Nikola Corp. shares fell as much as 18% after the company issued a blanket denial of the allegations made in a short sale report without offering specific details to refute allegations that it lied about its technology and organized events.
President and founder Trevor Milton on Friday promised to issue a detailed rebuttal after “working through the night”.
This was a successful job for greed-driven short sale income. “
Milton said in a tweet on Friday that he would not comment “further on the advice of a lawyer” other than to say that “Nicola approached the SEC, not in other ways.
Hidenberg Research founder Nathan Anderson said his company praised Nicola’s commitment to a petition by securities regulators.
Nikola’s response came in an effort to reassure investors after the report, released Thursday by a company that could benefit from a drop in the share price, alleged that the startup manufactured products that did not work so that appear as fully functional and misleading videos. told “dozens of lies” about their capabilities, partnerships or products.
In New York. The shares extended their losses after another short seller intervened. Citron Reseach thanked Hinddenburg in a tweet, offering to pay half of the legal fees incurred.
A two-day slide erased all accumulated earnings in the stock on Tuesday, following a surprise announcement that General Motors Company would take a $ 2 billion equity stake in Nicola.
The deal committed GM to make the startup’s first electric pickup, called Badger. The Detroit giant will also provide battery and fuel cell technology for Nikola’s semi-trailers, which will be built at a factory under construction in Coolidge, Arizona.
In June, Bloomberg News reported that according to people familiar with the matter, Milton had exaggerated the capabilities of its large debut platform during a launch event in December 2016. Hindenburg refers to that story in part of his report.
