Dive Brief:

• Electric scooter company Bird Global appointed Joseph Prodan as its CFO in its latest move following a series of recent C-suite shakeups, according to a recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
• Prodan’s appointment as CFO was effective Aug. 30, according to the filing. He succeeds Michael Washinushi, following Washinush’s appointment as the company’s interim CEO, Bird said Monday in a press release.
• Prodan’s appointment is only the latest executive leadership shift for the Miami, Florida-based electric scooter company, which is contemplating bankruptcy in the face of liquidity issues, plummeting stock and high cash burn.

Dive Insight:

Before joining the electric scooter company, Prodan served as corporate director and head of the audit committee for cash processing SaaS provider NamSys Inc., according to his LinkedIn profile, and also logged a year-long stint as CFO for buy now, pay later provider Flexiti.

As CFO for Bird Global, Prodan will receive an annual base salary of $350,000, pro-rated for any partial year of employment, according to the company filing. For the calendar years 2023 and 2024, he is also eligible to receive both annual and quarterly cash performance bonuses based on goals for net revenue, adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow. For a single calendar year, the maximum bonus amount for which Prodan is eligible totals $168,735 for 2023 and $246,084 for 2024.

Prodan is taking on the company’s financial leadership as it struggles to avoid a potential bankruptcy. The company has struggled to sustain both steady growth and ridership since going public via a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, deal in November 2021, and undertook several steps to trim its financial fat last year, including exiting several unprofitable markets including Germany and Norway, the shuttering of its retail scooter offering and the layoff of 23% of company staff.

Despite these measures Bird reported a net loss of $44.3 million for its first fiscal quarter ended March 31, with quarterly revenue of $29.5 million, according to a May earnings release. The company included a “going concern” warning about its ability to continue operations in its first quarter earnings, according to a company filing, noting that factors including reoccurring losses and negative cash flow had raised “serious doubts” about its ability to continue. Bird reported $12.8 million in unrestricted cash and cash equivalents as of March 31.

As well as cost-cutting measures, the e-scooter company has also made changes to its board and C-suite lineup in recent months: In June, Bird’s chairperson of the board, Travis VanderZanden, resigned from his position as chair as well as a member of the board, according to a company filing.

Just a few months later — and only weeks before Prodan assumed the CFO seat — the company announced its board of directors had terminated Shane Torchiana as its CEO, according to an Aug. 9 company filing. The company appointed Washinushi, who had served as its CFO since January, interim CEO effective immediately, with Washinushi to continue to serve as CFO during his time as the interim chief.

Pursuant to his separation agreement, Torchiana — who will also be providing “certain advisory services” to Bird for a period between Aug. 10, 2023 and Aug. 10, 2024, according to a company filing — will  receive a cash payment of $275,000, equivalent to six months of his annual base salary, as well as both vested and unvested stock awards. Torchiana joined the company last September and took point on Bird’s efforts to pare down costs in a bid to recapture investor attention, according to a May report by Techcrunch.

The company’s financial woes continued through its second quarter. While it reduced its net loss to $9.3 million for its most recent quarter ended June 30 compared to $320.3 million for the prior year period, the company said it had only “$6.8 million in unrestricted cash and cash equivalents which, without additional funding, will not be sufficient to meet the Company’s obligations within the next 12 months,” according to its second quarter earnings release.

Bird did not immediately respond to requests for comment.