Latest news with #Skokie-based
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Skokie's LanzaTech to lay off 44 and downsize, despite honors for innovation
Skokie-based clean energy company LanzaTech Global, Inc., which has been heralded in TIME magazine and by Prince William's global environmental competition, plans to lay off 44 of its 383 employees in the first two weeks of June, per state of Illinois filings. The move comes as operating expenses rise but revenues fall, per quarterly reports to the Securities and Exchange Commission, and as the company plans to halve its rented space at Skokie's Illinois Science + Technology Park. Last month, the company acknowledged it received an offer from Carbon Direct Capital Management to buy the carbon recycling company at $0.02 a share, according to a press release from LanzaTech. In January 2023, the stock was valued at $10.43 a share, per Nasdaq. LanzaTech filed plans to lay off 44 to the Illinois Department of Commerce on May 12, offering 'mass layoff' as the reason. The first layoff date is scheduled for June 1, per state filings. LanzaTech was founded in New Zealand and has headquartered in Skokie since 2014 in the Illinois Science + Tech Park, according to previous reporting. The company's SEC filing said it 'transforms waste carbon into the chemical building blocks for consumer goods such as sustainable fuels, fabrics, and packaging that people use in their daily lives.' 'We are a gas fermentation company,' Dr. Zara Summers, chief science officer at LanzaTech previously told Pioneer Press. 'You might know about sugar fermentation if you drink beer or wine. We use a bacterial catalyst that takes gases like carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and hydrogen, and convert those to ethanol at a commercial scale.' TIME Magazine named LanzaTech CEO Jennifer Holmgren to its worldwide Top 100 Climate Leaders for Business for 2023, and it was named the sole United States finalist for Prince William's November 2022 Earthshot prize, which honors the best solutions worldwide for tackling climate change. In its recent quarterly SEC filing, however, the company wrote, 'We have not achieved operating profitability since our formation. Our net losses after tax were $19.2 million for the three months ended March 31, 2025 and $25.5 million for the prior year period. As of March 31, 2025 we had an accumulated deficit of $988.8 million compared to an accumulated deficit of $969.6 million as of December 31, 2024. We anticipate that we will continue to incur losses until we sufficiently commercialize our technology.' Kate Walsh, LanzaTech's VP of Investor Relations and Tax, told Pioneer Press that LanzaTech is in a transition phase and is ready to put into practice the research knowledge it has gained these past few years. 'We're pivoting the company from a Research and Development hub to one that's commercially focused on deploying our proven technology,' Walsh said. '…So there's a transition that comes along with that.' Walsh said the downsizing and the growing demand for sustainable aviation fuel, especially with regulated markets in the UK and the EU, will help make the company profitable. The decision to downsize the company was not influenced by the political climate regarding green energy, nor the tariffs, she added. LanzaTech also will save money by cutting in half the space it rents at the Skokie tech park, from 106,661 to 53,616 square feet, effective July 1, per SEC filings. Per the filings, LanzaTech said it was unsure how the layoffs will affect health of the company overall, 'and may result in significant adverse consequences.' As LanzaTech moves forward, the group also runs into danger of having its stock delisted from the Nasdaq due to its low valuation, per the filing. Delisted companies generally face steep challenges in raising money. The village of Skokie's Director of Communications and Community Engagement Patrick Deignan released a statement on behalf of the village. 'Innovative companies like LanzaTech play a vital role in strengthening Skokie's local economy, supporting high-quality jobs and enhancing the Village's longstanding reputation as a center for scientific advancement. The Village remains committed to fostering a strong climate for innovation and will continue supporting the success of LanzaTech and other companies contributing to our community and beyond.' 'LanzaTech is an important part of Skokie's science, technology and local business landscape,' said Mayor Ann Tennes in a statement emailed to Pioneer Press. 'Although we're disappointed that the company's strategic actions will result in a reduction in their local workforce, we remain confident in LanzaTech's future and the continued impact they'll make here in Skokie and around the world.' Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Chicago Tribune
