Long Blockchain merger with Massachusetts company scrapped
The nonbinding merger deal, announced in October, had called for Long Blockchain to take a new name reflecting its new focus on promotional products. Credit: Long Blockchain Corp.
Long Blockchain Corp., the Farmingdale company that gained notoriety by taking a cryptocurrency-themed name, has been left at the corporate altar.
Stran & Co., a privately held Quincy, Massachusetts, branding and promotional products distributor, scrapped the merger because the companies would be "unable to satisfy all necessary closing conditions" within a reasonable amount of time, according to a news release.
The nonbinding merger deal, announced in October, called for Long Blockchain to take a new name reflecting its new focus on promotional products. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Long Blockchain will continue to operate its Stran Loyalty Group subsidiary, a collaboration focused on consumer brand loyalty, reward and gift card programs, the statement said.
In September, Long Blockchain announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement to sell its iced tea unit, Long Island Brand Beverages, to ECC Ventures 2 Corp., a Vancouver, Canada, investment firm. That transaction called for the investment company to pay Long Blockchain $500,000 Canadian and 15.5 million shares of ECC Ventures 2.
Shares of Long Blockchain rose 0.1% to close Tuesday at 12 cents. Shares of ECC Ventures 2 Corp. rose 13.3% to 17 cents.
Andy Shape, a director and chief executive of Long Blockchain and president of Stran & Co., which does business under the name Stran Promotional Solutions, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In December 2017, Long Island Iced Tea Corp. announced it was changing its name to Long Blockchain Corp. and that it would refocus its business on blockchain, the technology behind the digital currency bitcoin.
The company’s stock soared as high as $9.49 after the announcement that December.
Long Blockchain's most recent financial report to the Securities and Exchange Commission was for the quarter ended September 30, 2018, when the company posted a net loss of $742,642 on net revenue of $827,146.
Ken Schachter covers corporate news, including technology and aerospace, and other business topics for Newsday. He has also worked at The Miami Herald and The Jerusalem Post.
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