Woz Raises $150 Million For, Well, Nobody Knows

from the black-box dept

Wed, Mar 15th 2006 11:34am — Joseph Weisenthal

Looking to capitalize on the Apple halo effect, three former company executives, including co-founder Steve Wozniak, took their new company, Acquicor Technology, public yesterday in an IPO raising $150 million. The money they raised is purely based on their reputation, as Acquicor Technology, is officially designated as a "blank-check" company (no, really, it's in their filings), meaning they don't do anything yet and can do whatever they want with investor money. Wozniak seems to have a knack for using his name to raise money before having an established operation (in the case of his last venture Wheels of Zeus, he developed a dog-tracking device based on GPS). So why launch what is basically a public venture capital fund, which will inevitably have the CMGI ick factor? Perhaps because the compensation can work out so much better. The company's S-1 SEC filing reveals that while public investors are paying $6/share, the executives bought in at $.004/share, meaning they've already netted themselves over $30 million based on the size of the offering. Had they launched a $150 million venture capital fund, netting this much in performance fees would have been far harder. What makes the offering more odd is that the executives are very busy with their own projects -- CEO Gilbert Amelio is a partner at a VC firm, while Wozniak remains president of the aforementioned Wheels of Zeus. As the company doesn't have any full-time employees, it's not clear who will be tending to the investors interests. Other than following what investments the inventive Wozniak makes, it will be interesting to see how long he can continue to use his name for fundraising.

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52 Comments

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Don Gray, 15 Mar 2006 @ 12:42pm

Who needs printing presses?
I'm going to start a Wheel Barrow distributorship in these guy's neighborhod...
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- gskrilla, 16 Mar 2006 @ 2:14am
  
  Re: Who needs printing presses?
  HAHAAH good ol Woz, doesnt everyone remeber it's job's thats the business man and Woz makes the stuff!!!
  
  Picture the opposite Job's opening a new business so he can personally make the widgets himself everyone would laugh so i dont know why people arent laughing now!!
  
  Or maybe they are?
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- Evil, 16 Mar 2006 @ 5:54am
  
  Re: Who needs printing presses?
  So Woz can carry his money to the bank?
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- Brett, 16 Mar 2006 @ 6:24am
  
  Re: Who needs printing presses?
  So much depends upon a red wheel barrow,
  Glazed with rain water, beside the white chickens.
  
  It's a real poem, look it up.
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Jon, 15 Mar 2006 @ 1:02pm

Don't belive the hype....
Sounds like Woz is believing his own press.
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:HAn., 15 Mar 2006 @ 1:10pm

Anyone but Gil
Gil Amelio was responsible for nearly destroying Apple before Jobs was wooed back to save the company. Having Gil as a partner sounds like a plan for disaster on Woz's part.
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- Anonymous Coward, 15 Mar 2006 @ 3:11pm
  
  Re: Anyone but Gil
  Better Gil Amelio than John Sculley :-)
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Steve Woz, 15 Mar 2006 @ 1:11pm

I Suck
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Brian Merritt, 15 Mar 2006 @ 1:17pm

The conversation with the bank....
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Brian Merritt, 15 Mar 2006 @ 1:18pm

The conversation with the bank....
Woz: Can we have some capital?
Investor: For what?
Woz: I don't know
Investor: Ok, here's 150M....
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- Renee, 15 Mar 2006 @ 2:35pm
  
  Re: The conversation with the bank....
  ha ha ha, exactly! nothing more be said.
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- Dmitri, 15 Mar 2006 @ 2:36pm
  
  Re: The conversation with the bank....
  Believe it or not but that is exactly how Intel started.
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Anders, 15 Mar 2006 @ 1:42pm

Amelio
Actually, Amelio was largely responsible of many of the initiatives that Jobs took credit for (including the first iMac).
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- The Wildman, 15 Mar 2006 @ 2:20pm
  
  Re: Amelio
  Huh!? Actually, that's not true. Gil was out and Jobs hired Jonathan Ives a couple of months later to design the iMac. Amelio was responsible for nothing except putting Apple deeper down a hole. The only thing positive that Gil did for Apple was to leave the building.
  
