Three years after settling a trade secret lawsuit, electric aircraft company Archer Aviation now owns its former rival, Wisk Aero.
Under the terms of the deal, Boeing has agreed to sell Wisk Aero and two other subsidiaries to Archer in exchange for an ownership stake in the company, according to a regulatory filing released Monday. The other subsidiaries are SkyGrid, a digital airspace and air traffic management software company and drone maker Insitu.
Boeing will receive newly issued Archer shares equal to 19.75% of Archer’s shares outstanding immediately before closing, resulting in about a 16.5% stake in the company after the deal, according to a regulatory filing and a person familiar with the matter.
The acquisition is a capstone to a once-embittered relationship between two companies developing electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft.
In April 2021, Wisk sued Archer for “brazen theft” of confidential information and intellectual property. The legal wrangling lasted two years before the companies reached an unusual settlement that not only ended the lawsuit as well as Archer’s counter-suit against Wisk seeking $1 billion in damages, but kicked off a new collaboration. Under the terms of the settlement, Archer agreed to make Wisk the exclusive provider of autonomous technology. Archer also agreed, at the time, to give Wisk the option to purchase up to 13,176,636 shares of common stock at a price of $0.01 per share.
