SPAC tycoon Chamas Paliha Pittia set up a collapse?

When the huge wave of SPAC swept the global capital market, Chamath Palihapitiya, who was the last wave of the investment circle, was deified in the operation of this wave of SPAC, and even Masayoshi Son of Softbank had to give up C.

Chamas, a venture capitalist, took the lead in whitewashing the SPAC operation that was originally sold by diss as a sheep's head, and turned it into IPO 2., which quickly listed a good company. Last year, he registered five SPAC, raised $3.7 billion, and quickly helped three technology companies to list on the backdoor, namely Virgin Galactic, an insurance technology company Clover Health Investments, and OpenDoor Technologies, an online real estate trading platform. At the beginning of 221, he announced that he would set up seven more SPAC, and recently announced that he would soon acquire Fintech's SoFi.

As we all know, it was all the sponsors who brushed their faces to get a shell company listed and complete the target financing plan. Because the company itself has zero business and zero assets, there is no story to tell. Chamas saved 12 SPAC in one breath, and it is said that each one is oversold. What did he rely on?

Chamas, of course, is a successful billionaire, one of the early Facebook executives, and later became a VC. He was an early investor in star listed companies such as Slack, Palantir. But most importantly, like Tesla's Musk, Chamas is a business online celebrity, who is always silent and has 1.2 million followers on Twitter. He is a bit like Trump. He is in the elite class, but he openly fires at the elite in various interviews and social media. He is sharp+sharp and merciless; In addition, he immigrated to Canada from Sri Lanka with his parents since he was a child, and the whole family lived on subsistence allowances. Therefore, it is not surprising that he has the legendary aura of a millionaire who walked out of the slums and accumulated a mass base.

People who have heard Chamas's past remarks, like me, are surrounded by his unruly chivalrous image, but they can't help wondering how such a person who dares to tell the truth can still have friends in his circle.

He publicly criticized his old club Facebook, saying that "social media has torn apart the normal social system and is a blood-sucking machine that exploits the vulnerability of netizens".

He criticized VC in Silicon Valley, saying that they were a Ponzi scheme to make money by constantly boasting about the valuation of big companies.

He openly opposed the government's aid to airlines hit hard by the epidemic, saying that if it didn't, it would only make hedge fund managers cut their holiday budgets. "Who cares!" .

When GME retail investors fought Wall Street a while ago, he also jumped out to support retail investors. He not only bought GME call options in person, but also took the lead in tearing up Robinhood, an electronic brokerage firm that suspended retail investors from buying GME in the fierce battle between long and short positions, saying that its management was "scum, all of whom should go to jail!"

He is also an opinion leader who is bullish on Bitcoin. He once tweeted: "If Bitcoin rises to $1,, I will buy GoldmanSachs and change its name to Chamathman Sachs."

is chamas really a clear stream in the investment crocodile world?

Last week, according to the documents disclosed by Virgin Galactic Company according to the regulatory requirements, Chamas has cleared all his personal shares in this company. This is the first company he sent to the public through SPAC merger and acquisition last year. Although Chamas will still indirectly hold Virgin Galactic shares through the investment fund he manages and continue to serve as the chairman of the board of directors, as soon as this news broke out, Virgin Galactic's share price plummeted by 1% in an instant, and the market's concern about the bubble of SPAC, a blank check company, also deepened greatly.

In the face of criticism and doubt, Chamas defended his actions on Twitter. He described last week's stock market performance as a "very difficult week". "I re-examined my goals and came to the conclusion that my strategy was right." He said that the sale of Virgin Galactic is to understand how to release more capital to invest in companies that are committed to solving social problems such as social injustice and climate change. "This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. You can also get hundreds of billions of benefits from doing things that are positive to the world. "He also warned fans that the current market is in a wide range of shocks. If you feel too worried, don't hesitate to adjust your position quickly.

But his reduction still caused great controversy. On Monday, The New York Times issued a document questioning how much commitment and belief Chamas and all SPAC sponsors have in the companies they send to the public with blank check funds, whether in financial or other aspects. Do other investors fully understand the potential risks of these companies that have not been fully demonstrated by traditional IPO procedures?

Many retail investors in Virgin Galactic are Twitter fans of Chamas. When they bought this stock, they simply trusted Chamas's judgment on the company's long-term development prospects.

In 219, Virgin Galactic's investor report predicted that its revenue would reach $31 million in 22 and $21 million in 221. However, last month, the company's executives issued an early warning on the revenue in 22, acknowledging that the company did not "generate considerable income" last year.

In the eyes of retail investors, Chamas seems to have been the leader who led them to fight against the elite and the establishment. As everyone knows, Chamas, who cursed hedge funds in public, is talking and laughing with hedge funds in private. Just before new york was closed due to the epidemic last year, Chamas was still arranging dinners and parties, actively entertaining hedge fund managers and promoting his SPAC plan. After all, SPAC's main institutional investors are hedge funds that he cursed.

It remains to be seen whether Chamas is really a value investor with a sense of social responsibility, as his Twitter profile suggests. But he is definitely an excellent actor. He seems to have reached some kind of tacit understanding with Wall Street. In the media, he stood on the opposite side of the elite, playing a fighter against the rich, circling retail investors and becoming a big V. In private, he and echo each other, a hedge fund, saved up one SPAC chess game after another to attract retail investors to take over, and lost no time to reap leeks and leave at a profit.

Perhaps, as he himself said, it is too easy to confuse "online celebrity's opinion" with truth in this era. Smart as he is, he sees through this essence and doesn't profit from it. Do you believe it?

I don't believe it anyway.