27-05-2025
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
Skokie's LanzaTech to lay off 44 and downsize, despite honors for innovation
Skokie-based clean energy company LanzaTech Global, Inc., which has been heralded in TIME magazine and by Prince William's global environmental competition, plans to lay off 44 of its 383 employees in the first two weeks of June, per state of Illinois filings. The move comes as operating expenses rise but revenues fall, per quarterly reports to the Securities and Exchange Commission, and as the company plans to halve its rented space at Skokie's Illinois Science + Technology Park. Last month, the company acknowledged it received an offer from Carbon Direct Capital Management to buy the carbon recycling company at $0.02 a share, according to a press release from LanzaTech. In January 2023, the stock was valued at $10.43 a share, per Nasdaq. LanzaTech filed plans to lay off 44 to the Illinois Department of Commerce on May 12, offering 'mass layoff' as the reason. The first layoff date is scheduled for June 1, per state filings. LanzaTech was founded in New Zealand and has headquartered in Skokie since 2014 in the Illinois Science + Tech Park, according to previous reporting. The company's SEC filing said it 'transforms waste carbon into the chemical building blocks for consumer goods such as sustainable fuels, fabrics, and packaging that people use in their daily lives.' 'We are a gas fermentation company,' Dr. Zara Summers, chief science officer at LanzaTech previously told Pioneer Press. 'You might know about sugar fermentation if you drink beer or wine. We use a bacterial catalyst that takes gases like carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and hydrogen, and convert those to ethanol at a commercial scale.' TIME Magazine named LanzaTech CEO Jennifer Holmgren to its worldwide Top 100 Climate Leaders for Business for 2023, and it was named the sole United States finalist for Prince William's November 2022 Earthshot prize, which honors the best solutions worldwide for tackling climate change. In its recent quarterly SEC filing, however, the company wrote, 'We have not achieved operating profitability since our formation. Our net losses after tax were $19.2 million for the three months ended March 31, 2025 and $25.5 million for the prior year period. As of March 31, 2025 we had an accumulated deficit of $988.8 million compared to an accumulated deficit of $969.6 million as of December 31, 2024. We anticipate that we will continue to incur losses until we sufficiently commercialize our technology.' Kate Walsh, LanzaTech's VP of Investor Relations and Tax, told Pioneer Press that LanzaTech is in a transition phase and is ready to put into practice the research knowledge it has gained these past few years. 'We're pivoting the company from a Research and Development hub to one that's commercially focused on deploying our proven technology,' Walsh said. '…So there's a transition that comes along with that.' Walsh said the downsizing and the growing demand for sustainable aviation fuel, especially with regulated markets in the UK and the EU, will help make the company profitable. The decision to downsize the company was not influenced by the political climate regarding green energy, nor the tariffs, she added. LanzaTech also will save money by cutting in half the space it rents at the Skokie tech park, from 106,661 to 53,616 square feet, effective July 1, per SEC filings. Per the filings, LanzaTech said it was unsure how the layoffs will affect health of the company overall, 'and may result in significant adverse consequences.' As LanzaTech moves forward, the group also runs into danger of having its stock delisted from the Nasdaq due to its low valuation, per the filing. Delisted companies generally face steep challenges in raising money. The village of Skokie's Director of Communications and Community Engagement Patrick Deignan released a statement on behalf of the village. 'Innovative companies like LanzaTech play a vital role in strengthening Skokie's local economy, supporting high-quality jobs and enhancing the Village's longstanding reputation as a center for scientific advancement. The Village remains committed to fostering a strong climate for innovation and will continue supporting the success of LanzaTech and other companies contributing to our community and beyond.' 'LanzaTech is an important part of Skokie's science, technology and local business landscape,' said Mayor Ann Tennes in a statement emailed to Pioneer Press. 'Although we're disappointed that the company's strategic actions will result in a reduction in their local workforce, we remain confident in LanzaTech's future and the continued impact they'll make here in Skokie and around the world.'
