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For most of the past four years, Beta Technologies CEO Kyle Clark used the company’s privately-held status as a selling point. For example, when Beta announced a major strategic pivot in 2023 — choosing to certify a more conventional electric airplane ahead of its electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft — Clark presented it as evidence of the startup’s flexibility relative to its publicly-traded peers.
“This is the strategic advantage we have over the incumbents, which is we get to take the information today and change our direction,” Clark told The Air Current at the time. “It’s an advantage ironically we have over public [eVTOL developers] as well, which is we can make these decisions with the information we have today, which are the right decisions, and we don’t have to explain it to anybody.”
Related: Beta CEO defends projected battery business economics
With Vermont-based Beta listing on the New York Stock Exchange as of Nov. 4, exposing its financials and other key aspects of its business to heightened scrutiny, Clark now has a lot more explaining to do. Yet, even as he takes the company public, he is resolved to preserve its strategic flexibility, long-term vision and pilot-oriented culture. In an interview with TAC on the eve of its public listing, which raised just over $1 billion, Clark explained how Beta’s initial public offering (IPO) has been structured to accomplish these goals — starting with his own role in maintaining ultimate control over the company.
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