twitter has been riven by chaos, with mass layoffs, the return of banned accounts and the suspension of journalists critical of the South African-born billionaire.
Musk’s takeover also saw a surge in racist or hateful tweets, drawing in scrutiny from regulators and chasing away big advertisers, Twitter’s main source of revenue.
In November, Musk admitted there had been issues with advertising revenue, telling his followers: ‘Twitter has had a massive drop in revenue, due to activist groups pressuring advertisers, even though nothing has changed with content moderation, and we did everything we could to appease the activists.’
The company has yet to publish its fourth quarter earnings, which are set to be released February.
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