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
‘Flying Lady' owner gets 5 years in prison in fraud involving Chicago party yacht with stripper pole
A Skokie man has been sentenced to five years in federal prison in a multi-million-dollar bank fraud case that involved a 58-foot party yacht known as the 'Flying Lady,' a onetime fixture in Chicago's summer boating scene adorned with a pink stripper pole attached to the afterdeck. David Izsak, 50, was convicted by a jury in December 2023 of 10 counts of bank fraud and aggravated identity theft, including allegations that he created fictitious loan documents to buy the Flying Lady and also stole the identity of his ailing mother to qualify for a car loan in 2015. U.S. District Judge Manish Shah sentenced Izsak on Tuesday to 60 months in prison and ordered him to pay about $2.1 million in restitution. The judge also entered a forfeiture judgment of just over $3 million, court records show. Prosecutors had asked for nearly 13 years behind bars, arguing in a recent filing that as a licensed real estate agent and broker, Izsak earned a handsome six-figure salary yet still chose to use his knowledge of the system to steal. 'Fraud was Izsak's vocation,' Assistant U.S. Attorney Elly Moheb wrote. 'Izsak took steps to conceal his scheme so that he could continue the fraud for years, all to live a lavish lifestyle of party boats, fancy cars, and buckets of cash.' Izsak's attorney, Nishay Sanan, wrote in a filing of his own that Izsak 'deeply regrets what he did' and is ready to rebuild a productive, lawful life, working recently as a home rehabber and with his fiancé, who owns a real estate and interior design company. 'He has struggled with his mental health due to the stress of this case, has delayed his wedding plans, and has been unsure of what job opportunities he should pursue while facing a potential period of incarceration,' Sanan wrote, asking the judge for as little as six months behind bars. The sentencing capped a case that stretched over more than six years as investigators tried to unwind Izsak's complex and overlapping frauds. In the process, the Flying Lady, a Carver 570 Voyager that Izsak bought in 2011 for $450,000, was seized by the government and later sold at auction for $325,000, court records show. Izsak was charged in 2019, but the case was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic and Izsak's churn through several defense teams. He initially was going to plead guilty but later reversed course and took the case to trial, records show. After he was convicted, Izsak again changed attorneys and fought the U.S. attorney's office over how much he would owe in restitution. Adorned with a pink stripper pole attached to the afterdeck, the Flying Lady was a regular sight in the often raucous party spot just off the downtown shore, serving essentially as a floating nightclub, complete with tipsy guests dancing to pulsating DJ music and bikini-clad women performing acrobatic pole moves to the cheers of sun-drenched crowds. According to prosecutors, Izsak, who owned Skokie-based real estate company Premier Assets Inc., fraudulently obtained $360,000 in financing for the yacht by falsifying his income, submitting bogus tax returns and lying about the status of home equity loans he'd taken out on his home on Chicago's Near West Side. Also charged as part of the same investigation was Izsak's longtime business associate, Yale Schiff of Riverwoods, and Schiff's brother, Jason Schiff of Lincolnwood. Both brothers pleaded guilty to a count of bank fraud, with Yale Schiff sentenced to three years in prison and his brother receiving a term of probation, court records show. A 1993 graduate of Niles North High School, Izsak was born in Northbrook and grew up with his family in the north suburbs. His father, Reuven, a Holocaust survivor from Romania whose parents and brother were killed by the Nazis, died in 2010 at 83, according to court records. His mother, who died while the case against her son was pending, also grew up in wartime Romania. Court records show Izsak filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection in 1997 when he was just 22. He earned his real estate license in 2005 and built a company that bought numerous properties in the Chicago area for rental or resale. In June 2015, the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation revoked Izsak's license, finding he had 'filed falsified documents with the Cook County Recorder of Deeds, thus enabling him to fraudulently and continually obtain new mortgages from various financial institutions,' according to state online records. At the time, Izsak was already heavily involved in Chicago's social boating scene, particularly at events at the Playpen, the no-wake area just south of Oak Street Beach where powerboats often raft together and a see-and-be-seen crowd soaks up perfect skyline views. Flying Lady — with its logo of a woman's silhouette flying through a pink ring — was a fixture at the Playpen for years, often cross-promoting with nightclubs and modeling agencies and offering a day on the lake with the city's most beautiful people. Slick promotional videos still available on Facebook and other social media sites show professional dancers sliding down the yacht's pole while promoters shake up Champagne bottles and soak crowds seen whooping from the water. Court records show the Flying Lady remained in government hock until it was sold in 2020 by Spring Brook Marina in Seneca, along the Illinois River about 80 miles southwest of Chicago. jmeisner@
