Impatient investors, tough competition, a weakening economy – for the scooter rental company Bird things haven’t been going well lately. That in the United States resident company issued its withdrawal due to bad deals Germany, Sweden and Norway known. In addition, it will reduce its offer in another dozen regions of the world.
Now Bird is shocking with the news that it has overstated its sales for two years. The reason: the scooter rental company booked unpaid trips as income, the specialist magazines report “tech crunch”
and “The Verges”
identical.
According to the reports, Bird told the Securities and Exchange Commission that the company’s financial statements for the first quarter of 2020 through the second quarter of 2022 “should no longer be trusted.” Because of the irregularities discovered, Bird will submit the report for the past third quarter at a later date.
Bird explains false bookings
Bird noticed the “phantom income” when examining the annual accounts for 2020 and 2021. It turned out that the micro-mobility company had booked pre-loaded customer credits as revenue after completing certain journeys. “The Verge” quotes the company as saying that these proceeds “should not have been posted”. The company’s control procedures are not sufficient, Bird admitted and assured that the financial reports would be corrected and the deficiencies rectified as quickly as possible.
Founded in 2017, Bird is considered a pioneer of micro-mobility and a driving force behind the scooter-sharing boom in recent years. Bird is the only e-scooter rental company to be listed on the stock exchange. The company entered the trading floor in 2021 as part of a Spac deal. At the time, Bird was valued at around $2.3 billion, and the stock climbed to nine dollars at its peak.
Shortly thereafter, the paper crashed dramatically and has become a penny stock at around 36 US cents. According to reports last October, Bird is threatened with forced delisting if the price does not sustainably rise to one dollar.
In August, Bird reported that it slightly missed revenue estimates for the second quarter, posting a net loss of about $310 million on revenue of just under $77 million. According to the latest news, however, this information is likely to be waste.
Bird’s crisis has been dragging on for some time. The scooter rental company had already tried last summer to meet the high costs with tough austerity measures. 140 employees and thus almost a quarter of the workforce had to leave the company. A little later, founder Travis VanderZanden stepped down from the helm and was replaced by Shane Torchiana. Also competitors like Tier or Voi had had to cut jobs in the summer.