Topline
Electric truck maker Nikola suspects a fire that broke out outside its Phoenix headquarters and damaged multiple trucks was the result of foul play, the company announced on Friday, as its shares plummet nearly 8%, though the cause of the fire has not been determined.
A fire that broke out outside NIkola’s headquarters damaged four of its electric trucks, and the … [+]
Key Facts
No people were injured in the fire, which broke out early Friday morning, Nikola stated in a tweet, though the company believes the fire was associated with a vehicle seen in the area outside its headquarters near where the fire started—the Phoenix Fire Department told Forbes it will not determine the cause of the fire until it concludes an investigation.
Fire officials, including hazmat crews, responded to the scene and were still working to extinguish the fire by cooling the trucks’ super-heated batteries as of 11:00 Friday morning, a fire department public information officer said—fire officials told local outlets the blaze has been difficult to manage due to plume of thick black smoke and a strong odor of chemicals that permeated the area.
The fire, which engulfed a row of Nikola’s electric semi trucks, did not appear to affect the building itself in video footage released by the Phoenix Fire Department.
Big Number
7.86%. That’s how far Nikola’s shares slid as of 11:30 a.m. Friday morning, to $1.27 per share, and have plummeted more than 42% since the start of the year, when shares stood at $2.22.
Tangent
The fire comes just over a week after the Phoenix-based company announced plans to cut 270 employees, including 120 in Arizona and another 150 at multiple locations that support the automaker’s programs in Europe. The cuts come as the automaker conducts a reorganization plan it hopes will save the company more than $50 million per year, and follows a series of layoffs in the automotive industry, including 3,000 positions cut at Ford last year and 1,000 at Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge maker Stellantis in February (Ford will reportedly conduct a new round of cuts as soon as next week, sources told the Wall Street Journal on Thursday, though a Ford spokesperson told Forbes the company has “nothing to announce”).
Further Reading
2023 Layoff Tracker: Ford Reportedly Planning New Job Cuts (Forbes)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianbushard/2023/06/23/nikola-suspects-foul-play-in-headquarters-fire-as-stock-slides-nearly-7/