The emerging electric car company has a higher capitalization than Ford even though its revenue and profit are 0: the chairman has just resigned, the company is accused of being a ‘trick of the century’

Tram Ho

Electric-vehicle startup Nikola recently partnered with General Motors to announce that its founder will resign as chairman of the company immediately, eliminating a target of recent criticism. still seemingly surrounded Nikola.

Before his resignation, Trevor Milton was the face of the media representative of the company he founded in 2014. Milton’s position will be replaced by board member Stephen Girsky.

The leadership reshuffle comes just two weeks after the Phoenix-based company fell into a position under attack by skeptics of short-selling. These people released reports of criticism and even demanded an investigation by the US Stock Exchange and the Supreme Court.

“Nikola really is like my blood and always will be. The focus should be on the company and its world-changing mission, not me. So I have to make the tough decisions. Poll the board and undo “.

 Hãng xe điện mới nổi có vốn hóa cao hơn cả Ford dù doanh thu và lợi nhuận là 0: Chủ tịch vừa từ chức, công ty bị cáo buộc là cú lừa thế kỷ - Ảnh 2.

Nikola faced a turbulent period as a result of a short-term stock rally following GM’s sudden decision to invest in the company. Specifically, the largest car manufacturer in the United States is expected to receive more than $ 4 billion in privilege money from the deal. In addition to the stock ownership, GM will be paid extra to manufacture Nikola pickup trucks, supply batteries and start commercializing fuel cell technology for the pickup industry.

The 58-year-old Girsky is a former GM vice president and he is the one who helped the automaker out of bankruptcy.

“Liar”

Nikola shares have risen sharply since the company went public on June 4 in a merger with Girsky’s start-up VectorIQ. At that time, the stock was so high that the company’s market value exceeded that of Ford. After three days of trading, Milton, who owns 35% of the company’s shares based on a filing, has $ 9 billion in his hands, becoming the 188th richest person in the world. Currently, his fortune is reduced to only $ 4 billion.

Shares fell sharply after non-Hindenburg Research had questioned the validity of Nikola’s claims about its electric vehicle technology, accusing Nikola of committing “complicated fraud based on a series of words. lies “by the founder and director of the company Trevor Milton, for many years. The incident has attracted the attention of both authorities.

The Hindenburg Research report details dozens of false claims from its founder Nikola. “We have never seen such a level of deception in a public company, especially one on such scale.”

 Hãng xe điện mới nổi có vốn hóa cao hơn cả Ford dù doanh thu và lợi nhuận là 0: Chủ tịch vừa từ chức, công ty bị cáo buộc là cú lừa thế kỷ - Ảnh 3.

Hindenburg alleges that Nikola deceived its partners by making false claims about the company’s technology, including the hydrogen batteries … Which, in fact, all of that never existed. .

Milton protested immediately, calling Hindenburg’s report “a deliberate attack” in a twitter post. He also promised to provide detailed feedback on the “false allegations” of the Hindenburg side. Not stopping there, in a post on Instagram not long after, Milton even publicly posted annoying words aimed at Hindenburg.

Nikola, for its part, has responded to each of Hindenburg’s allegations but does not deny that in a 2018 promotional video they introduced an electric truck that gives the impression of a self-driving car, despite it. is believed to have originated only from a steeper hill from which the car simply rolled down.

The company’s statement simply stated: “We never stated that the truck would go on its own in that video.”

It is worth mentioning that the Hindenberg’s accusations were not the first to mention Nikola’s suspicions. In June, Bloomberg reported that Milton bragged about the Nikola One company’s ability to launch an electric truck – but it hasn’t been produced yet and hasn’t been on the market yet. The company denied that they made a false statement.

Is it the “trick of the century”?

Milton – like Tesla CEO Elon Musk loves to use social media to promote his company. In February, he introduced the Badger truck through a tweet, calling it “the most advanced electric car, designed to take down the Ford Raptor”. On July 8, he tweeted that Nikola will begin taking Badger orders by the end of June “for the near zero emissions trucks”. Potential buyers pay a deposit of $ 5,000 without seeing a model version of the car, and it won’t go on sale until 2022.

Whatever the future, however, the explosive controversy between Nikola and Hindenburg caught the attention of the US authorities. The SEC, the US Securities and Exchange Commission, has also announced that it will open an investigation into the matter to find out if there really is a basis for Hindenburg’s allegations.

For a company that has never had revenues and profits, and is beset with a sort of competence skepticism like Nikola, its future will take time to tell whether they are “one. trick of the century “or not.

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Source : Genk