Boxed (NASDAQ:BOXD), an online grocery company, filed for bankruptcy just 15 months after going public in a special acquisition company (SPAC) deal. The NYSE halted trading of BOXD stock shortly before the market opened this morning.
Before the halt, BOXD stock has been trading at 19 cents per share, with a market capitalization of $14 million.
The original deal raised about $198 million. The stock traded for as much as $13.70/share in late 2021.
The SPAC Boom Busts
When it first came public, Boxed talked about monetizing its Spresso software platform as a service, touting a “partnership” with Alphabet’s (NASDAQ:GOOG, NASDAQ:GOOGL) Google and citing Aeon of Malaysia as its first customer. Boxed still hopes to sell Spresso to its first lien lenders.
The bankruptcy comes just weeks after Boxed managers admitted they were holding most of their liquid assets at the now-failed Silicon Valley Bank (SVB). SVB assets were bought by First Citizens (NASDAQ:FCNCA) of North Carolina last week, costing the government deposit insurance program about $20 billion.
By February, at least eight companies funded by SPACs had gone bust this year. The trend shows no signs of ending. Virgin Orbit (NASDAQ:VORB) announced over the weekend it was ceasing operations after its effort to launch satellites from a space plane failed.
The SPAC boom was born in the late 2010s, as companies that couldn’t pay the cost of going public through a broker jumped the queue by merging with “blank check” companies that were nothing but piles of cash. I called this “stupid money” and compared Chamath Palihapitiya, its public face, to the fictional con man Prof. Harold Hill in The Music Man. Palihapitiya has since renounced the movement and blamed the Federal Reserve for its excesses.
BOXD Stock: What Happens Next?
Expect more bankruptcies as the SPAC boom winds down. SoFi Technologies (NASDAQ:SOFI), the bank and brokerage that may have been the strongest company to emerge from the boom, still sells for well below its initial public offering (IPO) price.
On the date of publication, Dana Blankenhorn held a long position in SOFI. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
