What’s the difference between an Evangelical and a canoe? Canoes tip!
I guess the same goes for the car company Canoo – the fledgling EV automobile startup that Kevin Stitt and the Oklahoma government lavished with a boatload of subsidies based on the whimsical, far-off, very distant chance the company could actually grow into a legit automaker.
That pipe dream hasn’t just tipped over onto its side; it appears to be sinking fast.
Via something called OK Energy Today:
Another warning that it might fail sent Canoo stock plunging nearly 27% on Friday. It came in the form of a blunt warning from company leadership….failure might be close at hand.
“Our management has performed an analysis of our ability to continue as a going concern and has identified substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern. If we are unable to obtain sufficient additional funding or do not have access to capital, we may be required to terminate or significantly curtail our operations.”
That’s about as blunt a warning as one can declare. And it was more than enough to send Canoo shares tumbling 27.34% or 21 cents to close Friday at 55 cents.
Seriously? Can Stitt, the State Chamber, and the rest of Oklahoma's grifter squad not get anything right? I thought the whole point of corporate welfare and crony capitalism was that the government gets to pick winners and losers. Yet here we are—our tax dollars propping up a loser EV penny stock that doesn't even have the cash available to pay Renzi Stone and Tim Heskett!
Via KOKH:
Electric vehicle company Canoo is being sued by an Oklahoma communications agency for breach of contract.
The lawsuit states that Canoo hired Saxum for media and strategic communication services on Aug. 10, 2023.
The agreement stated that Canoo would pay $5,000 a month.
However, "Canoo failed to submit the required monthly and special payments invoiced by Saxum" according to the lawsuit.
Oh well, maybe things aren’t that bad.
The whole EV industry is a highly leveraged game with various startups battling to be the Chrysler to Tesla’s Ford. Canoo has the management team intact to turn this around, right?
Well, maybe not:
EV startup Canoo has lost its chief financial officer and its head lawyer, the latest in a string of executive departures as the company continues to struggle to find mass adoption of its electric work vans.
CFO Greg Ethridge and general counsel Hector Ruiz both resigned from Canoo on October 31, the company announced Tuesday in a regulatory filing. Ethridge and Ruiz did not respond to requests for comment.
Canoo also announced it has furloughed 30 workers in Oklahoma for 12 weeks “as part of a broader realignment of its North American operations.”
Yep, Canoo’s leaders are fleeing the company before it’s torn apart in capitalistic rapids, while our state and its moronic investment in the company are up shit creek without a paddle.
It makes you wonder—what if, instead of betting on a penny stock like its the Powerball lottery, our state leaders set up a real small business fund to support homegrown entrepreneurs who actually stand a chance of succeeding? But no, here we are – stuck propping up an EV startup that can't even keep its CFO and head lawyer from jumping ship.
Anyway, we live in a strange world where reality-show businessmen can be elected president of the United States twice, so who knows—maybe Canoo can turn this thing around. Sure, I’ll believe that when, from atop the country’s tallest skyscraper, I see a family of four hopping in their Canoo van to check out the new Great American Amusement Park in Pryor. But hey, anything’s possible.
Stay with The Lost Ogle. We’ll keep you advised.