  Check here:
  
  http://www.mymac.com/showarticle.php?id=2029
  
  and here:
  
  http://www.macintouch.com/norr021.html
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  - duh, 15 Mar 2006 @ 6:06pm
    
    Re: Re: Amelio
    dude, the article on the second link is like very old
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    - duh, 15 Mar 2006 @ 6:11pm
      
      Re: Re: Re: Amelio
      and wtf, why aren't the comments threaded ;)
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  - Allen Newman, 16 Mar 2006 @ 7:18am
    
    Re: Re: Amelio
    Jonathan Ive certainly was working at Apple before Steve Jobs' return. His influence can be seen in the Amelio-era Power Macintosh G3 All In One as well as the infamously expensive Twentieth Anniversary Macintosh (for which Ive appeared in a promotional video).
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Woz is God, 15 Mar 2006 @ 1:51pm

Woz can do no wrong
I buy Wheels of Zeus products all the time. They're great.
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steve (not woz), 15 Mar 2006 @ 2:23pm

i know steve wozniak
i know him personally and he is one of the nicest guys ive ever met, ive even been to his house. I think that even if this seems shakey he will pull through.
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Lion XL, 15 Mar 2006 @ 2:32pm

Ummm...what?
Ummm...correct me if i'm wrong, but isn't the WOZ one those people who perfected social engineering(ie. hacking (earlisest form))?

Seems like he's at it again, convincing people to do what would otherwise appear foolish.
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- ben, 15 Mar 2006 @ 7:51pm
  
  Re: Ummm...what?
  i thought that was Kevin Mitnick
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  - Lou, 15 Mar 2006 @ 10:54pm
    
    Re: Re: Ummm...what?
    Bahahaha! :D
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Andrew Strasser, 15 Mar 2006 @ 2:36pm

150 million could be used in a lot of good ways.
It could be a good thing you never know. It does seem a bit fishy at first, but there are things that have worked like this in the past for the sole purpose you don't really want to tell your competitors ahead of time what business you're getting into. You don't just get investors. There are reasons why even if they aren't in the open eye.
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Coop, 15 Mar 2006 @ 2:45pm

Maybe Woz and LEO Laporte!
Maybe it's 150 million to built the TwiT e-store to sell hoodies? Either that - or he found another Green laser to buy.
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Mike, 15 Mar 2006 @ 3:42pm

I think Woz is going into ichthyology to add "fricken laser beams" to sharks heads.
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HTK, 15 Mar 2006 @ 3:46pm

What should I do with the money?
I hope they raised it for me. That would be such a nice surprise!
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Nathan Mallamace, 15 Mar 2006 @ 3:48pm

WOZ is an interesting guy. Don't get me wrong, but I think he's a little coo-coo in the John Nash, "Beautiful Mind," real-life guy sortt'a way. He's very generous with his cash from what I've seen of him around town, but very reclusive... this investment doesn't surprise me.

Go Woz, more power to him!

NATHAN
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farlane, 15 Mar 2006 @ 3:54pm

I'm Surprised There Isn't More of This...
I'm not surprised that the Woz could find enough people to throw $150 million at him to buy promising companies. All they are saying is "We think you have more tech savvy than we do - spend our money for us".

Wealth allows risk. All this is is just an updated East India Trading Company.
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Brian, 15 Mar 2006 @ 6:27pm

Its a SPAC
According to Woz in a TWIT podcast (http://twit.tv/40), its a SPAC.

http://www.washingtontechnology.com/news/20_24/federal/27575-1.html

"Special purpose acquisition vehicles, known as SPACs, have started popping up as alternative financing vehicles in the public sector. SPACs are companies that have no operations but that go public with the intention of acquiring a company with the proceeds of an initial public offering. Large institutional investors, such as hedge funds, usually buy shares of SPACs."
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- phlux, 16 Mar 2006 @ 10:04am
  
  Re: Its a SPAC
  It would also be very apparent from the name of the company:
  
  Acquicor Technology
  
  Acquirer of Technology...
  
