• Colin Kaepernick-backed SPAC Mission Advancement Corp.'s(NYSE:MACC)deal to buy a lender that focused on minority borrowers is to have collapsed.
• The SPAC's deal to acquire The Change Co. is said to have ended over the former NFL quarterback and social activist's reluctance to appear on TV to promote the deal including appearing on "Good Morning America," according to a WSJ report. Kaepernick declined to be involved in interviews surrounding the transaction.
• A spokesman for Kaepernick’s Mission Advancement told the paper said the SPAC will continue to look for a merger partner in 2022.
• Mission’s IPO in early March sold 30M investment units at $10 a piece to raise $300M.
• Kaepernick, a former NFL quarterback, serves as MACCU’s co-chairman. He came to wide attention in 2016 while playing for the San Francisco 49ers by kneeling rather than standing during the playing of the U.S. national anthem at games’ beginnings. Kaepernick, who is biracial, was protesting U.S. racial issues.
• The protest expanded over time, with other NFL players and pro athletes in different sports kneeling when the U.S. national anthem played. That’s made Kaepernick a controversial figure, loved by some and hated by others.
• Kaepernick is not the only professional athlete or celebrity to be involved in a SPAC. Back in March, Patrick Mahomes, Justin Verlander backed a SPAC called Disruptive Acquisition Corp. I(NASDAQ:DISAU).