Acquicor: Money for Nothing?

3 ex-Apple execs raised $150 million bucks for their company, Acquicor Technology. What does Acquicor do? Well, um... nothing much. Just scout around for the right company to acquire. In the meantime, the money sits in a trust account, gets invested in US Govt. bonds and maybe some money market instruments.
Acquicor is a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) or, more commonly a 'blank check' company.

The company has only 3 employees - its founders: Steve Wozniak (ex-Apple founder), Gilbert Amelio (ex-Apple CEO) and Ellen Hancock (ex-Apple CTO) - None of them are full time.
Why didnt they just start a VC fund, one may ask. A simple calculation of shareholders equity shows why: The founders invested at $0.004/share, and other (public) investors are paying $6/share. Which means that the founders have netted a cool $30 million each. Getting a $90 million performance fee on a $150 million fund, would have been much, much harder - even if you were Steve Wozniak :) Actually, the only way to pull off an Acquicor is by being a Steve Wozniak. The company is based on the premise that the reputation of its founders (or employees, if you like) and their network of contacts can get them funds and investment opportunities. It says so in their SEC filings.

Look at the business as a whole: It is a 3 person company with no full time employees, no products or sales, guaranteed ROI to shareholders is just about the Govt. securities rate. The founders also promise to return any funds that remain unused for 18 months back to the shareholders - they dont have enough skin in the game. What did the investors see in this company? I think it is the opportunity to gain VC-like returns by investing smaller amounts by riding on the reputations of the founders. It remains to be seen what course this ride takes.