Which Public Companies Have Returned Their SBA PPP Loans? (Updated) A slew of multi-million-dollar businesses have been granted government recovery funds, to much controversy. Here are the ones who've given the money back.
By Kenny Herzog
Last Updated: May 26, 2020
You can borrow, but you can't hide. That's what many multi-million-dollar, publicly shared companies are discovering during this nationwide economic freefall. Shake Shack was the first such international enterprise to offer a mea culpa after benefitting from Congress and the SBA's Paycheck Protection Program, ultimately returning the $10 million it nabbed from an initial $349 billion government kitty for widely forgivable small-business loans. (Allocation of an additional $310 billion approved in the House of Representatives last Thursday is underway as we speak.)
But plenty of other dining and hospitality chains, among other relatively solvent and resourceful businesses, have been called out for leveraging their sophisticated legal apparatus and relationships with large banks to outmuscle truly mom-and-pop outfits in the scramble for survival funds.
Related: Where's My Stimulus Check?
Some have succumbed to backlash — be it out of crisis of conscience or image preservation — and, like Shake Shack, sent the SBA money back from whence it came. Others hold fast, insisting they lack alternative sources of capital and are entitled to what they're entitled to. (The SBA, for its part, has recently tweaked guidance to discourage comparatively advantaged companies from applying.)
Neither the government nor SBA has shared a comprehensive list of business that have applied and/or received PPP funds to this point, but as reported by CNBC and others, the data analysts at FactSquared have been keeping meticulous notes on the publicly traded entities vying for — and often being granted — big sums. There are many dozens of them. Per FactSquared's accounting, here's who's given the money back, along with which exchange they're listed on and the sum of their loan at the time of approval.
(Note: This article will be updated as more information is made available from both FactSquared and additional sources. Companies with asterisks next to dollar totals were approved for loans and rescinded application before funds were received.)
Here's what these companies returned
- Auto Nation, Inc. (NYSE) — $77 million
- Ashford Hospitality Trust, Inc. (NYSE) — $45.9 million
- Ruth's Hospitality Group, Inc. (NASDAQ) — $20 million
- Jake Alexander's Holdings, Inc. (NYSE) — $15.1 million
- Ashford Inc. (NYSE MKT) — $12.8 million
- Castlight Health, Inc. (NYSE) — $10 million
- CalAmp Corp. (NASDAQ) — $10 million
- Shake Shack Inc. (NYSE) — $10 million
- Potbelly Corporation (NASDAQ) — $10 million
- IDT Corporation (NYSE) — $10 million
- Hallmark Financial Services (NASDAQ) — $8,311,000
- Wave Life Sciences Ltd. (NASDAQ) — $7.2 million
- Manning & Napier, Inc. (NYSE) — $6,732,818*
- Lindblad Expeditions, Inc. (NASDAQ) — $6.6 million
- Legacy Housing Corporation (NASDAQ) — $6,545,700
- Harvard Bioscience, Inc. (NASDAQ) — $6,114,700
- Escalade, Incorporated (NASDAQ) — $5,627,500
- Aviat Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ) — $5,911,000
- Kura Sushi, Inc. (NASDAQ) — $5.9 million
- ADMA Biologics, Inc. — $5.4 million
- Drive Shack, Inc. (NYSE) — $5,276,742
- Fiesta Restaurant Group, Inc. (NASDAQ) — $5 million
- Aquestive Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ) — $4.8 million
- Graham Corporation, Inc. (NYSE) — $4,599,003
- OptiNose, Inc. (NASDAQ) — $4.4 million
- Collectors Universe, Inc. (NASDAQ) — $4.2 million
- U.S. Auto Parts Network, Inc. — $4,107,388
- Ultralife Corporation (NASDAQ) — $3.45 million
- Ashford Inc. (NYSE MKT) — $3.3 million
- Energy Services of America Corporation (OTC) — $3.3 million
- Ballantyne Strong, Inc. (NYSE MKT) — $3.1 million
- TransMedics Group, Inc. (NASDAQ) — $2,249,280
- BK Technologies Corporation (NYSE MKT) — $2.1 million
- BioLife Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ) — $2.1 million
- CHF Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ) — $1,660,000
- Cytosorbents Corporation (NASDAQ) — $1.4 million
- Nathan's Famous, Inc. (NASDAQ) — $1,224,645
- 22nd Century Group, Inc. (NYSE MKT) — $1.2 million
- Myomo, Inc. (NYSE MKT) — $1,077,590
- NeuroMetrix, Inc. (NASDAQ) — $773,200
- DropCar, Inc. (NASDAQ) — $345,294
- 9 Meters Biopharma, Inc. (formerly Innovative Biopharmaceuticals, Inc.) (NASDAQ) — $220,205
