Nikola failed for the second time since June to get sufficient shareholders to vote on a proposal that may enable the EV truck maker to concern extra shares in a bid to lift extra capital.
The corporate mentioned Thursday it adjourned its annual assembly of shareholders till August 3 when it is going to attempt as soon as extra to draw sufficient shareholders to vote for the measure. The corporate is required to safe greater than 50% of all excellent shares to vote in favor of the proposal.
Nikola didn’t get sufficient votes at its June 7 assembly and pushed the vote to July 6.
This subsequent time could show fruitful for Nikola due to a change in Delaware regulation that’s anticipated to enter impact August 1. Below the change, firms included in Delaware that need to improve the variety of shares would solely must obtain a easy majority of the votes forged. Modification to the present regulation has been accredited by Delaware’s state legislature and is now awaiting Gov. John Carney’s signature.
Nikola mentioned that had the brand new regulation been in place, its proposal to concern extra shares would have handed.
Nikola is amongst a gaggle of EV and mobility startups that went public through mergers with particular goal acquisition firms earlier than producing income, by no means thoughts being worthwhile. Many of those, notably Nikola, have been swept up within the meme inventory craze through the pandemic and noticed shares — and market cap — leap into the stratosphere. All of those shares have come crashing again all the way down to earth, leaving EV SPACs like Nikola scrambling for money.
Nikola has additionally sought methods to scale back prices. In Could, the corporate laid off 270 staff, or about 23% of its workforce, and introduced plans to limit electrical truck efforts to North America. About 150 staff who have been supporting the corporate’s European applications have been laid off. One other 120 staff based mostly on the firm’s Phoenix and Coolidge, Ariz., websites additionally misplaced their jobs. About 900 staff stay.