'The second Tesla,' hydrogen truck manufacturer 'Nikola' has filed for bankruptcy protection (Chapter 11) in a U.S. court.
According to Bloomberg on the 19th (local time), Nikola announced plans to proceed with auction and sale procedures for asset disposal while awaiting court approval related to the bankruptcy protection.
Rumors of Nikola's bankruptcy crisis have been circulating since early this month. The Wall Street Journal reported on the 7th that Nikola, facing bankruptcy, had been exploring options for selling or restructuring the company with advice from law firms.
Nikola went public on the New York Stock Exchange in 2020, leading with its hydrogen truck technology, and within four days of its listing, its market capitalization surpassed $30 billion, even overtaking Ford Motor Company's market cap at that time.
However, in September of the same year, Hindenburg Research began its downfall by releasing a report claiming that 'Nikola inflated the performance of its self-developed trucks and exaggerated the scale of pre-orders.' At that time, Hindenburg Research exposed that the video footage of the hydrogen truck in Nikola's promotional video was 'filmed not while driving, but showing it rolling down a hill from the top.'
As a result, Trevor Milton, the former CEO (Chief Executive Officer) and founder of Nikola, was sentenced to four years in prison for fraud in 2022.
As of the third quarter of last year, Nikola recorded a net loss of about $200 million, and the truck production was limited to around 80 units. The stock price, which once exceeded the $2,000 range, has fallen below $1.