LiveWire Group, the electric motorcycle maker majority-owned by Harley-Davidson, says there is substantial doubt about its ability to keep going for another year. The LiveWire going-concern warning came in its third-quarter results on 29 October, alongside the withdrawal of its full-year guidance and the appointment of a Chief Restructuring Officer who now leads the company.
The warning lands even though the business grew. Revenue rose 38% to $7.9m in the quarter and the net loss narrowed slightly, but cash and cash equivalents fell to $39.9m at 30 September from $82.8m at the end of 2025. LiveWire says recurring operating losses, negative operating cash flow, “limited liquidity resources” and future funding needs drove its determination, and it points to a debt maturity in December 2027.
A new restructuring officer now runs the company
A Form 8-K filed with the SEC sets out how quickly the leadership changed. Chief executive Karim Donnez resigned on 21 October. The next day the board added two directors, David Barse and Harley-Davidson’s General Manager of Quality, Scott Nash, and formed a Special Restructuring Committee of William Cornog and Barse.
That committee can review and negotiate any financing, sale, restructuring or recapitalisation, and it has sole authority over deals in which a director may have a conflicting interest. On 25 October it appointed Roy Gallagher, a senior managing director at the advisory firm Ankura, as Chief Restructuring Officer and principal executive officer. The filing says LiveWire will pay Ankura $140,000 a month for his services, and Barse $45,000 a month as a director.
LiveWire has withdrawn its earlier forecast of a 2026 operating loss of between $70m and $80m, citing the restructuring committee’s work. It says it is pursuing “comprehensive financing and other strategic alternatives”, which may include significant capital raises, partnerships, investments or sales, but adds that “there can be no assurance that such efforts will be successful”.
Electric motorcycle sales rose 31% from a small base
The quarter’s numbers show a business that is growing slowly from a low starting point. LiveWire sold 241 electric motorcycles, up from 184 a year earlier, and motorcycle revenue rose to $2.7m from $1.0m. The company says the year-earlier figure was depressed by heavy incentives. The electric motorcycle segment still lost $17.0m at the operating level, against $18.4m a year earlier.
Most of LiveWire’s units come from STACYC, its children’s electric balance bike business, which sold 6,992 units for revenue of $5.2m. Across the group, the operating loss was $17.5m and the net loss $18.6m, compared with $18.8m and $19.4m. LiveWire says it cut cash used in operations by 16% in the first nine months, to $38.3m.
The company also says it held 80% of the US on-road electric motorcycle segment above 50kW so far this year, a figure it bases on Motorcycle Industry Council data. It began delivering its S4 Honcho Trail model in the US in August and expects first deliveries in Europe in October, with the Street version due in Europe in November.
The balance sheet leaves LiveWire few easy options
The going-concern language matters because of what sits behind it. Total shareholders’ equity turned negative, at minus $5.5m, from $46.0m at the end of 2025, while a related-party term loan stands at $76.8m on the balance sheet. At the year-to-date rate of free cash outflow, about $40.5m in nine months, the $39.9m of cash would not cover many more quarters without new money, which is why the twelve-month going-concern test bites.
The structure of the response is telling. A committee of two directors described as disinterested, with exclusive power over conflicted deals, is the standard tool when a likely counterparty is an insider. With Harley-Davidson as majority shareholder and a related party on the loan, any rescue, sale or recapitalisation will need to show minority shareholders it was negotiated at arm’s length. Hiring a distressed-debt specialist as principal executive officer, rather than naming a new chief executive, signals that financing comes before product strategy for now.
None of this means LiveWire will fail. Going-concern doubts are often resolved by fresh funding, and the company has a large shareholder with an obvious interest in the outcome. But the 31% rise in motorcycle sales shows how far the business is from paying its way: each motorcycle sold brought in about $11,000 of revenue while the segment lost about $70,000 per unit on an operating basis.
How it compares with other EV makers
LiveWire’s position contrasts with larger US electric vehicle makers reporting this month. Rivian, for example, grew quarterly revenue 38% to $2.16bn as its R2 became its best seller. Elsewhere, Tesla has started hiring in Vietnam and Toyota is reported to be planning an EV Corolla built in China. It has been a heavy week of results, including Intel’s third quarter.
LiveWire did not hold its own earnings call. More detail on its liquidity, its plans and the going-concern assessment will come in its quarterly 10-Q filing, which it expects to file on or before 9 November.
Sources
- LiveWire Group: LiveWire Group, Inc. Reports 2026 Third Quarter Financial Results, 29 October 2026
- LiveWire Group: Form 8-K filed with the SEC, 26 October 2026
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