What's going on?

SPACs, we hardly knew ye: data out on Friday showed that more and more special-purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) are calling off their stock market listings.

What does this mean?

Forget NFTs, ARK, and HODL: SPACs � listed companies that buy unlisted companies to fast-track their arrival on the stock market � were the all-the-rage acronym of 2021. They even raised more money than initial public offerings for the first time last year. But the fire that burns twice as bright burns half as long: investors have been abandoning them on the back of more regulatory scrutiny, not to mention a shoddy performance that�s seen one SPAC-focused index fall 40% from its all-time high. That tears it: seven US SPACs that planned to collectively raise more than $2.5 billion have canceled their planned listings this year � almost as many as pulled out in the whole of 2021.

Why should I care?

The bigger picture: SPACs save face.
The execs behind those SPACs might have preferred the short-term embarrassment of calling it quits to the long-term pressure of trying to find a deal. A SPAC, after all, generally has to strike a deal within two years of listing on the stock market, or else give investors back the money they paid. That means it�s often left scrambling to acquire mediocre companies or overpay for half-decent ones, typically at the expense of investor returns. Singapore might realize this soon enough: the country � which is trying to position itself as the SPAC hub of Asia � just listed its second-ever SPAC on its stock market on Friday.

For you personally: Ditch the stay-at-homes.
You might notice a lot of these post-Covid fizzle-outs in 2022. Take American companies Zoom, Docusign, and Peloton, all of which are down more than 50% from the highs of the last couple of years. They had a captive audience during the pandemic, but virtual meetings, virtual notarization, and virtual exercise aren�t worth nearly as much in a face-to-face world.