A crowdfunded effort to buy the defunct Spirit Airlines, which abruptly grounded its planes and shut its doors early May 2, has reopened after crashing amid a flood of interest.
Pledged contributions are up to $132 million, as of the morning of May 6, toward a target of $1.75 billion. More than 130,000 people have promised to buy in, according to stats listed at letsbuyspiritair.com, with an average pledge of $989.
No money is being accepted from the public for the attempted Spirit co-op, only pledges, Hunter Peterson — “Spirit 2.0” founder, video game voice actor and TikTok content creator — has consistently stressed. However, he said in a video posted Tuesday that he welcomes “high net worth individuals” who want to “burn money” to help him navigate the legalities of buying a bankrupt airline. He’s also hoping for angel investors to help him buy Spirit’s operational certificate, which he said goes on auction within a week.
But as he said in an Instagram video Tuesday evening, scammers are already circling.
“If you see the domains ‘letsbuyspirit’ or ‘legtsbuyspioritair.org,’ not dot com, those are scammers,” he said. “They are trying to take money. They are not associated with me. I don’t own those.”
“Do what’s right!” he added to potential scammers. “Return the money!”
Spirit’s departure leaves a major gap in ultra-low-cost traveler options, although airlines such as JetBlue, Southwest, and Breeze are adding Spirit routes to their own networks.
The actor and former Mr. Beast employee who previously went viral for his video about flying Spirit Airlines for 24 hours in a row said he’d dreamed of running an airline since he was 7 years old.
‘Spirit 2.0’ gets flight attendant union support
In another video Tuesday, Peterson said he’d received support from the Spirit Flight Attendants Union and their international union. He added a link to support Spirit flight attendants to the Spirit 2.0 site and social media bios.
“Please help them,” he said, “because a lot of people are struggling right now, and they’re really in need of your help while we try and figure out how we’re going to buy Spirit, because we’re gonna do it, one way or another! You, me, the 5,500 flight attendants of Spirit are now behind us, so let’s do this!”
He directed anyone interested in helping to Spirit Flight Attendant Resources, at afacwa.org/spirit_resources.
More than 4,000 Spirit employees were left unemployed in Florida as the airline shut down all of its operational facilities in the state.
How much would it cost to buy Spirit? Did Ken Griffin’s company kill the deal?
Spirit was negotiating with the U.S. government for a $500 million bailout to keep going, in exchange for a 90% stake in the company and an agreement to use Spirit’s excess capacity to move troops and cargo for the Pentagon in the Middle East. According to 247WallSt.com, two of Spirit’s major bondholders, Ken Griffin’s Citadel and Ares Management Corp., were on the call that rejected the deal.
The creditors could still retain some assets from a liquidated Spirit, but not as much if the federal government held equity in the company, 24/7 Wall St. reported.
In February, a Louisiana-based investment group that was considering capitalizing the airline said it would take about $1 billion of new equity to keep it in the air.
There are multiple other steps required to take over and maintain an airline, including getting a Federal Aviation Administration Air Operator’s Certificate, a time-consuming and expensive process. Peterson said he was hoping to raise angel investor cash to buy it at auction when it comes up.
How would Spirit 2.0 work?
Although he joked in his first video about making a Venmo, Peterson said he was only collecting nonbinding pledges and not accepting any money.
Anyone making a pledge would get one vote in the new airline, he said in a Sunday video, regardless of how much they contributed. Dividends would be paid proportionally to a person’s pledge. While he distrusted outside investors, he admitted the project would need them.
The site lists other companies that work under co-op models, such as REI, Ocean Spray, Land O’Lakes, and the Green Bay Packers.
C. A. Bridges is a journalist for the USA TODAY Network-Florida’s service journalism Connect team. You can get all of Florida’s best content directly in your inbox each weekday day by signing up for the free newsletter, Florida TODAY.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Pledges to buy Spirit Airlines surge, but scammers are circling
Reporting by C. A. Bridges, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida / Palm Beach Post
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
