Faraday Future plans reverse stock split and delays FF91 deliveries

The story of Faraday Future and its electric vehicle FF91 will be told for generations. With so many twists and turns, it has become so much of a thriller, that people no longer care about the car, they just want to know how the story ends. Just as we were breathing a sigh of relief after recent announcements about the FF91 finally entering production - here comes yet another twist.

Faraday Future put the deliveries of the first edition of the FF91 on hold. While those were meant for a group of “Futurist Product Officers” rather than the general public, the fact remains that FF91 is stuck feet away from the finish line. Those deliveries, called Phase 2, are delayed because the suppliers didn’t complete the system testing on time - apparently.

It all relates to one feature, unfortunately, Faraday Future is not sharing any more details. It must be a substantial issue because the deliveries are now pushed back to at least the end of August. Delaying Phase 2 will have a knock-on effect on Phase 3, which still is hanging by a thread as it depends on the company securing additional funds. And Phase 3 - general public deliveries - is what can save the company, but first - FF has to get there.

To make things a tad more complicated, the board of directors approved a reverse stock split for the company shares. Since Faraday Future has fallen below the $1.0 threshold, it is facing being delisted at Nasdaq. FF closed trading at $0.45 per share, and plummeted to $0.28 after hours - this is the “penny stocks” realm, and if delisted by Nasdaq, it will be a disaster.

The plan to reverse-split the shares is open-ended at the moment, the company did not confirm how many shares will be converted, but it is the only way to avert an instant disaster. It doesn’t solve the many underlying problems, and possibly only delays the inevitable. Seeing Faraday Future come close to the finish line, we almost want to reach out and push it across. Almost.

If Faraday Future somehow succeeds, and puts deliveries of the FF91 back on the menu, and then manages to secure more funds for Phase 3 - it will be an amazing story of stubbornness, vision, and tenacity. If the company fails, it will be one of the most amazing stories of “what could have been.” In both instances though, it is a story of how not to run a startup.

Via