  /obvious
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CoMagz, 16 Mar 2006 @ 1:09am

This is in fact a VC in disguise
They will acquire companies and use their personal hype to increase the sales and broaden the market for these companies.

They may even bring some synergy into those companies or rebrand their products.

This is actually a holding company / VC. VCs raise this kind of cash all the time so there's no big deal here.
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- Mike (profile), 16 Mar 2006 @ 1:50am
  
  Re: This is in fact a VC in disguise
  This is actually a holding company / VC. VCs raise this kind of cash all the time so there's no big deal here.
  
  No, as the article explained, there is something very different here, and that's the share price differential, basically giving Woz and co a huge profit for no good reason. That's a bit different than your typical holding company or VC raising money.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Sean, 16 Mar 2006 @ 1:36am

Good rep?
Is Woz's reputation really that good? I can't really think of anything big that he's done in a very, very long time. I assumed he's been living off what he made at Apple, cause he doesn't seem to have any real job.
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mkam, 16 Mar 2006 @ 4:38am

He is the one
Woz is starting to believe.

Woz: You telling me that I can dodge bullets?
Oracle: I telling you that when the time comes you wont have too.
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mark, 16 Mar 2006 @ 5:28am

This all proves two old axioms. "A fool and his money are soon parted." and "There's a fool born every minute". That said, it would seem there are many people hoping The Woz et al can pull off another miracle, and come up with something that will make them all wealthier. They have a long way to go to catch up to BG.
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John, 16 Mar 2006 @ 5:48am

Flush sound
That Woz your money - thanks
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John, 16 Mar 2006 @ 6:27am

SPACs
are great investment tools. You buy the unit for $6 in the offering, and your immediate downside is $5.72. I'll take 28 cents of downside for $4 plus of upside any day of the week.
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- Laika, 25 May 2006 @ 9:23am
  
  Re: SPACs by John March 16th Comment
  Could you explain the math as to how one buys a unit/share $6, but that his only downside is $5.72 if the shareholders do not vote for moving ahead with the selected operating company? I had thought that most SPACs were structured so that initial investors would get back at least 80% of their initial investment if the deal was not approved by them. The 20% would be consumed by due diligence fees and expenses. In your example, they would get back 95% of their original investment.
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AC, 16 Mar 2006 @ 7:59am

The Producers
Hasn't anybody seen "The Producers" . . . .
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Tom, 16 Mar 2006 @ 8:34am

Do NOT scoff: you could make money too on this dea
Ever heard of Jamba Juice? It was just purchased by a company similar to Wozniak's (Service Acquisition Corp (SVI) purchased Jamba just this week and the stock is up from $7.48 on March 10 and is now at $10.55 -- that's 41% in less than one week). This type of company is called a SPAC (Special Purpose Acquisition Corporation) (see definition: http://tradingalmanac.blogspot.com/2006/03/triple-hindsight-report-friday-monday.html). In these companies, a management team is formed and then raises $ that they will invest as they see best fit. The management team gets a bunch of cheap stock but must put a few million dollars at risk (they have to support the warrants etc). Also, once they find a company they want to acquire they then have to receive 80% shareholder approval. If shareholders do not approve, all of the money is returned to the investors and the SPAC is dissolved. The management team would receive nothing. So, if you believe in Wozniak, consider getting some cheap shares now.
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- Laika, 25 May 2006 @ 9:27am
  
  Re: Do NOT scoff: you could make money too on this
  I am pretty sure that no SPAC is structured that the investors will be getting back ALL of their money if the deal that the management team brings to the stockholders is voted down. I think they will get most of their money (around 80% or so), but one would have to look at the S-1 to see how it is structured. I just do not know of a SPAC that is structured with a 100% guarantee to the initial IPO investors.
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epobirs, 16 Mar 2006 @ 8:42am

Amelio not House
Amelio was by and large on the right track with Apple but radical surgury was needed and he didn't fit in with the culture, so the crew there would tend to attend meetings with their fingers in their ears and singing, "La la la ..."

