Struggling EV startup Fisker has laid off hundreds of employees to survive as it still searches for funding, a buyout or prepares for bankruptcy.
Employees were skeptical when the company instructed everyone to work from home on Wednesday – a directive that went against their nature, according to several current and former employees. The layoffs were announced during a consensus meeting held on Wednesday morning.
Founder and CEO Henrik Fisker told employees that the big investor to whom his company owes money — and the chief restructuring officer working on the investor’s behalf — wanted to let more people go, according to employees who attended. Fisker never revealed who was ultimately behind the convertible debt investment, though Henrik Fisker did reference Heights Capital Management when discussing layoffs during Wednesday’s meeting, according to two employees. Heights Capital Management is an affiliate of financial services giant Susquehanna International Group.
One current and one laid-off employee estimated that only about 150 people remained at the company.
Fisker has already gone through several rounds of layoffs. Declared deductions There was a 15% drop in February. Fisker employed 1,135 people as of April 19, according to a regulatory filing. The number of employees decreased by an unknown amount another round of layoffs There will be another series at the end of April, and yet another at the end of May before the Wednesday cutoff.
Fisker did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Restructuring executive John DiDonato also did not immediately respond to a request for comment. According to documents obtained by TechCrunch, DiDonato previously told California’s Employment Development Department on April 29 that it planned to lay off more than 300 employees on June 28 if the company was “unable to meet its operating cash requirements.”
Despite the sweeping cuts, Henrik Fisker adopted a serious but firm tone during the call, according to sources. At one point, he said the company had built “something great” and would continue to sell its sole EV — the Ocean SUV — to those who want to buy them.
According to a person present at the meeting, he also suggested that the laid-off workers would be rehired once the company restarts.
Many employees initially found out they were laid off after losing access to Microsoft services like Teams or Outlook. Later, some employees officially received an email informing them they were laid off for a week. Laid-off employees shared similar information in posts on LinkedIn.
These new layoffs come after months of trouble FiskerAnd this comes less than a year after the company began full-scale deliveries of the Ocean SUV.
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