Nikola goes bankrupt, capping troubled EV maker's long slide

Nikola's market value peaked at $29 billion in the days after it began trading, but fell to less than $100 million before the filing

- Bloomberg

Nikola Corp. filed for bankruptcy, culminating a long decline for the onetime darling of the electric-vehicle industry, which grappled with weak sales and cycled through chief executive officers (CEOs) in the wake of a fraud scandal.

The company is exploring a sale of its assets after entering Chapter 11 in Delaware on Wednesday. In court documents, it listed total funded debt and lease obligations of $98 million.

The filing caps a struggle by the maker of electric and hydrogen-powered semi-trucks to get a handle on dwindling cash, slow sales, and a collapsing stock price. Bloomberg reported earlier this month that Nikola was exploring a possible bankruptcy filing as the company acknowledged it was "relentlessly working to raise capital."

Nikola's shares plunged 45% at 9:34 a.m. Wednesday in New York. The stock had already lost 97% of its value over the past 12 months through Tuesday.