Bird is in danger: its electric scooters and bikes could soon disappear

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Bird engages with Vision Zero, a global movement aimed at making mobility safer, healthier and more equitable for all road users. Bird scooters reduce the need for cars, sensitize transport alternatives and encourage cities to invest in safety infrastructure that benefits everyone.

Bird is in danger: its electric scooters and bikes could soon disappear

The former Californian unicorn Bird faces great financial difficulties, so much so that its activities could be stopped in the next twelve months if the situation does not improve. Its electric scooters and bikes available in self-service could then disappear from traffic.

Is this the start of the end for Bird ? The Californian start-up launched in September 2017 and crowned Unicorn-company valued $ 1 billion-from the following year is currently going through a delicate period. So much so that its very existence is today in danger, alerts an article in the Financial Times.

Monday, November 21, Bird expressed doubts about his ability to maintain his activity next year if she cannot straighten the bar of her finances. The company specifies its point:

If Bird is not able to raise new funds or generate essential money back to extending its operations and innovating, then it may not be able to compete with competition. It could also reduce or interrupt some, even all its activities in order to minimize its costs, or call on the bankruptcy law.

The situation deteriorated strongly on November 11, when Bird said he had overestimated his revenues of $ 31.6 million between the first quarter of 2020 and the second quarter of 202222. The fault of unpaid journeys by many customers. Consequences: since November 11, the course of its shares have tightened, as is its market valuation.

Losses that accumulate

Before that, other alarming events have accumulated. The group has dismissed 23 % of its workforce, stopped its sales activity and received a warning from the largest in the world scholarships, the New York Stock Exchange, for its results deemed too fair. The company has also withdrawn from several markets, from Germany to Sweden via Norway and several American cities.

All of these actions undoubtedly had an impact on its income from the first nine months of the year, which increased by 24 %, or 175 million dollars. An increase that does not avoid heavy net losses, which amount to $ 322.2 million, specifies the Financial Times. Let us add that in September 2022, Bird only had $ 38.5 million in liquidity. Without external help and at that rate, the balance sheet could be filed within the next twelve months, has implied the brand.

For a former Bird employee, the problem also comes from elsewhere. According to him, ” Bird grew too quickly and embarked on too many cities before finding a viable economic model. The company was losing money with each race. So the more the group was established in cities and the more the number of journeys increased, the more society lost money “Explains the interested party in the across the Atlantic.

In France, Bird has experienced ups and downs. In July 2020, the micromomability company did not win the call for tenders for the town hall of Paris-for the benefit of Dott, third and lime-to continue to exploit its fleet of electric self-service scratches. It was the cold shower, the French capital being considered one of the world’s largest markets.

A return to Paris

Bird then developed in other agglomerations in the country – it was located in 23 cities in May 2022 – before making a comeback in the Light City last spring … with a fleet of electric bikes. The idea of ​​this project: better link the suburb and intramural Paris.

The Californian group seems in any case in danger with regard to its financial situation and the evolution of its activity. The coming months will have to be crucial for one of the pioneers in terms of self-service electric scooters. His disappearance would be a little thunder in the sector.

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BIRD – Electric mobility