Leftist billionaire heiress Pat Stryker is waiting to see if taxpayers via the Department of Energy (DOE) will throw another $10 million at Stryker’s failed thin-filmed solar panel manufacturer Abound Solar before she puts any more of her own money into the Colorado-based company reports Eric Wesoff of GreenTech Media:
The firm awaits $10 million from the DOE and $10 million from its investors but has a bit of a chicken-and-egg problem. Our sources inform us that the DOE is waiting for the investors and the investors are waiting for the DOE. Abound’s venture investors include DCM, Technology Partners, GLG Partners, Bohemian Companies, and Invus.
The pay-to-play connection between Abound and Stryker’s Bohemian Companies was first exposed by Todd Shepherd of Complete Colorado. Shortly after the Solyndra scandal, the Energy Policy Center provided more details about Abound’s financially incestuous relationship with Stryker, Colorado State University (CSU), and former Governor Bill Ritter, now the head of the Center for the New Energy Economy at CSU.
Abound already has drawn down $70 million of its $400 million taxpayer-guaranteed loan, but it is still in a world of hurt. At current spending levels, Abound has less than four weeks of cash flow left according to Wesoff:
The firm is looking to lower its burn rate from $2 million per week to $2 million per month, according to sources close to the firm. The sources have indicated that there is roughly $7 million in the bank, a painfully short runway, and that vendors are being paid in a very selective manner.
Obviously the mass layoffs of nearly 70 percent of its Colorado workforce were a drastic cost cutting measure rather than a “retooling” of the production line as so many other media outlets have reported.
Stryker’s reluctance to provide more capital for Abound speaks volumes. If she won’t dump just a fraction of another $10 million, little more than pocket change for her Bohemian Companies, down the Abound rabbit hole, then why should taxpayers? As we reported last week, taxpayers may be on the hook for more than just the loan guarantee. They could be paying out more than $2 million in unemployment benefits for layoffs from jobs that taxpayers paid to create in the first place.
