[MikeQBF]

Collected news about the soon-to-fail Canoo...

Four weeks ago it was announced that Canoo is suing several former execs over appropriation of trade secrets in their new roles with Harbinger, another EV startup trying their luck in the medium-sized delivery van market. (Commentary: Canoo's medium-small van prototype was quite interesting when I saw it at their promo/expo a few months ago. Apparently these execs confirmed my feelings that after the Wal-Mart deal for the small van was announced, the medium van project was dead in the water.)

Yesterday it was revealed that eight more execs have left the company. (Ho hum, they continue to bleed talent. Aquila and Sheeran must be loads of fun to work for. I've met both; Aquila is full of it, "it" being himself, and with zero experience in the automotive industry Sheeran is way out of her league.)

But wait, there's more...

Canoo's promise to deliver 15 small vans (on the "Lifestyle" platform) to Wal-Mart by the end of 2022 went unfulfilled. Supplier issues, supposedly. This might have something to do with it...

They do not have enough cash on hand to pay bills, i.e., their suppliers. Whatever happened to that $35M (IIRC) that Tony said was "ready and waiting"?

I'm hanging on to my 3000+ shares only because at this moment it is near-worthless and it would do little good to dump it. OTOH, I think the R&D for the small van has real value and if (when) they go belly-up, somebody is going to pick-up the investment to date and the standing orders and reservations and run with them. So IMO the concept and engineering is not dead, it just needs new top management that doesn't p--- off everybody that reports to him or her.

 

[Froggy]

People seldom quit jobs, they quit bosses if possible.

 

[PANZERidIV]

Sounds like this Canoo is up a creek without a paddle.

 

[MikeQBF]

Kayak kayak kayak.

 

[PANZERidIV]

Kayak kayak kayak.

Are they representing the “three K’s?” 🤣

Sounds to me like one of the many EV companies that have not or are not going to make it. But I’ll take some of those millions of dollars if they haven’t spent every last one yet…

 

[MikeQBF]

What bugs me is they have poured millions into production facilities. They were (are?) trying to gear-up for the production they think they've promised, but to have nothing to show for it beyond about a dozen hand-built "gamma" test beds leaves me scratching my head. I think I read (or was told) a while back that they had an inventory of partially-built "skateboards" - their power chassis - but they had stopped production of those since they were outstripping their supply channels for battery modules to finish them.

IOW, they're a fair piece into building an EV manufacturing business. So my feeling is there's going to be something resembling a white-knight takeover (Apple was discussed at one point) to finish the integration. Maybe we'll see units in 2025? Who knows.

 

[PANZERidIV]

If I had the money I might buy up all of the failing EV manufacturers just to see if there is engineering worth taking.

 

[NeutronJack]

This is just a thinly-veiled attempt to prevent former employees from working at a competing company. You'd think the execs at Canoo would have read the articles about FTC trying to ban all non-compete clauses in employment contracts.

 

[MikeQBF]

Interesting update this morning. Canoo just registered a $52M stock offering at a discounted per-share price to certain negotiated institutional investors. The bad news is it made the current share price drop by 13%, nearly matching the discounted price. The good news is three-fold: 1) they now have $52M in the bank to pay off creditors and possibly finish production line build-out; 2) there is apparently enough interest in the investor community to keep them afloat; and 3) #1 and #2, if successful and they start shipping units, means that the overall share price should skyrocket.

So the conjecture of their demise may be a little premature. Fingers crossed!

 

[Mike Bouck]

Collected news about the soon-to-fail Canoo...

Four weeks ago it was announced that Canoo is suing several former execs over appropriation of trade secrets in their new roles with Harbinger, another EV startup trying their luck in the medium-sized delivery van market. (Commentary: Canoo's medium-small van prototype was quite interesting when I saw it at their promo/expo a few months ago. Apparently these execs confirmed my feelings that after the Wal-Mart deal for the small van was announced, the medium van project was dead in the water.)

Yesterday it was revealed that eight more execs have left the company. (Ho hum, they continue to bleed talent. Aquila and Sheeran must be loads of fun to work for. I've met both; Aquila is full of it, "it" being himself, and with zero experience in the automotive industry Sheeran is way out of her league.)

But wait, there's more...

Canoo's promise to deliver 15 small vans (on the "Lifestyle" platform) to Wal-Mart by the end of 2022 went unfulfilled. Supplier issues, supposedly. This might have something to do with it...

They do not have enough cash on hand to pay bills, i.e., their suppliers. Whatever happened to that $35M (IIRC) that Tony said was "ready and waiting"?

I'm hanging on to my 3000+ shares only because at this moment it is near-worthless and it would do little good to dump it. OTOH, I think the R&D for the small van has real value and if (when) they go belly-up, somebody is going to pick-up the investment to date and the standing orders and reservations and run with them. So IMO the concept and engineering is not dead, it just needs new top management that doesn't p--- off everybody that reports to him or her.

I used to work for Audatex/Solera (auto casualty software) when Aquila was President of the company. The guy is a tool and a total prick. A salesman in a former life - he talks a good game and I'm continually surprised he continues to snow investors over. When I learned he was the new President of Canoo I just thought "oh no". 😂

 

[MikeQBF]

Thanks for the confirmation! I talked with Tony for maybe 30 seconds and watched him give a couple of impromptu presentations at the Tulsa display and was left with the exact impression you related. Body language said a lot, too.

Now I'm trying to understand where Sheeran figures in the whole scheme. Seemed like a reasonable person in our short chat, but like I said has zero relevant experience. Her expertise is in international diplomacy. Girlfriend? Oh crap. Did I actually say that?

 

[Mike Bouck]

Thanks for the confirmation! I talked with Tony for maybe 30 seconds and watched him give a couple of impromptu presentations at the Tulsa display and was left with the exact impression you related. Body language said a lot, too.

Now I'm trying to understand where Sheeran figures in the whole scheme. Seemed like a reasonable person in our short chat, but like I said has zero relevant experience. Her expertise is in international diplomacy. Girlfriend? Oh crap. Did I actually say that?

You might not be far off! 😂

 

[MikeQBF]

Yesterday, Canoo shares broke the $1 floor. So they're now officially a "penny stock". If they can't pull themselves out of the basement within a certain amount of time (I forget the threshold), they're going to find that they're delisted from NASDAQ.

Definitely not good. Penny stocks and the exchanges that trade them are watched closely by the SEC and the FBI for signs of fraud. I'm really curious now who is underwriting last week's $52M offering. The SEC filing (S-3) per Canoo's press release was supposed to happen this past Wednesday, so maybe there's something in there that reveals who "the usual suspects" are.

As to Josette Sheeran, I read her CV on Wikipedia this week. Very impressive... and not a single mention of or even a hint of her involvement with Canoo. I can't imagine somebody with her background took on this apparent basket case as a hobby. Something is fishy.

EDIT: The recent offering appears to be held solely by The Vanguard Group. They're a giant in the mutual funds marketplace. So somebody there must think Canoo still has something to offer. We'll see.

 

[MikeQBF]

I should have named this thread "Canoo Springs a Bigger Leak".

Buh dump dump.