A scooter would have lost $ 100 million in three months and would need more capital to stay afloat / Boing Boing

Bird Scooter is really the uber of scooters: largely overcapitalized, enormously overrated, unable to make a profit … never.

According to a report in L & # 39; informationBird lost $ 100 million in the first quarter of 2019 (the company denies it); and is now seeking an additional $ 300 million in investment capital. (Xeni wrote about it on Thursday)

Bird's business model (as it is) involves flooding cities with unlicensed, illegal, dangerous (really dangerous) electric scooters that block sidewalks and hinder wheelchairs, strollers and traffic. pedestrian. The scooters themselves are so fragile that they tend to use them before Bird can reach his purchase price. That's why Bird does not pay to retrieve his seized scooters in an urban property. Unfortunately for Bird, this means that people who are looking for a cheap scooter can buy one for dollars in cash at an auction in the city, then exchange their own control unit cheaply (this fact is so painful for Bird that he threatened to sue me unsuccessfully attempt to censor my reporting on this).

There is no chance that it will be profitable, not even by paying starvation wages to the workers of the big economy who walk around without stopping, bringing the scooters back to their charging stations.

Bird has already raised $ 718,000,000 from investors. If The Information's report is true, the company has practically benefited, which means that the auctioneers may soon be able to grant you an exceptional contract on a Xiaomi Mi electric scooter.

The information also revealed that Bird had lost $ 100 million in the first quarter of 2019, his business turnover having declined to $ 15 million over the same period. According to the report, there remained about $ 100 million in cash to the company despite recent capital increases.

A spokesman for Bird declined to comment, but said the loss of $ 100 million, as reported by the Information, is incorrect. The company refused to share any additional financial information regarding its burn rate.

One of the biggest scooter companies that invades cities around the world would have lost $ 100 million in three months – and wants to raise even more money
[Graham Rapier/Business Insider]

(Thank you, Fipi Lele!)

(Picture: Hackaday)

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