‘The last time wasn’t a success by any means’

The so-called SPAC king, who created a dozen special-purpose acquisition companies that ultimately lost investors billions of dollars, says he’s probably getting back in the business.

Chamath Palihapitiya, a venture capitalist and co-host of the popular podcast “All-In,” responded to a social-media poll with more than 50,000 responses whose result overwhelmingly indicated he should not launch another SPAC by saying he’ll ignore that finding.

Saying he received calls from many Wall Street and crypto “titans” indicating that they wanted him to launch a SPAC, he declared on the social-media platform X: “I will probably do it.”

Special-purpose acquisition companies are publicly traded shell companies formed with the purpose of acquiring or merging with a private company to take it public. It’s a way to sidestep the expenses and regulatory work of going public through a traditional initial public offering. They are also called blank-check companies.

Palihapitiya was not deterred, in the slightest, by his previous performance. “Maybe this time it will go better? Who knows. The risks are clear, though. The last time wasn’t a success by any means,” he said.

Data compiled by MarketWatch, using FactSet figures, underscore that. None of his SPACs outperformed the S&P 500 SPX since their first day of trade, and most have struggled or outright failed.

Two of his best-performing SPACs were the ones where Palihapitiya could not find a merger partner, so he returned the $10 per share to investors.