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The Money Desk · Blog
Re:

Canoo Spent Nearly Twice Its 2023 Revenue on the CEO’s Private Jet

Canoo’s 2023 Form 10-K reported $1.7 million in aircraft reimbursement to an entity controlled by CEO Tony Aquila, versus $886,000 in revenue—about 1.92 times revenue. The filing also disclosed separate shared-services payments and does not itself establish illegality.
From TheFinanceBase Team2 min to read
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Yes—Canoo’s 2023 aircraft reimbursement was almost twice its annual revenue. The company reported $886,000 in revenue and $1.7 million reimbursed for use of an aircraft owned by Aquila Family Ventures LLC (AFV), an entity controlled by CEO Tony Aquila. The exact ratio is about 1.92 times revenue, so “double” is a rounded description rather than an exact two-to-one calculation.

What Canoo reported

Canoo’s fiscal 2023 Form 10-K, filed in 2024, lists $886,000 of revenue and $1.7 million of aircraft reimbursement to AFV for the year ended December 31, 2023. AFV is controlled by Aquila, making the payment a related-party transaction.

Item 2023 amount What it represents
Revenue $886,000 Canoo’s reported annual revenue
Aircraft reimbursement $1.7 million Payment to AFV for business use of an aircraft owned by the company
Aircraft reimbursement as a share of revenue Approximately 192% $1.7 million divided by $886,000

How the private-jet arrangement worked

The filing says Aquila was reimbursed for business expenses, including either first-class airfare or business use of his private jet, at Canoo’s option. Private-jet use was billed at a fixed hourly rate set out in the Aquila Agreement. The reported recipient was AFV, which owns the aircraft, rather than Canoo purchasing the plane itself.

Aircraft reimbursement was not Canoo’s only payment to AFV

Canoo separately reported approximately $1.7 million in shared-services support from AFV at the company’s Justin, Texas, office in 2023. That amount is distinct from the aircraft reimbursement and should not be added to the jet figure when describing aircraft spending. AFV’s shared-services amount was approximately $1.1 million in 2022.

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Why the spending stands out operationally

The jet reimbursement was reported during a year when Canoo’s business remained small relative to its costs. Benzinga’s report on Canoo’s 2023 earnings said the company delivered 22 vehicles, reduced its operating loss from $506 million in 2022 to $267 million in 2023, and recorded a $302.6 million net loss.

Those figures provide context, not a finding that the aircraft arrangement caused Canoo’s losses. They do show why a seven-figure related-party payment attracted attention when annual revenue was below $1 million.

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Was the payment illegal?

The Form 10-K disclosure establishes that Canoo reported the arrangement and identified AFV’s relationship to Aquila. The sources cited here do not establish a court or regulator finding that these specific payments were illegal, fraudulent, embezzled, or wasteful.

Disclosure also does not by itself prove that a transaction was favorable to shareholders. To evaluate the arrangement, an investor would need the agreement’s terms, the company’s approval process, the hourly rate compared with available alternatives, and evidence about how often the aircraft was used for legitimate company business. None of those questions can be answered from the reimbursement total alone.

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What investors should take from the filing

  • The headline figure is grounded in two filed numbers: $886,000 of revenue and $1.7 million of aircraft reimbursement.
  • The payment went to an entity controlled by Canoo’s CEO under a stated contractual arrangement.
  • “Double” is rounded; the reported reimbursement was about 1.92 times revenue.
  • A separate $1.7 million shared-services payment to AFV is not aircraft spending.
  • The disclosure identifies a related-party transaction but, on the evidence cited here, does not decide whether it was legal, reasonable, or in shareholders’ interests.

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