Tingo Inc lost lost 94 per cent of the value of its US-traded shares even before short-seller Hindenburg Research published allegations against the company, according to a report by Bloomberg. Tingo provides a market place for farmers in Nigeria. The company's market capitalization dropped by $6.8 billion in the past 16 months until June 5, a day before Hindenburg published a note alleging that Tingo was an “exceptionally obvious scam with completely fabricated financials.”
Tingo in a statement said that it “categorically refutes all the allegations and misinformation” outlined in Hindenburg’s report. The company's shares in the US plunged 80 per cent on June 6. The company says it services about 9.3 million farmers — mostly in Africa’s biggest economy — leasing smartphones that allow its clients to access credit and markets via mobile-phone applications, said the Bloomberg report.
However, Joshua Oyedele, the chairman of the Federation of Agricultural Commodities Association in Ondo state, on Tuesday said he hadn’t heard of Tingo offering a platform for commodity traders in Nigeria.
Tingo's founder and Chief Executive Officer Dozy Mmobuosi said in an interview with Bloomberg in February 2022 that the company was seeking to raise $500 million to expand across Africa, and was in talks to list on the New York Stock Exchange. Both deals are yet to take place and his bid to buy Sheffield United has yet to be approved by English football authorities, the report added.
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