Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Fortune
Fortune
Chloe Taylor

Sad Elon Musk killed off Twitter brand? Here’s your chance to grab the last blue bird memorabilia as billionaire auctions off everything—including a sign still bolted down

Twitter headquarters on 10th Street on November 4, 2022 in San Francisco, California. The Twitter bird logo sign on the side of the building can be seen. (Credit: David Odisho—Getty Images)

Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, is keen to put Twitter behind him.

The billionaire Tesla CEO, who bought the company for $44 billion last year and rebranded it just weeks ago, is auctioning off 584 reminders that the social media firm was ever known as anything other than X.

An online “Twitter Rebranding” auction, due to be held between Sept. 12 and Sept. 14, is promising prospective buyers “memorabilia, art, office assets and more”.

Among the 584 lots up for grabs are a DJ booth, a coffee table shaped like the iconic Twitter bird logo, several musical instruments, dozens of pieces of furniture, Twitter-themed wall art and a number of paintings.

All of the items are being offered with opening bids of $25—including a Twitter sign that’s still attached to X headquarters on San Francisco’s 10th Street.

According to the listing, the buyer will be “responsible for hiring a [San Francisco] licensed company with appropriate permits” to remove the sign from the building.

All lots will be subject to a 19% buyer’s premium as well as sales tax.

A spokesperson for X did not respond to Fortune’s request for comment on the auction.

The company has faced some serious financial problems since Musk took over, with its value plummeting 66% thanks to an advertiser exodus, negative cashflow and “heavy debt.”

As well as losing four in five workers either through mass layoffs or voluntary resignations, the site itself has suffered a slew of technical problems.

Musk has already held one auction of items from Twitter’s offices to raise cash, with a statue of the company’s bird logo selling for $100,000 at the event earlier this year.

In other bids to recover some of the company’s depleted funds, Musk has rolled out paid premium subscriptions, poached former NBCUniversal advertising chief Linda Yaccarino to woo back advertisers as his titular CEO, and closed one of the company’s data centers.

In a Wednesday post on X, Musk appeared to confirm that it was “inevitable” the company would start selling X-themed merchandise to consumers.

But while Musk has insisted that the renaming of Twitter makes sense and CEO Linda Yaccarino has referred to the rebrand as “a second chance to make another big impression,” the decision has already been met with hiccups and criticism.

Experts have warned that by changing Twitter’s name, Musk could be wiping a further $20 billion from the company’s value, while X users have expressed skepticism over whether the platform’s new moniker will stick.

It has also been reported that Facebook parent company Meta—which recently launched Threads, a major rival to X—may actually own the rights to the “X” trademark.

The company and Musk, meanwhile, have found themselves at loggerheads with authorities in San Francisco over the rebrand.

Shortly after the removal of the Twitter sign from X headquarters was disrupted by police, the giant “X” sign that was installed on the building’s roof was dismantled by city officials just days after it went up, prompting a reminder from San Francisco Mayor London Breed that “no one can be above the rules.”

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.