Jobs main function was to engage his cult of personality and make it clear that things would either be done his way or death was the only alternative. Anyplace else Jobs could be a disaster but he was the only person who give Apple a serious slap across the face and make it take orders.
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- Richard Mofford, 2 Jan 2009 @ 12:59pm
  
  Re: Amelio not House
  It's an act of God. What people call a coincidence,is really some thing that is ment to be manifested.Would you really like to see a change in this economey an be part of this change to be manifested, if so please contact Richard on his cell 786-586-9900 or email . This program will be a new inovation which will inhence our comunities, bringing in a Lot of new job opportunities,
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
C++ Builder, 16 Mar 2006 @ 9:40am

Coincidence?
Isn't it a coincidence that this amount is exactly what people have quoted as being needed to buy Borland's IDE tools?

Cross platform Borland IDEs would rock!
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Anonymous Coward, 16 Mar 2006 @ 11:12am

Woz simply "sold out"
Why would Woz hook up with the two biggest losers that nearly destroyed Apple Computer until Jobs came to the rescue?

Well, the word on the street street is that Woz is actually running out of money and simply "sold his name" to those idiots in return for a fat fee of a few million.

Anyone that has a clue knows that Woz is a serial-failure as a business person. He has started many companies after Apple but quick name a single one that is still around and actually made any money?

Maybe if he did something like actually invent something new or build some software or hardware instead of just lending his 30-second idea and then getting bored and spending all his time playing segway polo they might actually get something done.
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Anonymous Coward, 16 Mar 2006 @ 4:07pm

Your mom sold out.
For real B.
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nada, 17 Mar 2006 @ 12:06am

Hancock was fired from 3 companies!
The 3rd exec in this SPAC is Ellen Hancock, who was famously fired from IBM after 20 something years, and the IBMers still hate her. Her claim to fame there was telling John Chambers that TCP/IP was a fad and that SNA would rule. Ha! Then she went to Apple as CTO and to National Semi, and was fired from both jobs in less than a year each. Then she took over Exodus Communications and drove it into bankruptcy with ego-driven acquisitions that made no financial sense. Instead of getting laughed out of the valley, she got board seats with EDS, Colgate, and Aetna (short them all!), and now this. Ameilio is 50/50 good/bad. Woz is good branding. But Hancock is a nincompoop.
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Total Farker, 17 Mar 2006 @ 9:10am

My $6
I'm gonna spend $6 on a tasty sammich.

Now go away before I taunt you further.
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gideon, 18 May 2006 @ 9:35am

money
hi what it takes to rise money for this new compay www.businessrec.com. i have a friend that can put $1.000.000 worth of advertising on nation wide t.v if i will be abale to rise $ 1.000.000 for oporation,mean's office aqupment,sales organzation,stuff - web designers,secrituris,and over head.what this site is all about is business directory to go city by city and in the same time to buy small advertising company all over the map. this is our goal and we do need a help.contact Gideon Azari thank you
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Laika, 25 May 2006 @ 9:30am

$6/Share public vs. $.004/Share Executives
"The company's S-1 SEC filing reveals that while public investors are paying $6/share, the executives bought in at $.004/share . . . "

Can you please share the math as to how the executives/management team were able to buy in at $.004/Share?
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Steven Biars, 30 Oct 2006 @ 4:20pm

Woz is an idiot.
Woz is an idiot.. period. If you read his biography, he ripped the design for the first apple pc's from other people, lied his way past HP so he wouldnt have to share his invention, and uses blank check companies to fund his "Segway polo" splurges.

On top of that, you can own $10,000 in Apple stock, buy Apple products, and the fool wont sign an autograph. Jobs is the same way.. but atleast he realizes his time is worth money. Woz just wastes peoples time and money. No wonder he looked like such an idiot on TWiT... he is!
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gadddhh, 4 Feb 2010 @ 7:50pm

hassaa
出会いカフェ北海道出会いカフェ岩手出会いカフェ宮城出会いカフェ秋田� ��会いカフェ
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