Harley-Davidson has completed its spinoff of LiveWire, its electric motorcycle division, into a separate publicly traded company, the Milwaukee-based motorcycle maker announced Tuesday.
LiveWire will now operate as LiveWire Group Inc. and began trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker LVWR.
Harley announced plans in December 2021 to merge its LiveWire business with a special purpose acquisition corporation called AEA-Bridges Impact Corp. At the time, Harley chairman and chief executive officer Jochen Zeitz said the deal would give LiveWire the freedom to fund new product development and ability to operate as an agile public company.
The transaction generated $334 million in gross proceeds for LiveWire. The companies had estimated it would generate between $288 million and $563 million depending on shareholder redemptions.
Zeitz is also serving as chairman and CEO of LiveWire and Harley retains a majority stake in the company following the deal.
“This transaction represents a proud and exciting milestone for LiveWire towards its ambition to become the most desirable electric motorcycle brand in the world,” Zeitz said.
The company says it is headquartered virtually with its initial hubs at LiveWire Labs in Silicon Valley and in Milwaukee.
LiveWire has been a more than decade-long project for Harley to launch an electric motorcycle. The production version launched in 2019 with a nearly $30,000 price tag. The company has since introduced new models at lower price points.
The company saw $20 million in revenue in 2019, almost $31 million in 2020 and nearly $36 million in 2021 for a combined total of $87 million in its first three years. Across the same period, the company reported more than $202 million in net losses. Much of the revenue was generated through sales of StaCyc balance bikes intended for kids, not through sales of electric motorcycles.
