RSS
Twitter
Woz Raises $150 Million For, Well, Nobody Knows
from the black-box dept
Looking to capitalize on the Apple halo effect, three former company executives, including co-founder Steve Wozniak, took their new company, Acquicor Technology, public yesterday in an IPO raising $150 million. The money they raised is purely based on their reputation, as Acquicor Technology, is officially designated as a "blank-check" company (no, really, it's in their filings), meaning they don't do anything yet and can do whatever they want with investor money. Wozniak seems to have a knack for using his name to raise money before having an established operation (in the case of his last venture Wheels of Zeus, he developed a dog-tracking device based on GPS). So why launch what is basically a public venture capital fund, which will inevitably have the CMGI ick factor? Perhaps because the compensation can work out so much better. The company's S-1 SEC filing reveals that while public investors are paying $6/share, the executives bought in at $.004/share, meaning they've already netted themselves over $30 million based on the size of the offering. Had they launched a $150 million venture capital fund, netting this much in performance fees would have been far harder. What makes the offering more odd is that the executives are very busy with their own projects -- CEO Gilbert Amelio is a partner at a VC firm, while Wozniak remains president of the aforementioned Wheels of Zeus. As the company doesn't have any full-time employees, it's not clear who will be tending to the investors interests. Other than following what investments the inventive Wozniak makes, it will be interesting to see how long he can continue to use his name for fundraising.
Reader Comments (rss)
Do NOT scoff: you could make money too on this dea
Ever heard of Jamba Juice? It was just purchased by a company similar to Wozniak's (Service Acquisition Corp (SVI) purchased Jamba just this week and the stock is up from $7.48 on March 10 and is now at $10.55 -- that's 41% in less than one week). This type of company is called a SPAC (Special Purpose Acquisition Corporation) (see definition: http://tradingalmanac.blogspot.com/2006/03/triple-hindsight-report-friday-monday.html). In these companies, a management team is formed and then raises $ that they will invest as they see best fit. The management team gets a bunch of cheap stock but must put a few million dollars at risk (they have to support the warrants etc). Also, once they find a company they want to acquire they then have to receive 80% shareholder approval. If shareholders do not approve, all of the money is returned to the investors and the SPAC is dissolved. The management team would receive nothing. So, if you believe in Wozniak, consider getting some cheap shares now.
Add Your Comment