Brian Ach/Getty Images; Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images; Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic; and Melia Russell/Insider
This story is available exclusively to Insider subscribers.
Become an Insider and start reading now.
It's a boom time for SPACs, which provide startups a way to go public without the IPO rigmarole.
Retail investors see SPACs as a chance to get in early on the next Apple or Google.
The big winners are CEOs and celebrities who get a payday mostly for lending their names to SPACs.
A debate is raging on Wall Street and Main Street about SPACs, the financial-engineering flavor of the moment. Depending on whom you ask, these so-called blank-check companies — funds raised for the sole purpose of buying a company and taking it public — are either the latest get-rich-quick scheme for financial charlatans or the greatest innovation in capital markets in years.