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“I don't care that they have stolen my idea … I care that they don't have any of their own.” Thus said Nikola Tesla, the famous engineer and inventor of the 18 and 1900, so associated with progress in the world of energy.
Of course, its name is also remarkable for being used as the brand of a private electric vehicle production company in the United States … no, no that one, the other one.
Nikola may not stole any idea, but they were undoubtedly one of the businesses to set The world soon. And, although stealing ideas was not a problem, beautifying what they had was.
An organization that listed in the United States that was valued at more than $ 30 billion (£ 23.8 billion) less than five years ago, Nikola yesterday requested bankruptcy protection after having run out of cash, accumulating huge debts and producing very much Few real vehicles.
Like other EV manufacturers, “market and macroeconomic factors” affected Nikola, said CEO Steve Gorsky. Since the company promised thousands of vehicles when it floated, both the fuel cell with batteries and with the hydrogen fuel cell, Nikola finally delivered less than 400 trucks last year. From being valued in the same range as Ford, the actions sunk on Wednesday to less than 50 cents.
As for the stories of exaggeration of the stock market, it is certainly a warning and disappointing story.
Internal and external problems equally
Nikola now has a cash balance of only $ 47 million, but debts of more than $ 350 million. The company has tried to “raise capital, reduce our liabilities, clean our balance and preserve cash to maintain our operations”, but has not been able to do it, added Mr. Girsky. A sale of assets and intellectual property remains its only course of action to preserve some value for creditors, then the company will cease to be effectively, beyond some support for trucks on the road.
There are as many factors at play here that it is impossible to choose the most guilty, but together with the EV market it does not grow as strongly as expected, Nikola had its own internal problems.
A report from the Shondenburg Investigation Short Sales Coverage Fund accused Nikola of falsify decision that the FOOT The notes remain under appeal. The company also paid $ 125 million (£ 99m) in 2021 to solve a case against it for the SEC, with the Guardian Informing Nikola did not admit any irregularity.
In June 2020, the company floated in the exchange of Nasdaq and on the third day of negotiation, the price of the shares increased more than 100 percent.
Talking about billions of dollars in orders and expectations fed Mega Hlay that this EV manufacturer could challenge Tesla and others; Instead, it has lost 99.7 percent of the price value of the shares during the past year.
The 39 percent fall on Wednesday of what it was already Then, a loss of 99 percent of 12 months simply serves as a reminder that no matter how low go, there is always the possibility of another total fall or elimination.
Future legacy
Danni Hewson, head of financial analysis at AJ Bell, reasoned that in another political panorama there may have been a response story, but instead they advance in the path of Fisker, Arrival and Lordstown Motors.
“For a while, Nikola was the EV Usurpers poster. A favorite of investors looked like the real business and even competed with Ford for the market limit. Fooded by the interest of General Motors, I was having other new pandemic companies. But then accusations of fraud arrived that sowed more than a few seeds of doubt and certainly played a role in the sudden lack of interest of GMS, ”said Mrs. Hewson.
“If the fogged company could have changed things if the interest rates had not shot and if the assumed EV in the United States had been as satisfactory as it had been predicted that business students weigh on time, but with many of their The pandemic cohort, such as Lordstown Motors, also hitting the skates, it is clear that it would have been a difficult job to do.
“What is also clear is that the feeling about electric vehicles in the United States was already changing even before Donald Trump's return to the White House, with many inherited car manufacturers, backing off their electric dreams. The large scale of these long and sinuous roads means that building the necessary infrastructure to facilitate a large -scale EV revolution will be an enormously expensive task, and one that will require companies and politicians to share the determination to do the job. “
As for the long game in the Battle of EV, Mrs. Hewson points out that Nikola's IP “could present an opportunity” in the future, for the work done so far, particularly in the sphere of hydrogen trucks.
But the lack of commercial success there and the practical problems to establish infrastructure for generalized success means that it is still a long -term dream, for now. He certainly did not arrive soon enough for Nikola, or for those who invested in him.
Another appointment attributed by Nikola Tesla is: “You can live to see horrors made by man beyond his understanding.”
While the fall of any particular business (probably) is not exactly what I had in mind, it could be the way in which Nikola's remaining shareholders are feeling these days.
