In a year marked by escalating losses for Canoo, the lavish travel expenses of its CEO took center stage, sparking legal scrutiny and investor concern.
While most electric vehicle (EV) startups are hustling to make their mark, Canoo’s story stands out—not just for its ambitious goals but also for its eye-watering spending on private jets for CEO Tony Aquila. Last year, Canoo spent a whopping $1.7 million on Aquila’s jet-setting lifestyle, an amount that doubled the company’s revenue. Yes, you read that right: its CEO’s flights cost twice as much as the company earned.
This revelation came when Canoo reported a staggering loss of $302 million in 2023. While the company’s bank balance was taking hits, its top executive seemed to be living it up, sparking not just eyebrows to raise but also serious legal scrutiny. A securities and shareholder law firm, Moore Law, is now circling Canoo, investigating the possibility of a class action lawsuit for what appears to be an extravagant misuse of funds.
But what does Canoo do aside from funding luxurious air travel? Launched in 2017 and based out of Texas, Canoo has been working on various commercial vehicles—from passenger to delivery vans for giants like Walmart and even crew transport vehicles for NASA. In a bid to kick its production into high gear, Canoo announced the start of its commercial fleet customer deliveries from its Oklahoma City manufacturing facility, targeting a production rate of 20,000 units.
Adding a bit of good news to their narrative, Canoo shared that the USPS will be adding six of its LDV 190 delivery vans to their fleet, a move aligned with USPS’s $40 billion investment plan to refresh its network. But Canoo’s attempts to stay afloat in the choppy waters of the stock market led them to initiate a 1-for-23 reverse stock split, narrowly avoiding being kicked off NASDAQ. Its stock even saw a bit of sunshine after receiving “Foreign Trade Zone” approval for their Oklahoma facility, where the rugged new EV pickup dubbed American Bulldog was spotted flexing its muscles.
It’s clear Canoo prides itself on its ‘Made in America’ ethos, with over 90% of its parts sourced from the US and its free trade partners. Yet, the shadow of their financial mismanagement looms large, especially after their stock plummeted by as much as 38% in the wake of their earnings report.
In a defensive move, Canoo took to LinkedIn to express disappointment over the negative press, particularly aiming for a Reuters post for linking their financial woes to a slowdown in the consumer EV market. Canoo insisted that it had raised substantial funds over the past two years and was in talks with potential investors. The company focused on the commercial vehicle market, highlighting its manufacturing start, planned production ramp-up, and a backlog of orders.
Canoo is trying to focus on its good projects and not its big spending. But seeing the company’s money troubles next to the CEO’s fancy travel shows a tricky situation. Yet, hopefully, it’s got everything under control, even after going through such bad press.
