For more than a decade, trucking startup Nikola has been trying to break into the long-haul trucking space with next-generation trucks that promise to save operators some big money. What exactly powers these trucks has changed over the years, but they’re definitely going to be the next big thing and the Tesla of trucking. Except they’re currently circling the drain and in danger of going bankrupt, Bloomberg reports. Which is interesting because I could have sworn they went bankrupt a while ago and at the very least after its founder went to prison.
If you don’t remember that part of the story, you probably aren’t the only one. There are so many startups these days that it can be hard to keep up with which founders have been convicted of crimes. But yeah, Nikola founder and former CEO Trevor Milton was convicted of securities and wire fraud and sentenced to four years in prison back in 2022. Don’t expect to see any executives arrested for securities and wire fraud anytime soon, but back then, defrauding investors and inflating the value of your company was generally frowned upon.
Now Bloomberg reports that Nikola is short on cash and may sell off parts of the company or even the entire thing if it can’t raise money in other ways. The startup, which has, against all odds, has actually built a few trucks, is struggling to raise funds, though, with its stock price falling more than 95 percent in the last year. It’s entirely possible that Nikola may be able to save itself by bringing on new partners, as Chief Executive Officer Steve Girsky discussed that possibility back in October, saying he was “actively talking to lots of potential different partners who value what we do and value what we’ve built.”
It’s also apparently on Girsky to save the company:
A sale would end a long and difficult saga for the maker of electric and hydrogen-powered semi trucks. Shortly after going public through a blank-check deal in 2020, founder Trevor Milton resigned and was later convicted of defrauding investors about the company’s technology development. Nikola has since cycled through multiple CEOs while battling weak clean-tech sales and a collapsing stock price.
Its shares were trading down 22% as of 3 p.m. Thursday in New York. They lost 95% of their value over the last 12 months.
Chief Executive Officer Steve Girsky, a former Morgan Stanley analyst and General Motors Co. executive who took Nikola public through his special purpose acquisition company, has led the effort to raise money or find strategic alternatives, said the people familiar with the matter.
It doesn’t look like Nikola has a lot of time to find the money it needs, either. On that same October call, the startup said it had enough cash to survive through the first quarter of 2025, but after that, it’s likely done. If you’re a company hoping to actually receive the trucks you ordered, that’s bad news, but if you’re an investor looking to pick up a trucking startup on the cheap, hey, you may be able to get a heck of a deal on one that’s definitely not cursed sometime this summer.
