“We generally do not comment on rumors,” Lucid CEO Silvio Napoli said in a statement on Wednesday. “But the claims circulated yesterday were so far from the facts that they require a direct response. Lucid is not considering bankruptcy or a transaction to take the company private.”
The claims came from a report posted by news outlet Electric Vehicles (EV) that said Lucid’s restructuring adviser AlixPartners had been asked to deliver findings for the automaker’s board ahead of its next meeting, and were reviewing a take-private deal and bankruptcy, among other options. The blog cited an anonymous source that it said was familiar with the matter.
It only took about an hour for Lucid stock to drop more than 55 percent on Tuesday, triggering multiple trading halts because of volatility.
The Saudi Arabia-backed company denied the report in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) the same day.
Lucid’s Chief Communications Officer Nick Twork also denied the report through a post on X and said that the company has sufficient liquidity to carry its operations into next year.
“Our focus is on improving execution, strengthening operations, and positioning Lucid to realize the full potential of its technology, products, and innovation,” he said. “AlixPartners is assisting us in that and nothing else and has not recommended bankruptcy to management or the Board.”
Twork later said the company sent EV’s parent company, Carba, a cease-and-desist letter that again adamantly denied its claims and demanded that it retract its initial report and a follow-up article that it published.
“The articles contain numerous false factual assertions concerning Lucid’s Board of Directors, its financial condition, and the work being performed by AlixPartners,” the letter said. “Your actions caused serious injury to a number of investors. And they injured, and continue to injure, Lucid directly.”
This sent Lucid stock up almost 95 percent from the intra-day low and the company closed at a near 17 percent loss on the day.
The same day, EV released another report responding to Lucid in which the publication stood by its initial claims.
“[Lucid] did not directly address whether AlixPartners had been asked to evaluate a take-private or a Chapter 11 filing as scenarios,” EV said. “On liquidity, the company’s position and the reporting are not in conflict, since EV’s account described the strategic review against the backdrop of the company’s cash position rather than asserting an imminent cash shortfall.”
The Epoch Times reached out to EV, but the company declined to make any additional comment.
Cláudio Afonso, editor-in-chief and founder of the publication and its parent company, was the author of the articles.
On Wednesday, the company strongly denied the claims again and reiterated Twork’s response in a press release and through its CEO, Silvio Napoli, on Linkedin.
“Those reports are false. The Board did not explore either scenario. Period,” Napoli, who became CEO last month, said. “My priority is clear: turn this company around. That is where the leadership team and I are focused.”
Lucid stock went up over 25 percent on Wednesday, even surpassing where it was before EV’s initial article.
However, the company is still down over 74 percent since a year ago and has experienced serious financial trouble in recent years.
