On June 18th local time, the stock price of Fisker (FSR), a new American automaker that was once known as Tesla's arch rival, suddenly collapsed. As of the close of the day, Fisker's stock price plummeted by 54.88% to $0.02, with a total market value of approximately $30.89 million. As a comparison, Fisk's stock price reached a peak of nearly $32.
Since the beginning of this year, the cumulative decline in Fisk's stock price has also reached nearly 99%.
On the news front, Fisk recently applied for bankruptcy protection after failing to discuss investment matters with a large automobile manufacturer. According to Fisk's bankruptcy application, the company's assets are approximately $500 million to $1 billion, liabilities are $100 million to $500 million, and the expected number of creditors is 200-999, including SAP, Adobe, Salesforce, and Ansys. This application will protect Fisk from the influence of creditors when formulating repayment plans.
Fisk's bankruptcy is not without warning signs. Since the beginning of this year, there have been frequent reports of layoffs, production shutdowns, and funding chain disruptions in Fisk.
In February of this year, Fisk received a non compliant notice from the New York Stock Exchange due to the average closing price of its stock price being below $1 for 30 consecutive trading days. Subsequently, there were market reports that Fisk was struggling with product issues and funding shortages, and was planning to file for bankruptcy; At the end of March this year, the New York Stock Exchange announced that due to abnormally low price levels, it would initiate the delisting process for Fisk stocks; In May this year, Fisk disclosed in a regulatory document that if it cannot obtain sufficient relief and liquidity from creditors to fulfill its current debt obligations, the company will have to apply for bankruptcy protection within 30 days.
And this is not Fisk's first time applying for bankruptcy protection. The Fisk brand was first founded in 2007 by renowned designer Henrik Fisker, who has worked for companies such as BMW, Aston Martin, Ford, and has also been responsible for designing the Tesla Model S.
But designing and manufacturing cars are not the same thing. Due to high product prices and frequent quality issues, Fisk operated poorly and applied for bankruptcy protection from the US government in 2013. After Fisk officially went bankrupt in 2014, it was acquired by Chinese automotive parts manufacturer Wanxiang Group. In 2016, Fisker Inc., a company of the same name, was officially established.
At the end of October 2020, Fisk officially listed on the New York Stock Exchange by merging with Blank Cheque Company. With the pursuit of new forces in car manufacturing by capital in 2021, Fisk experienced a brief period of glory after going public. In the first full month of its listing, its stock price rose by over 90%, making it one of the three major new forces in the United States, tied with Rivian and Lucid.
But after Fisk's rebirth, there was only one mass-produced ocean SUV under its umbrella, and it still did not solve the old problems of difficult mass production, inability to increase production capacity, and unstable product quality. In addition, the competition for electric vehicles is constantly intensifying at this time, and Fisk's new car is "submerged" in the crowd of electric vehicles.
In June 2023, Fisk also planned to enter the Chinese market. At that time, Daniel Foa, a member of Fisk China's board of directors, exclusively responded to First Financial reporters that Fisk's first delivery center is expected to be located in Shanghai and delivery of its first mass-produced model, the Fisk Ocean SUV, will begin in the first quarter of 2024.
But as Fisk fell into business difficulties, the matter of entering China was put on hold. In 2023, Fisk produced a total of 10000 cars, but the delivery volume was less than half.
Under sluggish sales, financial report data shows that from 2021 to 2023, Fisk's revenue was 106000 US dollars, 342000 US dollars, and 273 million US dollars respectively; The net losses were $471 million, $547 million, and $940 million, respectively. As of the end of 2023, Fisk's total assets were $1.832 billion and total liabilities were $1.93 billion, making it insolvent.
With the gradual cooling of the capital heat, the once famous star car making new power enterprises have also squeezed out foam.
Except for Fisk, the future sustainability of Rivian and Lucid has been questioned by the market. Lucid's stock price has dropped from its peak of nearly $65 to its current level of $2.57, while Rivian's stock price has dropped from its peak of over $179 to its current level of $11.02. Compared to its peak, both stocks have accumulated a decline of about 95%.