Twitter is auctioning off items, sophisticated office furniture and professional kitchen equipment from its San Francisco, California, US offices in a reorganization by new owner Elon Musk.
With the help of the auction, the philanthropist intends to draw attention to the excesses of the former management of the social network and signal that cost reduction is a priority.
The highest bidding objects, in addition to the neon bird, include a simple Twitter bird statue for more than $30,000 (€27,794) and a sculpture with an @ sign.
On the other hand, professional kitchen equipment costs tens of thousands of dollars.
Kitchen appliances include a commercial dehydrator, a deep fryer and a La Marzocco Strada semi-automatic espresso machine that has a listing price of $25,000 (about €23,166) (the highest offer this Thursday morning was $12,000 (€11,111).
Even after things add up, the proceeds from the auction, which closes on Thursday, are unlikely to affect Twitter’s financial obligations.
Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion (about 40.7 billion euros) in October, and the company is making about $1 billion (926 million euros) a year in interest payments on the deal.
The biggest piece of Musk’s wealth comes from Tesla shares, which have lost more than 40% of their value since taking over the social network in October 2022.
The American businessman has sold almost $23 billion (21 billion euros) in shares in the electric car company to finance the purchase since April, when he expressed interest on Twitter.
Musk even lost the top spot of the richest person in the world according to Forbes magazine.
Twitter, which does not have a public relations department, did not respond to an Associated Press (AP) request for comment.
Last December, Twitter’s new owner defended its extreme cost-cutting measures.
“This company is essentially like you are in a plane that is landing at high speed with engines on fire and controls not working,” Musk said at the time.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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