Webull stock soars 500% after going public via SPAC merger

• Webull stock soared on Monday after the company went public via SPAC merger last week.
• The digital platform merged with SK Growth Opportunities after delaying its IPO plans in 2021.
• Webull's shares, trading under the ticker "BULL" on Nasdaq, rose 500% on Monday.

Webull went public via SPAC merger last week, and its stock price is soaring.

Shares spiked as much as 500% to $79.56 on Monday after closing Friday at $13.25.

The digital investment platform merged with special-purpose acquisition company SK Growth Opportunities in a deal that has been years in the making.

Webull explored going public during the 2021 stock market boom when profitless tech companies and meme stocks reigned supreme. But an unraveling of the market in 2022 put those IPO plans on hold.

The company ultimately in February 2024 signed an agreement to go public via a SPAC merger with SK Growth Opportunities. The merger was completed on Thursday, and the stock started trading under the "BULL" ticker symbol on Friday.

Activity related to SPAC IPOs has calmed since its peak in 2021, when there were 613 SPAC mergers, making up 63% of the total IPOs that year.

The number of SPAC mergers bottomed at just 31 in 2023. According to data from SPAC Analytics, there have been 23 SPAC IPOs year-to-date.

As for the meme-stock boom, traders still have an appetite for chasing momentum. Earlier this month, shares of Newsmax soared more than 2,000% from its IPO price.

Webull was founded in 2016 by Wang Anquan and is headquartered in St. Petersburg, Florida. At the end of 2023, Webull had 4.3 million funded accounts with $8.2 billion in customer assets. The company said in 2024 that it has about 20 million worldwide users.

Webull is often compared to other digital-based investment platforms that cater to retail investors, including Robinhood and eToro.

For its part, eToro filed to go public via an IPO in March.

Webull stock is listed on the Nasdaq Exchange.