Electric truck startupis making another attempt Thursday to clear a shareholder hurdle to raise new funds – over the objections of its disgraced and now-departed founder.
The long-embattled company is seeking to raise money by issuing new stock, a process that requires shareholder approval. Nikola's June 1 annual shareholder meeting was abruptly adjourned after its founder and former CEO and chairman, Trevor Milton, voted against the proposal. The company has spent the past month rallying shareholders to vote for the proposal in sufficient numbers to overcome Milton's"no" vote. The final vote tally will be announced when Nikola's shareholder meeting reconvenes at noon ET.
Milton remains Nikola's largest shareholder. He owns 11% of the company's stock outright and controls roughly 9% more via an investment vehicle that he co-owns, giving him effective control of about 90 million shares in total. Votes representing roughly 95 million shares were cast against the share-increase proposal as of June 1. Milton's"no" vote was first reported byNikola isn't in urgent need of cash, but the flexibility to sell more stock is important to its future. Nikola raised $200 million via a convertible note issue in May, and it had $385 million in cash and another $409 million available via an equity line from Tumim Stone Capital as of March 31, for a total of about $1 billion on hand.