Nikola

Founding

Nikola Corporation was founded by Trevor Milton in 2014 in Salt Lake City, Utah.As of 2016, the first 5,000 Nikola One hydrogen-powered glider trucks were slated to be built by Fitzgerald Glider Kits in Tennessee . In March 2019, Nikola acquired a 389-acre parcel of land in Coolidge, Arizona, for $23 million, with future state and local tax breaks. Nikola said in 2019 that they expected truck factory construction to start in 2020, truck construction in 2021, and the fabrication of 35–50,000 trucks per year by 2023.In February 2019, Mark Russell was hired as company president. Russell had most recently been president and CEO of Nikola Corporation's investor, Worthington Industries.In April 2019, Nikola held the Nikola World event in Scottsdale, Arizona. The two-day midweek event included a public demo day to show off the Nikola Two truck, the Nikola Tre truck, the Nikola NZT UTV, and the Nikola WAV watercraft.

Going public

In March 2020, Nikola Corporation announced its plans to merge with VectoIQ Acquisition Corporation , a publicly traded special-purpose acquisition company run by former General Motors vice-chairman Steve Girsky. This resulted in the combined company being listed on the NASDAQ exchange with the NKLA ticker symbol. As part of the merger, founder and CEO Trevor Milton had his title changed from CEO to Executive Chairman and Nikola President Mark Russell became president and CEO. Nikola's stock began trading on June 4, 2020, a day after the merger was completed. By June 9, the shares had more than doubled since they began trading, as investors continued to bet on the growth potential of electric transportation. At the end of June, Nikola started taking reservations for pickup truck, the Badger, even though a prototype had not been shown to the public.The company was valued at around $13 billion in early August 2020, compared to its revenue in the first six months of 2020 of $80,000 .On September 8, 2020, Nikola and GM announced a partnership, by which GM would acquire an 11% stake in Nikola . GM would also earn the right to nominate one member to Nikola's board. In return, GM agreed to use its manufacturing facilities to begin production of the Badger, as well as supply fuel cells and batteries to Nikola globally. Nikola stock jumped by 50% after the announcement.

Fraud allegations and guilty verdict

On September 10, 2020, short seller firm Hindenburg Research released a report accusing Nikola of being "an intricate fraud" perpetrated largely by Milton. Further verification by Financial Times and Research Enquirer confirmed the report's claim regarding a showcased Nikola One rolling down a gradual slope with no onboard propulsion and instead by using the force of gravity. The stock fell by 10% that day while the stock of GM, which had made an agreement with Nikola days earlier, fell by 4%. By September 12, Nikola stock had fallen by 36%.Nikola called these claims "false and misleading" and threatened legal action against Hindenburg. The US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York showed interest in the report. Previously, Milton had alleged that those who were short-selling Nikola stocks are fans of rival company Tesla and are "anti-Nikola or paid attack accounts". In response to the release of the Hindenburg report, Mary Barra, CEO of GM, said her company conducted appropriate diligence before its deal with Nikola. Reports that became public on September 14 stated that the Securities and Exchange Commission had started a probe into the fraud allegations and on September 15, the Department of Justice began an investigation into Nikola as well.On September 21, 2020, Executive Chairman, founder and former CEO Trevor Milton announced his resignation from Nikola and Steve Girsky became non-executive chairman of the board. News of the allegations caused the share price of Nikola Corp to drop by 20%. Following the resignation, Nikola then "issued copyright-takedown notices targeting critics on YouTube who used clips of the promotional video in which a Nikola One semi-truck was seen rolling down a hill" without a working drivetrain. The Drive called Nikola's action an "abuse of YouTube's copyright takedown system".On September 23, BP backed away from a potential partnership to develop hydrogen refueling stations for Nikola's EV Trucks; Nikola's stock price fell by more than 25% intraday after BP's statement. The partnership was cited as a critical component in Nikola's business plan for its electric vehicle trucks powered by hydrogen fuel cells. Nikola had planned to announce the BP partnership days after the GM partnership.In November 2020, GM announced that the proposed deal to take an equity stake in Nikola would no longer occur. A revised deal was proposed, having GM provide Nikola with the promised fuel-cell technology, but leaving out the 11% stake in the company as well as no longer producing the Badger electric pickup truck for the company. The Badger was subsequently cancelled.In December 2020, Republic Services stated that their previously announced partnership with Nikola would be terminated. The two companies had agreed to jointly develop zero-emissions garbage trucks in August 2020, including the production of at least 2,500 to 5,000 trucks for the Republic Services fleet by the start of 2023. Nikola's shares fell 9.8% after the announcement was released. Analysts call the canceled order a short-term setback, allowing the company to channel more focus towards the core of the business, being the production of semi-trucks designed for long-haul transport.In February 2021, the company publicly dropped their Powersports unit along with any plans they previously had to produce any of the powersports concept vehicles they had shown, including the Nikola WAV watersports vehicle. Also in February, as part of YE2020 filings with the SEC, the company stated that they now intended to produce just 50-100 Nikola Tre vehicles in 4Q2021. In June 2021, Nikola invested $50 million in a new hydrogen factory headed by Wabash Valley Resources to produce fuel for semi-truck fuel stations across the Midwest. In July 2021, the company announced plans to add five new Class 8 truck dealers in Arizona, Texas, Colorado, California, New Mexico, Delaware, Florida, Maryland and Virginia. In late July 2021, a United States federal grand jury returned an indictment against Trevor Milton that included three counts of criminal fraud, including "lying about 'nearly all aspects of the business'" and two counts of securities fraud. Milton pleaded not guilty to the charges and was freed on $100 million bail, secured by two Utah properties. Nikola's share price dropped further and traded at $12 after falling from near $65 in June 2020, when Nikola had a company valuation in excess of the Ford Motor Company.Following the indictment of Milton in July 2021, the company stated "We remain committed to our previously announced milestones and timelines and are focused on delivering Nikola Tre battery-electric trucks later this year from the company’s manufacturing facilities." In October 2022, Milton was found guilty in federal court of three of four counts of fraud against him, over statements he made while CEO of the company.

2022–present

In August 2022, Nikola announced that it would be acquiring the battery company Romeo Power. On August 4, 2022, it was reported that Nikola has delivered 48 vehicles to dealers, and reported a revenue of $18.1 million. In September 2022, all 93 of its Tre Class 8 battery-electric vehicles were recalled due to an issue with seat belt anchor assembly. Nikola published in October 2022 that they have completed the acquisition of Romeo and "look forward to executing on the opportunities ahead.”