SPAC

abbreviation or noun

ˈspak 

plural SPACs

: special purpose acquisition company

Wall Street's biggest gold rush of recent years, SPACs are listed shell companies that raise funds to acquire a private company and take it public, allowing targets to sidestep the more onerous paperwork and regulatory checks faced by traditional initial public offerings.

—Katanga Johnson

Although special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) could potentially fill some of this capital-providing role, they tend to focus more on larger businesses.

—Will Rhind

Examples of SPAC in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Zoom in: The company, which came public during the SPAC boom, saw its market value plunge 96% over the span of a year. —Michael Flaherty, Axios, 19 Feb. 2025

Trump Media became publicly traded last March after merging with a shell company called Digital World Acquisition Corp., an example of what’s called a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, which can give young companies quicker and easier routes to getting their shares trading publicly. —Associated Press, TIME, 15 Feb. 2025

Dee-Bone Samuel is a poodle mix from the Sacramento SPAC in California. —Yaakov Katz, Newsweek, 8 Feb. 2025

The company went public via a SPAC in 2021, valuing the business at $3.5 billion, after its at-home DNA testing kits skyrocketed in popularity. —Ashley Capoot, CNBC, 24 Dec. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1993, in the meaning defined above