The Bear Cave #321
New Activist Report, Recent Resignations, Quantum Insider Goes Public, Low Morale At Ibotta, and Tweets of the Week
Welcome to The Bear Cave! Our last premium articles were “Even More Problems at Medical Properties Trust (MPT)” and “More Problems at Yelp (YELP)” and our next special investigation for paid readers comes out this Thursday, April 16.
New Activist Report
Citron Research tweeted critically on Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ: AAOI — $11.3 billion), a manufacturer of fiber optic networking products, citing its high valuation and relationship with Oracle:
Recent Resignations
Notable executive departures disclosed in the past week include:
CFO of FactSet Research Systems (NYSE: FDS — $7.71 billion) departed after nearly two years in her second stint as CFO.
CFO of Kura Sushi USA (NASDAQ: KRUS — $671 million) resigned after three and a half years “in order to accept a new position within the restaurant industry.”
Mr. Eric Swider, board member of Trump Media & Technology Group (NASDAQ: DJT — $2.60 billion), resigned with immediate effect after four and a half years. Last month, former U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer resigned from the board after two years. Last year, Ms. Linda E. McMahon stepped down from the board to become Secretary of Education and Mr. Kash Patel stepped down to become Director of the FBI. The social media firm’s five-person board includes Donald Trump Jr. and is chaired by its CEO Devin Nunes, a former Republican representative.
Data for this section is provided by VerityData from VerityPlatform.com
Former Quantum Executive Goes Public
Josh Speyer, a former executive at D-Wave Quantum (NYSE: QBTS — $5.27 billion), is going public with concerns about his former employer on Coherence.Report, with reporting that highlights misleading metrics, fabricated AI narratives, and technology that doesn’t deliver what the market assumes.
He believes that the company is approaching a critical juncture, and the market has yet to catch up. Coherence.Report will host a live webcast on April 15, and currently hosts free short-biased research (as well as educational videos on the industry itself). Learn more here. (Sponsored)
Low Morale At Ibotta
In March 2025, The Bear Cave published on Ibotta (NYSE: IBTA — $760 million), a next-generation digital coupon company, and warned readers of “waning consumer support, severe employee dissatisfaction, concerns of strained partner relationships, and allegations of fraud.” Glassdoor reviews from current and former employees suggest problems are growing at the company:
“You are rewarded by making promises you never intend to keep… Incredibly high turnover rate for the product org…” (April 2026)
“They started firing people for no reason just to start from scratch again. There is complete dysfunction everywhere, from processes all the way down to billing.” (March 2026)
“Absolute Chaos across the entire company. It’s become a culture of fear and getting worse every day. Constant pivots, changing benchmarks and massive disorganization. Leadership has no idea how to run a company…” (March 2026)
“Vision driven more by bravado than strategy — major initiatives were sometimes justified with unrealistic claims rather than data. A memorable example was the assertion that sending Ibotta to the Cannes Film Festival would generate a ‘50x ROI,’ which reflected more enthusiasm than grounded business reasoning.” (March 2026)
“Many of the negative reviews are accurate. What was once a positive and collaborative team culture deteriorated significantly under ineffective leadership decisions…” (February 2026)
“Has completely lost its direction. CEO and senior leadership are awful, condescending, and incompetent. Business is in a continual nosedive.” (January 2026)
Ibotta is down ~67% since its April 2024 IPO, trades for ~2x revenue, and continues to be led by its founder/CEO Bryan Leach.
Tweets of the Week
Until Thursday,
The Bear Cave