It’s Elon Musk Twitter needs every penny. With millions of dollars in unpaid rent and bills, including $13 billion owed to creditors, “there’s a lot of work to be done” if the company wants to avoid bankruptcy, Musk said last month.
Twitter recently sold $1.5 million worth of furniture and equipment from its San Francisco headquarters, down to as small as keyboards and USB dongles. But the company has left tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of shiny objects to gather dust in the homes of former employees.
Some people who have been fired or fired by Musk are wondering why Twitter didn’t bother to collect their company laptops, the latest entry in a takeover characterized by product launches, sudden changes, and refunds.
Eric Frohnhoefer, a California engineer who was fired in November after confronting Musk via tweet, says he hasn’t heard of a recall of his Apple MacBook Pro M1 Pro laptop that the company has released since 2021 (8/10 WIRED Recommends). He said: “It’s still in the bedroom. Like the laptops of thousands of remote Twitter workers whom Musk has terminated or resigned since early November, his was digitally locked, rendering it useless.
Refurbished models of his model can fetch about $1,000, and new ones sell for twice that. Frohnhoefer does not feel indebted to Musk and is in no rush to return the machine. “I’m happy to let it sit there and be a brick,” he says.
Two other former Tweeps say they are uncomfortable with keeping Musk’s expensive papers because they are among the workers still owed money, and fear it could lead to compensation delays, or legal problems. On social media groups that used to be active, brave people discussed trying to unlock their laptop or wipe and reset the device, one of the sources said.
Twitter did not respond to a request for comment.
Businesses often want to get their equipment back quickly from the workforce to protect their ownership and save money, by cutting equipment rental costs or reusing and reselling. But there are exceptions. Snap and Airbnb have confirmed that they are allowing employees furloughed during the pandemic to keep their laptops.
Some ex-Twitter employees told their colleagues they would return the equipment after contacting the company to see the pre-paid shipping boxes. Some in the past few days have received emails asking them to fill out a “Twitter Device Collection Survey,” several people say. But four out of five people who spoke to WIRED did not receive the email and are still keeping custody of Musk’s children.
Frank Meng, a Canadian machine learning engineer, was suspended by Twitter in November. He found out last week from one of the secret chats that he’s back maybe it could happen.
Research seen by WIRED lists badges, authentication tokens, corporate credit cards, company-issued cell phones, and laptop chargers as items that can be returned. However, monitors, keyboards, mice, display cables, and stands should not be taken, depending on the situation. What former employees should do with the laptops is unclear.
The survey asks for an address where the return shipping box can be sent, but also provides options to drop weapons at other Twitter offices.
When WIRED wrote to the Twitter email address of the return of the equipment shared by the former employee, an unsigned reply came back after three hours regarding the form and said that some instructions and a box would arrive within 30 days after being sent. Another laid-off employee says he’s in no rush to fill up. “Elon can wait.”
