Latest news with #SPAC
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Billionaire Chamath Palihapitiya hints at new SPAC despite community backlash
Billionaire Chamath Palihapitiya hints at new SPAC despite community backlash originally appeared on TheStreet. Billionaire investor and former Facebook executive Chamath Palihapitiya is one of the public figures from the traditional industry whose views are paid attention to by the crypto community. Recently, the billionaire hailed the public debut of Circle (NYSE: CRLC), the company behind the USDC stablecoin. He praised Circle for building the entire market structure for stablecoins early on. Palihapitiya, currently CEO at Social Capital, has launched a dozen special-purpose acquisition companies (SPACs). A SPAC is a publicly traded shell company formed with the purpose of acquiring or merging with a private company to take it public. The investor recently asked his X followers via a poll if he should launch another SPAC. But the X community is hardly supportive. Though his post has generated 2.4 million views so far, the response has been overwhelmingly negative. Not only did 71.3% of the responses say "No," the post even got a community note claiming that SPACs launched by Chamath during Covid years have generated "horrible returns," falling as much as 70% since their peaks. Regardless of the negative response, Palihapitiya wrote in the next X post that he received calls from many "Wall Street and Crypto Titans." He added: "I will probably do it." Palihapitiya said he will include the X poll and the community note in every SEC filing possible and hoped it will "maybe" go better this time. While nobody can tell if and when Palihapitiya will launch another SPAC, the crypto community was quick to jump in to trade opinions. Traders on Polymarket, the leading crypto-based prediction market, began to bet on him launching the company by Dec. 31, 2025. For now, the odds are sitting around 57% for "Yes," which means more than half of the Polymarket traders think Palihapitiya will launch a SPAC by the end of the year. Billionaire Chamath Palihapitiya hints at new SPAC despite community backlash first appeared on TheStreet on Jun 20, 2025 This story was originally reported by TheStreet on Jun 20, 2025, where it first appeared. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
SPAC Comeback Draws Renewed Interest from Wall Street
They're SPAC! Just when the market seemed dead and buried, special purpose acquisition companies have risen from the grave. The re-emergence of the once, maybe still, controversial vehicles that let companies go public outside of traditional IPOs is underscored by strong hints this week that one of yesteryear's biggest Wall Street underwriters of the blank check firms is once again ready to make deals after bowing out of the space three years ago. READ ALSO: OpenAI Careens Toward Messy Divorce From Microsoft and Drones Steal the Paris Air Show To remember SPACs is to take a time machine back to their golden age of 2021, when the song of the summer didn't matter because you were at home in pajamas during pandemic lockdowns. That's when these blank-check companies, which list on public markets in order to later merge with a target company and take it public, were all the rage. There was a time when it felt like there were as many celebrity SPACs — Martha Stewart, Jay-Z and Shaquille O'Neal each got in on the craze — as there are celebrity tequila brands. Roughly 600 SPAC deals in 2021 raised a record $163 billion. But a year later, the market froze after interest rates were hiked and the S&P 500 turned in its worst year since the late-2000s financial crisis, falling 19% in 2022. The value of many companies that went public during the SPAC craze crashed, too. They were not helped by the Securities and Exchange Commission stepping in to protect investors. The regulator introduced rules in 2022, finalized two years later, that aligned SPAC disclosure and conflict of interest requirements more closely with the rigorous standards of traditional IPOs. But this year, finally, has marked a mini-comeback of sorts, thanks to maybe the biggest celebrity SPAC figure of all: That, of course, would be President Trump, whose Truth Social went public via SPAC merger in 2022. The expectation that Trump and Paul Atkins, his pick for SEC chair, would focus more on capital formation than clampdown has sparked a return to the vehicles: According to SPACInsider data, there have been 58 SPAC offerings so far this year, one more than the total in all of 2024. In fact, the most active bank on SPAC deals this year, Cantor Fitzgerald, has deep ties to the Trump administration: Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is its former CEO and upon taking his job in Trump's Cabinet, he handed control to his sons Brandon and Kyle. However, the fuss has been enough to lure back Wall Street's former titan of the SPAC space: Bloomberg reported earlier this week that Goldman Sachs is prepared to start underwriting SPAC deals again after it largely withdrew from the space in 2022. The Fine Print: Performance among private companies that went public by merging with SPACs this year has not exactly been spectacular. According to data from ListingTrack on 20 such firms, the median return has been a decline of 74%. This post first appeared on The Daily Upside. To receive delivering razor sharp analysis and perspective on all things finance, economics, and markets, subscribe to our free The Daily Upside newsletter. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
At Paris Air Show, eVTOL Industry Preps for Takeoff
