While I personally feel that Nikola is unlikely to be a successful enterprise, I am against short seller propaganda, no matter who it's aimed at.
"unlikely to be a successful enterprise" is the understatement of the day. Just because Tesla got unfairly smeared by the shorts, it doesn't mean that all short smears are wrong or uncalled for. Had Theranos been public, this type of negative research would have been a good thing. The latest news, the GM "partnership", looks really bad for Nikola. They gave GM $2B of stock just so they could turn around and buy trucks from them. Nikola is going to use GM's battery, powertrain and manufacturing. The only thing Nikola is bringing to the table is photorealistic renders. This partnership exposes just how little Nikola really has. I haven't read the short hit piece yet, I will later, but Nikola sure is testing my investment strategy resolve to never get into the shorting game.
Propaganda is one thing, but cold hard facts are another I have suspected for a long time that Nikola had no working prototype of their fuel cell truck, but its far worse than that, they have NOTHING The whole thing is fake, they have no fuel cell technology, no battery technology, ho hydrogen refuelling technology, its all a scam This is great new for Tesla, the Semi, if Tesla can hit the range numbers has no real competition
So I read most of the looong short seller hit piece (Nikola: How to Parlay An Ocean of Lies Into a Partnership With the Largest Auto OEM in America). Hard to gauge veracity without doing a whole lot of my own research. But I personally know that Nikola has changed their story three times. First CNG, then fuel cell, and now batteries. That alone is enough of a red flag to stay the heck away from the company. As I said, hard to stop myself from shorting it
Nikola (NKLA) admits to faking video of driving prototype in weak response to allegations - Electrek NKLA stock price up up today apparently since no one reads past the headlines. Sigh.
Just read the article and have been somewhat following the story. Always believed that they sued Tesla claiming same design to help them fund their company and figured they have been desperate for money. I've never felt that Milton after listening to him was on the up and up and actually thought the Electrek article was a well written piece. So he thinks it's okay to present something as fact to lure investors. Says alot about him and have to wonder how GM and their investors are digesting the news now.
Lie down with dogs, get fleas. I don't have much sympathy for GM. They should have known better, but apparently they are clueless or stupid or both.
Take a closer look at the GM deal. Nikola is paying GM $2.7B ($2B in stock, $700M in cash) for the right to slap a badge on a GM truck. GM is getting an awful lot of money for what it was providing. At first glance it looked like GM was ripping off Nikola. When this short seller report came out the deal made a lot more sense. GM investigated Nikola and knew Nikola was a sham. That's why Nikola is paying GM so much money.
Husband just saw this news from CNBC come across his phone: Nikola founder Trevor Milton to voluntarily step down as executive chairman linked to PRNewsWire story about it that CNBC picked up: Nikola Board of Directors Announces Leadership Transition
Some additional background on his current stock position. Breaking news: Trevor Milton out of Nikola Motors - FreightWaves and a number of legal firms have already filed lawsuits against the company. Here’s just one but the list appears to be growing if you search. SHAREHOLDER ALERT: Pomerantz Law Firm Reminds Shareholders with Losses on their Investment in Nikola Corporation of Class Action Lawsuit and Upcoming Deadline – NKLA
Funny that 4 years later it was Hindenburg research that brought this whole flimsy hydrogen construction crashing down in flames... Nikola: How to Parlay An Ocean of Lies Into a Partnership With the Largest Auto OEM in America
Trevor Milton @nikolatrevor "Cowards run, leaders stay and fight for integrity..." Yes, Trevor, you're right.
He’s reportedly been arrested at the Phoenix Airport. Nikola’s chairman steps down, stock crashes following allegations of fraud – TechCrunch “Update: News is breaking that Trevor Milton, Nikola Corp founder and former Executive Chairman, was arrested by the DOJ and FIB at Sky Harbor Airport, in Phoenix, AZ, this morning.” Techcrunch’s article (“Update” now at bottom of the article) says it’s “so far unconfirmed“. OK no one else reporting on this.
"News is breaking that Trevor Milton, Nikola Corp founder and former Executive Chairman, was arrested by the DOJ and FIB at Sky Harbor Airport, in Phoenix, AZ, this morning. This is so far unconfirmed." (emphasis mine) Yeah, I can't find anything about this. I think TechCrunch equates "news is breaking" with "somebody said it on Twitter". Still, the stock is down 20% so far today, half what it was after the GM announcement. Grab the Dramamine, folks
Was TechCrunch’s FIB a typo or a fib? Really bad of them to not have confirmation on this before sending out.