Bird: Bird's bankruptcy filing shouldn't affect services in Greater Grand Forks

Dec. 29-GRAND FORKS - Grand Forks and East Grand Forks shouldn't see any changes as Bird goes through Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings. Bird, the e-scooter rental company, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in federal court in Florida on Dec. 20. According to the company, the bankruptcy proceedings will allow the company to strengthen its finances and position itself for sustainable growth. "This announcement represents a significant milestone in Bird's transformation, which began with the appointment of new leadership early this year," said Bird Interim CEO Michael Washinushi in a statement. "We are making progress toward profitability and aim to accelerate that progress by right-sizing our capital structure through this restructuring. We remain focused on our mission to make cities more livable by using micromobility to reduce car usage, traffic, and carbon emissions." According to the notifications given to the cities of Grand Forks and East Grand Forks, Bird will continue to uphold its commitments to the cities, should see no interruption of services, and will preserve local jobs. Bird said in that notification that it expects to emerge from proceedings in three to four months. Bird, popular in many cities across the country, has had scooters in Grand Forks since 2022, and East Grand Forks voted earlier this year to bring a fleet of 100 scooters to the city. The company was delisted from the New York Stock Exchange in September. Before the pandemic, the company was valued at $2.5 billion.