00:00Trevor Milton, the founder of Nikola, who was called the second Elon Musk by the media
00:05at the time, started by promising to produce electric trucks.
00:09In January 2017, Nikola unveiled a finished electric truck, as usual on a big round stage
00:16in the style of Tesla and Apple.
00:19Nikola Motors' Twitter, which promoted the event, emphasized that the truck was already
00:23fully ready for operation.
00:25Journalists were allowed to sit inside and press the buttons.
00:28During the presentation, Trevor especially highlighted the convenient touch screens
00:32in the cabin.
00:33In reality, of course, that was simply the only part of the truck that actually worked.
00:38But not from the electric motor inside, but from regular wires run under the stage.
00:43In reality, the company didn't have any manufacturing facilities at all.
00:48To make this truck prototype, several Nikola employees went to a regular hardware store.
00:53Inside the frame, there was nothing but comfortable seats and a couple of tablets in the dashboard.
01:00The company had already started taking pre-orders at $375,000 each.
01:06They stated that Nikola One was developed, tested, and is now being launched into mass production.
01:12Nikola Motors itself initially consisted only of Trevor, his friends, and his father.
01:17Then they hired a few dozen more people, who were mainly engaged in marketing, social media, order processing, and website
01:24support.
01:25Most of them didn't know that there was no production team in their company.
01:30Time passed, and the hype from the January event was fading.
01:35Distrust was growing.
01:36People were starting to have questions.
01:38They needed to show something new.
01:40And so, at the beginning of 2018, a video finally appeared.
01:45The Nikola One truck, cheerfully driving through the desert.
01:49The funny thing was, they just towed the truck to the top of a hill and let it roll back
01:54down.
01:55They had to tape one of the truck's doors with adhesive tape so it wouldn't come off.
01:59No wonder everyone who worked on the video had to sign a so-called non-disclosure agreement.
02:05They just bought the 3D model of the semi-truck from a designer in Croatia for a couple of thousand
02:10dollars.
02:11And then they filed a lawsuit against Tesla for $2 billion, claiming that Tesla violated their patents and stole their
02:18intellectual property.
02:19Of course, they lost the lawsuit, but the media had already spread the news.
02:23And some of the public was left with the opinion that there's no smoke without fire.
02:28A year after showing the video with Nikola, the company announced that they would be installing hydrogen stations for refueling
02:35electric vehicles all across America.
02:37Trevor said in an interview that previously, people were thinking too narrowly.
02:42In reality, Nikola is primarily an energy company like Shell or BP, not an automaker.
02:48Their global goal is to change the entire energy market.
02:52Trevor's younger brother, who used to work in construction before joining Nikola, was responsible for the innovative hydrogen technologies.
03:00The head of infrastructure, responsible for building hydrogen stations, was previously a manager at a golf club in Wydaho.
03:06After it was noted that refueling a car with hydrogen costs three times more than charging it with electricity, and
03:13that building such stations was pointless,
03:16Trevor quickly gave an interview and said that Nikola's unique technology would make hydrogen production incredibly cheap.
03:23Less than $3 per kilogram. 81% cheaper than what others can do.
03:29Once again, his younger brother achieved a major scientific breakthrough within the company.
03:34In November 2019, Nikola announced that it had solved one of the main problems facing green energy, a high-density
03:44battery.
03:45It developed a prototype that provides four times the energy density of standard lithium-ion batteries.
03:51And it's capable, for example, of powering a Tesla Model S for more than 900 kilometers.
03:57At the same time, Nikola had no patents, no engineers, no chemists, and no published scientific papers.
04:04In reality, it bought the battery manufacturer ZEPGO for $56 million.
04:10And hyped up its carbon-ion battery technology, claiming that it would soon change the world.
04:16The funny thing is that ZEPGO didn't have any technology at all.
04:20It was a scam within a scam.
04:22At the same time, in November 2019, he cashed out $70 million and bought the most expensive house in Utah.
04:30A mansion for $33 million on a ranch covering 1,100 hectares.
04:36Basically, Trevor's scheme is pretty simple.
04:39Loud statements that attract a couple of interested partners.
04:42Then he uses the fact of having such a partnership to attract investors.
04:46Then he shows how many investors he has to attract other partners.
04:50And uses their brands to get even more investors.
04:53And so, it goes in circles.
04:55If at some point the scheme starts to falter, he makes even bolder claims or releases a video about an
05:01allegedly completed project on his own YouTube channel.
05:04Where at its peak, he was posting videos almost every month.
05:07After hyping up the public with promises, on June 4, 2020, the company went public with an IPO.
05:14Through a process known as a reverse merger, which allowed it not to disclose its numbers.
05:19At first, it was valued at $15 billion.
05:22But in two weeks, by June 19, the shares had doubled in price.
05:27The company reached a valuation of $34 billion.
05:30In September, General Motors acquired a stake in the company for $2 billion.
05:35The price was very favorable.
05:37For that amount of money, they were given as much as 11% of the shares.
05:41In response to such generosity, GM committed to manufacturing Nikola Trucks,
05:46which Nikola continued to actively sell to customers through its website.
05:50It all ended with several investment funds that had invested in his company filing a lawsuit against Nikola.
05:56Claiming that Nikola had made false statements about its technology.
06:00The trial lasted almost a year.
06:02And finally, in July 2021, a federal jury found Trevor Milton guilty on three counts.
06:10Including deceiving investors and committing wire fraud.
06:14As a result, Trevor was released on bail set at $100 million.
06:19At the trial, he pleaded not guilty and said he hadn't done anything illegal.
06:23Trevor still retains a 20% stake in the company.
06:28In his own words, he voluntarily stepped down as the CEO of the company so it could focus on future
06:34projects.
06:35Nikola is still on the market.
06:37Valued at about $5 billion, its shares are still trading.
06:41And to this day, he remains a free man and a billionaire.
06:45Nikola, as they cheerfully say about themselves, continues to move forward under new leadership.
06:50Recently, reports emerged that the company has reached a settlement agreement with regulators by paying $125 million to the US
07:00Securities and Exchange Commission.
07:02The company is demanding reimbursement of this fine and legal costs from Milton, who still remains its largest shareholder.
07:08It is stated that the company is not backing down from its commitments and promises to deliver the first 25
07:14electric trucks to customers in the US by the end of this year.
07:18Or next year, depending on how things go, since promises can be made almost endlessly.
07:23What this exaggerated story has to do with other, more well-known companies on the market is something everyone can
07:29decide for themselves.
07:31Maybe this is really a good example of how you can build a big company and a famous brand from
07:36scratch, so to speak.
07:37A role model?
07:39Or is this just an extreme example that the real economy is no longer needed by anyone?
07:43When there's nothing, you can promise anything you want.
07:46A new era?
07:48Miracles?
07:49Any rate of return you want.
07:51Lying is no longer considered a crime.
07:53Now it's called a personal opinion.
07:55Let's discuss it in the comments.
07:57Thank you for watching, for giving the episode a fair rating, and see you on our channel.
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