Chamath Palihapitiya’s ‘Super Tough Week’
Summary
One of the most prominent names in SPACs, Chamath Palihapitiya, faced backlash last week after regulatory filings showed that he had sold his entire personal stake in Virgin Galactic, which he took public through a blank-check fund. The news — coming as shares of many SPACs, as well as Virgin Galactic’s, tumbled amid a broader market decline — added to concerns about a blank-check bubble. After describing what he called a “super tough week,” he tweeted: “I re-questioned my goals and concluded my strategic view is still right.” He added that he had sold his Virgin Galactic shares to free up capital to keep investing in companies that address inequality and climate change, themes he said were “a once in a lifetime opportunity.” (He previously told Reuters that he would put the proceeds from the stock sale toward a “large investment” focused on fighting climate change, the details of which “will be made public in the next few months.”) But the move still raises concerns. • None His reputation, and those of other SPAC sponsors, are particularly important, given that potential investors are asked to accept lofty projections as part of these deals. In other SPAC news: The Bitcoin mining company Cipher and the crowd-safety tech provider Evolv agreed to go public by merging with blank-check funds, while the self-driving trucking start-up Plus is reportedly in talks to combine with one.