Elon Musk reportedly tried to sell Twitter's office plants to employees as part of his push for cash

• Elon Musk tried to sell Twitter's office plants to staff, an unnamed engineer at the company told the BBC.
• Since taking over the site, Musk has tried desperately to cut costs and boost the company's income.
• Musk previously auctioned off office furniture. 

As part of his bid to boost income for Twitter, Elon Musk tried to get Twitter's staff to buy its office plants, according to an anonymous engineer who spoke to the BBC.

The engineer, who the BBC didn't name because he is still employed at Twitter, said Musk's focus at the company was on money. He said that Musk had fired the company's cleaning and catering staff. 

"There are so many things broken and there's nobody taking care of it, that you see this inconsistent behaviour," the engineer said, according to the BBC.

Insider previously reported that cockroaches had been spotted at Twitter's New York office, which workers said began to smell after Musk decided not to renegotiate the contracts of facilities maintenance workers responsible for cleaning the space.

The tech mogul bought Twitter for $44 billion in late October, and since then has been taking drastic measures in what he says is an attempt to cut back on costs and save the company from bankruptcy. Musk said in early November that Twitter was losing more than $4 million a day.

Measures Musk has taken include laying off thousands of staff – he chopped Twitter's workforce roughly in half shortly after taking control of the company – and cutting back on free food.

Twitter was sued for failing to pay some bills, including millions of dollars in rent for its San Francisco headquarters, according to a lawsuit. Another company sued Twitter claiming that the company owed it more than $390,000 for branded merchandise, including T-shirts, socks, stickers, and a "swag gift box" for Musk himself.

Alongside reducing costs, Musk has tried to boost the company's income. He said that after taking over the site, Twitter had a "massive drop in revenue" as some advertisers cut ties. In 2021, advertising accounted for nearly 90% of the company's total revenue, financial filings show. The Wall Street Journal reported that Twitter's revenues fell about 40% in December compared to the same month in 2021.

To generate more money outside of advertising, Musk has overhauled Twitter Blue, the company's now $8-per-month subscription service. But he's also turned to more unorthodox methods to raise money: He auctioned off hundreds of items of Twitter's office furniture, including industrial kitchen equipment, statues, coffee machines, and office chairs.

Twitter did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment, made outside of its regular working hours, on whether it sold its plants to staff.