Montana GOP Senate candidate touts his business. It's losing millions

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Montana GOP Senate candidate touts his business. It’s losing millions
After last year’s slow wildfire season, Tim Sheehy’s aerial firefighting company has suffered steep losses.



Tim Sheehy, the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Montana, resigned from the board of the firefighting business he co-founded, Bridger Aerospace, saying he couldn’t devote enough time to running the company. Several directors have resigned from the company amid a severe cash crunch and questions about internal accounting. (Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP/Getty Images)

By Beth Reinhard and Jonathan O'Connell
August 10, 2024 at 9:13 a.m. EDT

As he campaigns in one of the nation’s most competitive U.S. Senate races, Montana Republican Tim Sheehy recounts how he started an aerial firefighting business in his barn and built it into a publicly traded company on the front lines of increasingly dangerous wildfires. “That’s a success story,” he said in a June television interview.

Reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in recent months tell a different story about Bridger Aerospace, known for its “Super Scooper” planes that can remove up to 1,400 gallons at a time from a body of water to dump on a nearby wildfire.

Bridger is facing a cash crunch so dire that there is “substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue,” according to public filings that show the company lost $77.4 million last year and $20.1 million in the first three months of 2024. Several directors have left, including one who flagged concerns about internal auditing, as an unusually slow wildfire season in 2023 put the company at risk of defaulting on its debt.

{snip}

Liz Goodwin and Aaron Schaffer contributed to this report.

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By Beth Reinhard
Beth Reinhard has been a reporter at The Washington Post since 2017. She previously worked at The Wall Street Journal, National Journal, The Miami Herald and The Palm Beach Post. Twitter

By Jonathan O'Connell
Jonathan O'Connell is a reporter focused on investigations. He has covered economic development, commercial real estate and President Donald Trump's business. He joined The Post in 2010. Twitter

[magicarpet]

1. Conjuring up a mirage of business successes to propel one's political ambitions.

Although the business enterprise is in actuality teetering on the brink of bankruptcy and failure.

Where have we seen this very scheme before ?

Does the trDUMP Brand ring any bells or sound loud whistles ?

[ananda]

2. Ding ding ding!

Loud and clear!