This is incorrect, as is the announcement. The following is valid.
class Bar{}
let foo:object = new Bar()
foo = null
foo = undefined
edit:For the people mentioning, --strictNullChecks. That applies to all types not just object. For example, "let x:string = null" would also be an error. That option applies to any type that is not of type Any/null/undefined, and has been in place since 2.0. In that way, "object" is non-nullable under strictNullChecks just as every other type is.