Nikola's Bad Quarter: Company's Deal For General Motors Ownership Stake Goes Sideways
from the fallout dept
The trouble for Nikola Motor Company began only in September, a couple of months ago. That's when a hedge fund very publicly called out the company and its founder, Trevor Milton, for essentially fooling people with doctored video of its electric semi-truck product to get them to invest in the company. This led to rumors of federal investigations, the resignation of Milton, and the company idiotically trying to use copyright takedowns to silence its critics. All of this was likely in the service of trying to save a very public $2 billion deal with General Motors that was due to be closed upon in early December.
Well, what was Nikola's bad month is turning into a very bad quarter, as the General Motors deal has gone fairly sideways.
Nikola (NKLA) won’t have General Motors (GM) as an investor, at least for right now.
The electric truck maker said on Monday it has revised the terms of a prior deal with GM, and that the auto giant won’t be taking a stake in Nikola. The two companies will not work together to produce Nikola’s pickup truck, the Badger. Nikola’s shares were down more than 21% in pre-market trading.
The Badger was supposed to be a consumer pickup truck made in partnership with GM, utilizing GM's manufacturing and logistics operations alongside Nikola's electric batteries and drivetrain. But now, the general consensus is that this deal going under with GM has rendered the Badger completely dead.
EV and hydrogen truck start-up Nikola's deal with General Motors has fizzled, the EV startup revealed, after several weeks of speculation about a deal that would have seen the Michigan auto giant produce the Nikola Badger truck. Nikola indicated that it had reached a non-binding memorandum of understanding with GM regarding collaboration on GM's hydrogen technology for large trucks, but that the pickup aimed at private consumers was not currently contemplated with GM backing. In fact, the Badger now appears entirely dead, with Nikola indicating that it will refund deposits for the EV truck.
For its part, Nikola is pointing to the deal with GM not being completely dead. Instead, the company is going to focus on producing semi-trucks that GM will make the fuel-cell technology for. The deal is now essentially a basic supply partnership, but the real impact of the change of deal terms is that GM has backed away from taking an ownership stake in Nikola.
But Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities writes in a new note that the “headline” from the new agreement is that GM won’t be taking a stake in Nikola — and that news “will be viewed as a clear negative.”
“This went from a game changer deal for Nikola to a good supply partnership but nothing to write home about and the Street will be disappointed accordingly along with lingering lockup worries,” Ives wrote.
All because the company's founder wanted to pretend like it had a produced a product that did something that it absolutely did not. It sure seems like it would have been better for the company overall if it had just told the truth.
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Filed Under: badger, copyright, electric trucks, investment, trevor milton
Companies: general motors, nikola
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No crime in lying
In about 1983, a commercial producer came to my film studio, wanted to re-shoot the Volvo ad that stacked a bunch on top of themselves, Volvo had gotten in trouble for putting hidden reinforcements into their TV ad. His scheme was dangerous, so i declined. The Big boys lie all day. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2JEShddBCQ
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Nikola failure is its reward for being... a failure
Tim, good analysis. I would like to differ with:
A company with no products, no customers, and a business plan built on saying "Hey, check out what others in the market are doing! We'll do it too! And better! Can we get another round of financing?" wasn't destined for the acme of success.
Their video was great. Yes, the semi tractor-trailer had no engine or transmission or power cell and was going downhill, but great video. The problem is they lied to investors (SEC investigation forthcoming, I'm guessing) and they lied to potential business partners (GM).
One can say "Blockchain, Crypto, Bitcoin, Emissions Free, Green Carbon Neutral" all day long... but to get the funding one has to show their work. Nikola did not show their work... mostly, I guess, because they didn't do the work.
I've said "I guess" and "I'm guessing" twice, so consider this my opinion, but -- as in all cases involving this much money being wasted on executive salaries and faked truck movie runs -- the truth will come out.
If any TDers invested in Nikola... please share your experience. 2020 is the year that keeps on giving...
Ehud
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Re: Nikola failure is its reward for being... a failure
"I've said "I guess" and "I'm guessing" twice, so consider this my opinion, but -- as in all cases involving this much money being wasted on executive salaries and faked truck movie runs -- the truth will come out."
Little need for guessing. Trevor Milton is the subject of a fascinating paper by Hindenburg research. Go google; Nikola: How to Parlay An Ocean of Lies Into a Partnership With the Largest Auto OEM in America
GM probably started getting leery about him the very second they ran him through a CDD.
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It begs repeating, again and again...
...that you really shouldn't get in business with known con men. Anyone who wants a glance at the CV of the genius behind Nikola might want to google; Nikola: How to Parlay An Ocean of Lies Into a Partnership With the Largest Auto OEM in America.
Trevor Milton is basically a younger version of Trump except that he grew up after Counterparty Due Diligence became a thing and companies and banks stopped letting a persistent fraud obscure the results of a real credit check - and thus had a harder time becoming a real big time player.
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Nikola's bad Quarter
wont be fixed on GM's Dime, to coin a phrase.
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Truth?
If they told the truth, there would be no company. This is the ultimate example of "fake it, before you make it".
Nikola appears to be nothing but smoke and mirrors. They make big claims, then they setup partnerships and book orders all on terms so favorable that no one could say no. But Nikola isn't really doing anything. All the work is done by partners.
But with all the parnerships and orders, they can just sit in the middle and hype, and they managed to IPO on this vapor.
It's a house of cards, waiting to collapse. The founder of this sham has taken the money and ran.
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Re: Truth?
Its Enron, with Trucks.
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Trevor Milton should marry Elizabeth Holmes. A match made in heaven.
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This is what happens when you name your DC vehicle companies after the man who made AC possible.
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