Electric scooter company Bird files for bankruptcy
Bird has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, capping off a turbulent year for the electric scooter company after it was delisted from the NYSE.
I can't believe people were buying into their "franchise". They approached me in 2020 when they were trying to expand into the town I live and I had a downtown warehouse to operate out of. After they got done explaining everything, I laughed until they hung up.
You had to buy the scooters from them at around $600 each, you were responsible for all the recovery/batteries/maintenance/damage/theft caused by customers, warranty was non-existent ("call our chinese supplier and they will totally hook you up"), and after that they took 20% off the top. Some quick math put it at over 6 months before each scooter became profitable IF nothing happened to it in that time. Someone throws it in the canal just to be a dick? Sucks to be you, you're out $600 + whatever else you've put into it every time it happens.
Really came off to me that they were making their money selling to suckers who thought they were going to be entrepreneurs.
Edit: They did apparently did get someone here into it because I saw them around for a few months before disappearing completely.
Good fucking riddance. I hate these things, people leave them just lying across the sidewalk all the time.
Which is only a mild annoyance unless you are in a wheel chair. Then it is a serious one and possibly dangerous if you have to navigate into the street to bypass them.
The scooters are really popular in our city. Currently we have 2 companies operating: Bird and Neuron. The positives have definitely outweighed the negatives. Hope they can keep going.
I'm of the total opposite mindset. I love having them where I travel, and I will fight to my dying breath to keep them out of my city lol.
Before I am called a hypocrite I am totally fine with other cities keeping them out. But if they're there, I'm using them (and putting them where they belong instead of leaving them scattered everywhere like an asshole)
🤖 I'm a bot that provides automatic summaries for articles: ::: spoiler Click here to see the summary In a press release today, Bird confirmed that it had entered into a “financial restructuring process aimed at strengthening its balance sheet,” with the company continuing to operate as normal in pursuit of “long-term, sustainable growth.”
Founded in 2017 by former Lyft and Uber executive Travis VanderZanden, Bird is one of numerous startups to introduce dockless micromobility platforms around the world, allowing city-dwellers to pay for short-term access to electric scooters or bikes.
Things didn’t improve, and with its share price continuing to plummet, CEO VanderZanden departed in June with the company eventually delisted from the NYSE in September.
“This announcement represents a significant milestone in Bird’s transformation, which began with the appointment of new leadership early this year,” Washinushi said.
We remain focused on our mission to make cities more liveable by using micromobility to reduce car usage, traffic, and carbon emissions.”
This latest news comes just a day after competitor Micromobility.com was delisted from the Nasdaq over its failing stock price, three years after it too went public via a SPAC merger.
Saved 62% of original text. :::