Bird Global

Bird was a poster child of the micro-mobility craze, founded in 2017 by Travis VanderZanden, a former Uber and Lyft executive. The company became synonymous with electric scooters littering city sidewalks and went public through a merger with Switchback II Corp in November 2021.

The scooter business model had fundamental problems that the SPAC merger couldn't solve. Scooters suffered from vandalism, theft, and rapid wear — average vehicle lifespans were measured in months, not years. Cities imposed increasingly restrictive regulations, limiting where scooters could operate and how many could be deployed.

Bird burned through cash at a staggering rate, spending on scooter fleets, operations staff, and expansion into new markets. The company projected $800 million in revenue by 2023 but managed only $260 million. A 1-for-30 reverse stock split in late 2023 couldn't save the stock from penny-stock territory.

By December 2023, Bird filed Chapter 11 with just $3.3 million in cash — barely enough to keep the lights on for a week. The assets were sold to existing lenders, and Bird continued operations under new ownership. For investors who bought into the SPAC, the scooters had essentially scooted away with their money.