It's a bird … it's a plane … it's an … electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicle, or eVTOL (neither of which exactly rolls off the tongue, if you ask us). As Airbus lands major sales and Boeing tries to regain its credibility at this year's Paris Air Show, the upstart not-quite-a-plane, not-quite-a-helicopter, not-quite-cleared-for-liftoff eVTOL industry is climbing closer and closer to achieving its sky-high ambitions. For key US players Joby Aviation and Archer Aviation, the show comes at a critical moment. READ ALSO: US Flexes Golden Share in Nippon Merger With US Steel and AmEx Platinum, Chase Sapphire Reserve Battle for Points in Upgrade Grudge Match Both Archer and Joby went public in 2020 during the SPAC craze. Like a lot of SPAC companies, their appeal to investors was largely speculative — and, five years later, remains somewhat speculative (neither has completed a commercial flight yet). But promises of a Jetsons-esque future of battery-powered flying taxis are starting to look a little more real, especially after a slew of developments in just the past couple of weeks. At the end of May, Joby announced it received $250 million from Toyota, the second tranche of a $500 million investment from the major automaker announced in October (which itself followed a previous $394 million investment from Toyota). Then, last week, came the big news: As part of a broader initiative to promote domestic drone production, the White House issued an executive order to launch a pilot program for the nascent industry. The announcement brought renewed interest to the pair of eVTOL firms, which showed both companies may have climbed a little too close to the sun: Shares of Joby had spiked more than 30% in the days immediately following the announcement of the Toyota cash infusion. That led analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald to quell some of the excitement, downgrading the stock from overweight to neutral while highlighting the company's high cash-burn rate and lack of near-term upside. Archer, meanwhile, seized the opportunity presented by the White House's encouraging executive orders to sell $850 million of stock on Friday, which dragged its share price down 15%. It did recover nearly 4% on Monday, however. Cleared for Takeoff: But what about the question that may matter the most: When will these birds finally fly? It's tough to say. Both companies have scored deals to launch air taxi services in the United Arab Emirates, with Archer saying industry standards in the country should be finalized by next month and Joby saying service could start as soon as early next year. Both companies have also struck deals with major US airlines — Archer with United and Joby with Delta — to eventually ferry passengers to and from major US airports. Archer has also struck a deal to become the official air taxi partner of the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Olympics, which shows the lengths to which Angelenos will go to avoid their infamous traffic jams. This post first appeared on The Daily Upside. To receive delivering razor sharp analysis and perspective on all things finance, economics, and markets, subscribe to our free The Daily Upside newsletter. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Bloomberg
4 days ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Goldman Ditches Ban on SPACs as Blank-Check Firms Stage Comeback
By and Todd Gillespie Save Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is wading back into the market for SPACs three years after stricter regulatory scrutiny prompted a self-imposed ban on handling so-called blank-check companies. The investment bank is once again open to underwriting new deals for special-purpose acquisition companies, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The firm will evaluate potential deals on a case-by-case basis and may limit the sponsors it works with, one of the people said, asking not to be identified discussing private matters.
Globe and Mail
4 days ago
- Business
- Globe and Mail
Sizzle Acquisition Corp. II Completes $230,000,000 Initial Public Offering
NEW YORK, June 16, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sizzle Acquisition Corp. II (the 'Company') announced today the completion of its initial public offering of 23,000,000 units at a price of $10.00 per unit, resulting in gross proceeds of $230,000,000. Sizzle The units began trading on the Nasdaq Global Market on April 2, 2025, under the ticker symbol 'SZZLU.' Each unit consists of one share of common stock and one right to receive one-tenth (1/10) of a share of common stock upon the consummation of an initial business combination. The common stock and Share Rights are expected to trade separately under the symbols 'SZZL' and 'SZZLR' once eligible. Sizzle Acquisition Corp. II is a blank check company formed for the purpose of effecting a business combination with one or more businesses across sectors including hospitality, restaurant, food and beverage, retail, consumer, real estate (including proptech), food-related technology, professional sports, and airlines. The Company is focused on identifying established, scalable businesses operating within or adjacent to these sectors in the United States and other developed markets. The Company is led by Steve Salis (Chief Executive Officer and Chairman), Jamie Karson (Non-Executive Vice Chairman), and Daniel Lee (Chief Financial Officer and Head of Business and Corporate Development). The Board of Directors includes Neil Leibman, Warren Thompson, and David Perlin. This is the second SPAC sponsored by Salis Holdings. The team's previous vehicle, Sizzle Acquisition Corp., completed a merger with European Lithium to form Critical Metals Corp. in early 2024. Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. acted as sole book-running manager for the offering. Media Contact: Sheena Lajoie sl@ Disclaimer: This press release is provided by the Sizzle Acquisition Corp. II. The statements, views, and opinions expressed in this content are solely those of the content provider and do not necessarily reflect the views of this media platform or its publisher. We do not endorse, verify, or guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of any information presented. This content is for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial, investment, or trading advice. Investing involves significant risks, including the potential loss of capital. Readers are strongly encouraged to conduct their own research and consult with a qualified financial advisor before making any investment decisions. Neither the media platform nor the publisher shall be held responsible for any fraudulent activities, misrepresentations, or financial losses arising from the content of this press release. Neither the media platform nor the publisher shall be held responsible for any fraudulent activities, misrepresentations, or financial losses arising from the content of this press release. In the event of any legal claims or charges against this article, we accept no liability or responsibility. Legal Disclaimer: This media platform provides the content of this article on an "as-is" basis, without any warranties or representations of any kind, express or implied. We do not assume any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information presented herein. Any concerns, complaints, or copyright issues related to this article should be directed to the content provider mentioned above.
