5 ms·

""The company has yet to mass produce a product and all of it’s revenue to date came from selling solar panel installation services to Milton."" Oof. And he st

by edoceo 6y ago

""The company has yet to mass produce a product and all of it’s revenue to date came from selling solar panel installation services to Milton."" Oof. And he still owns 20% of a company created via SPAC. How does any of this work? How has this passed any diligence?

dreamcompiler 6y ago
It seems that FOMO always wins over due diligence these days. It's a great time to start a billion-dollar scam.
- austincheney 6y ago
  WeWork.
  - xmprt 6y ago
    WeWork was less of a scam and more just highly overvalued. Things like Theranos (and probably Nikola) are actual scams.
    - ralph84 6y ago
      The self-dealing between the company and the founder was pretty scammy.
      - vkou 6y ago
        They were, but they were hardly a blip on the company's sorry financials.
    - duskwuff 6y ago
      At least WeWork didn't need any revolutionary technology to execute its business plan. Theranos depended (and Nikola depends) upon specific technologies -- if the technology isn't there, failure is inevitable.
      - ReptileMan 6y ago
        >At least WeWork didn't need any revolutionary technology to execute its business plan Just a miracle
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
jsemrau 6y ago
Reminds me of Adam Neumann of weWork. I still think the business model has a lot of merit, especially in post-covid times. Yet, CEO's with self-dealings are always a red flag.
Kosirich 6y ago
Same question. I feel either I'm incredibly naive and/or don't get investing at all. By the former I mean that I believe there are institutional mechanism that stops a company going public and getting serious investments just based on grandiose idea with no backing in what is technically feasible in a specified amount of time. By the latter I point to the fact that institutional investors have splashed serious cash without doing apparently any checks(?) Also, does anyone remember he promised a new battery with 50% more capacity than current lithium ones? https://www.forbes.com/sites/alanohnsman/2019/11/24/nikola-motors-bombshell-battery-claim-irks-experts-who-think-its-secret-may-lie-in-sulfur/#b8e0fd87d896 https://www.forbes.com/sites/alanohnsman/2019/11/24/nikola-m... I see FT has covered also this side of story: https://www.ft.com/content/dc4b3e05-bf7c-482c-9241-5296dfb1d7b5 https://www.ft.com/content/dc4b3e05-bf7c-482c-9241-5296dfb1d... Just for this promises the owner deserves a "good thrashing".
- NotSammyHagar 6y ago
  Anyone apparently can merge with a SPAC (an existing company that is already a listed stock) by basically buying a very weak company. After the merger now you are on the stock market! There's no mechanism of testing the company before the merge, it just happens if they have the money to buy the weaker company.
  - marvin 6y ago
    To be fair, getting listed on the stock exchange before being a billion dollar behemoth should be legal/possible in the first place.
    - mrpopo 6y ago
      So that more multi-million dollars scams can pop up?
      - bhupy 6y ago
        No, so that public investors can participate in growth just like private institutional investors (and rich accredited investors). Preventing million dollar corporations from going public is an extremely ham-fisted way of policing/preventing scams.
NotSammyHagar 6y ago
Don't worry guys, gm carefully studied whether they are a real company and everything. Kind of like how they get the ev market and are going to crush tesla and make an attractive and successful business selling evs.
- extropy 6y ago
  I understand the deal was structured quite a bit in GMs favor. IMHO it's very possible Nikola could become GMs EV brand, similar to Polestar for Volvo. And now with GM representative being the new chairman, it's looking more like it.
  - vkou 6y ago
    That requires Nikola to either have a valuable brand, or valuable technology. It's not clear that the former is true, and it's pretty clear that the latter is not.

by edoceo 6y ago

dreamcompiler 6y ago

It seems that FOMO always wins over due diligence these days. It's a great time to start a billion-dollar scam.

austincheney 6y ago
WeWork.
- xmprt 6y ago
  WeWork was less of a scam and more just highly overvalued. Things like Theranos (and probably Nikola) are actual scams.
  - ralph84 6y ago
    The self-dealing between the company and the founder was pretty scammy.
    - vkou 6y ago
      They were, but they were hardly a blip on the company's sorry financials.
  - duskwuff 6y ago
    At least WeWork didn't need any revolutionary technology to execute its business plan. Theranos depended (and Nikola depends) upon specific technologies -- if the technology isn't there, failure is inevitable.
    - ReptileMan 6y ago
      >At least WeWork didn't need any revolutionary technology to execute its business plan Just a miracle

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

jsemrau 6y ago

Reminds me of Adam Neumann of weWork. I still think the business model has a lot of merit, especially in post-covid times. Yet, CEO's with self-dealings are always a red flag.

Kosirich 6y ago

Same question. I feel either I'm incredibly naive and/or don't get investing at all. By the former I mean that I believe there are institutional mechanism that stops a company going public and getting serious investments just based on grandiose idea with no backing in what is technically feasible in a specified amount of time. By the latter I point to the fact that institutional investors have splashed serious cash without doing apparently any checks(?) Also, does anyone remember he promised a new battery with 50% more capacity than current lithium ones? https://www.forbes.com/sites/alanohnsman/2019/11/24/nikola-motors-bombshell-battery-claim-irks-experts-who-think-its-secret-may-lie-in-sulfur/#b8e0fd87d896 https://www.forbes.com/sites/alanohnsman/2019/11/24/nikola-m... I see FT has covered also this side of story: https://www.ft.com/content/dc4b3e05-bf7c-482c-9241-5296dfb1d7b5 https://www.ft.com/content/dc4b3e05-bf7c-482c-9241-5296dfb1d... Just for this promises the owner deserves a "good thrashing".

NotSammyHagar 6y ago
Anyone apparently can merge with a SPAC (an existing company that is already a listed stock) by basically buying a very weak company. After the merger now you are on the stock market! There's no mechanism of testing the company before the merge, it just happens if they have the money to buy the weaker company.
- marvin 6y ago
  To be fair, getting listed on the stock exchange before being a billion dollar behemoth should be legal/possible in the first place.
  - mrpopo 6y ago
    So that more multi-million dollars scams can pop up?
    - bhupy 6y ago
      No, so that public investors can participate in growth just like private institutional investors (and rich accredited investors). Preventing million dollar corporations from going public is an extremely ham-fisted way of policing/preventing scams.

NotSammyHagar 6y ago

Don't worry guys, gm carefully studied whether they are a real company and everything. Kind of like how they get the ev market and are going to crush tesla and make an attractive and successful business selling evs.

extropy 6y ago
I understand the deal was structured quite a bit in GMs favor. IMHO it's very possible Nikola could become GMs EV brand, similar to Polestar for Volvo. And now with GM representative being the new chairman, it's looking more like it.
- vkou 6y ago
  That requires Nikola to either have a valuable brand, or valuable technology. It's not clear that the former is true, and it's pretty clear that the latter is not.