Fisker lays off hundreds of workers as the embattled EV startup struggles to stay afloat

Beleaguered electric vehicle startup Fisker has reportedly laid off hundreds of employees as part of the effort to stay afloat. The news comes as the company seeks funding, a potential buyout, or prepare for bankruptcy.

According to a report by Business Insider, Fisker announced the layoffs during an all-hands meeting on Wednesday morning. Sources revealed that CEO Henrik Fisker claimed he was not directly involved in the decision. Four employees who attended the meeting expressed frustration, saying the CEO attempted to shift responsibility for the staff cuts, raising concerns about his accountability for the company’s precarious financial situation.

Business Insider, citing multiple current and former employees, reported that suspicions of impending layoffs arose when the company directed all employees to work from home on Wednesday, an unusual directive for Fisker.

“The general gist of the meeting was Henrik was saying ‘These are not my layoffs,'” a former Fisker employee who witnessed the meeting said. The employee later found out that their role had been eliminated.

Shortly after the meeting, dozens of workers discovered they were affected by the layoffs when they lost access to the company’s internal systems, according to two employees who were among those let go. The employees later received an email from human resources confirming they had been impacted by the cuts.

“You have not one time taken responsibility for what’s going on at Fisker,” the employee wrote in the Teams chat, according to the screenshot. “I am here for 8 months and not once did you acknowledge mistakes by our leadership. It’s always others.”

Recently, Fisker appointed a chief restructuring officer with sole authority over certain financial decisions. While the exact number of layoffs remains unclear, estimates from a current and a recently laid-off employee suggest that only about 150 employees remain. This announcement follows another wave of cuts in the previous weeks.

Fisker has undergone several rounds of layoffs this year. In February, the company announced a 15% reduction in its workforce. As of April 19, Fisker employed 1,135 people, according to a regulatory filing. However, that number was reduced following layoffs in late April, another round in late May, and the most recent cuts on Wednesday.

During the meeting, Henrik Fisker informed employees that a significant investor, to whom the company owes money, and the chief restructuring officer working on the investor’s behalf, pushed for more layoffs. Fisker has not disclosed the identity of the investor behind the convertible debt investment, though he mentioned Heights Capital Management, an affiliate of Susquehanna International Group, during the meeting, according to two employees.

Despite the extensive layoffs, Henrik Fisker adopted a somber but determined tone, emphasizing that the company had built “something great” and would continue to sell its Ocean SUV, its sole EV model, to interested customers.

Fisker’s challenges have intensified throughout the year, marked by an indefinite halt to Ocean crossover production, the closure of its California headquarters, and multiple rounds of layoffs. Additional job cuts were confirmed today through social media posts and accounts from former employees.

A Fisker spokesperson declined to confirm or deny the layoff reports, stating that the company “[does not] comment on internal employee matters.”