Back in December, as the price of bitcoin nudged toward the $20,000 mark and as more stories appeared about the creation of overnight crypto millionaires, a little known US soft drinks company made its own headlines.
It changed its name from the Long Island Iced Tea Corp to the Long Blockchain Corporation, making news around the world and duly increasing its share price by more than 400%.
However, those days are long gone.
What wasn’t widely reported at the time, however, was the Long Island Iced Tea Corp reported a net loss of just over $10 million in 2016. But no matter. This year, and under its new name, the Long Blockchain Corp says it expects a net loss for 2017 of almost $15 million.
The word “expects” is relevant because it is late in filing its returns. And that’s not all. On the back of the news of the 2017 loss, its share price has fallen almost 20% in two days, it is facing two designing notices from Nasdaq for failing to keep its market cap above $35 million and, according to its most recently filed balance sheet, the company owns no blockchain assets.
In January, the company revealed plans to spend $4.2 million to buy 1,000 crypto-currency mining machines. By the end of January, the plan was abandoned. In February, the company announced it was going to roll out a “blockchain strategy.” By the end of March, none had yet emerged. And in early April, it announced record losses.
All in all, a busy four months. Any guesses on what happens next? A stiff drink may be in order – a Long Island Iced Tea perhaps?