Nicola CEO Trevor Milton
Massimo Pinka | Reuters
Nicola announced early Monday that founder Trevor Milton is voluntarily stepping down from his role as executive chairman and a member of its board.
The electric truck company said the board accepted Milton’s resignation, adding that Stephen Girski, a former vice chairman of General Motors and a member of Nikola’s board, had been made chairman of the board with immediate effect.
“Nicola is really in my blood and will always be, and should focus on the company and its changing mission, not me,” Milton said in a statement. “So I made the difficult decision to contact the board and volunteer to step down as acting chairman. I founded Nicola and developed it into a company that would better transform transportation and help protect our world environment.”
The announcement comes after Nicola was accused of fraud by short-selling company Hindenburg Research. The company backtracked on the allegations, saying the report contained “dozens” of baseless allegations. The Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice are investigating claims that the company misled investors.
Hindenburg alleges that Milton made false statements about Nikola’s technology to grow and secure a partnership with Nik Tommakers.
“I intend to defend myself against the false accusations leveled against me by outside detectors,” Milton said in a tweet early Monday.
GM recently acquired an 11% stake in the company and said it would produce Nikola’s Marquee Hydrogen Fuel Cell Electric Pickup Truck Badger by the end of 2022. Last week, GM CEO Mary Barra said the auto toe manufacturer had undertaken “reasonable diligence” involving 2 billion. Dealing with electric vehicle start-ups.
Nikola is extremely volatile this year, rising from 13 13 in early May to its current 52-week high of 93 93.99 in June. The Nasdaq-traded stock closed at 34.19 on Friday.
The company has averaged 53.2 million shares in the last 10 trading days, although it has only 361 million shares remaining.
Nicola CEO Mark Russell said the company is committed to its objectives and value creation to shareholders.
“Our priorities remain the same and together with our partners, we are focusing on the foundations to implement our strategic initiatives and become a zero-integrated integrated zero-emission transport solution provider,” Russell said in a statement.
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