Electric scooter startup has been exaggerating its revenue for more than two years

Just hours after claiming they had exaggerated revenue for more than two years with unpaid passenger rides, Bird issued a concern alert. In a regulatory filing, the company expressed concern that they would need to scale back or stop certain or all of its operations in order to minimise expenses or seek bankruptcy protection. 

Bird ended the third quarter with $38.5 million in free cash flow. The company asserted that without further funding they wouldn’t be able to carry out their obligations in the next year. If Bird receives more stock or debt financing, they may be impacted by the current market volatility which Bird lists as factors beyond their control. 

Their third quarter increased by 19% to $72.9 million from $61.1 million in the same quarter last year, the day after admitting that it had previously overstated their sales and that the financial statements for the previous two years should no longer be relied on, they also disclosed a rise in revenue.

Bird has been having trouble ever since they went public in 2021. Bird had closed its retail branch, laid off 23% of its workers, received a warning from the New York Stock Exchange for trading at an unreasonable low level, and abandoned ‘several dozen’ markets in the US in addition to Germany, Sweden and Norway. Shane Torchiana had replaced Travis VanderZanden as president and CEO of Bird. 

This year, not all of SPACs have issued going concern warnings, Arrival and Canoo both said that they might lack the funds to bring their electric vehicles. The firm closed their quarter with $9.8 million net loss compared to a net loss of $42.1 million in the prior year.