Faraday Future is inching closer to the abyss as one of the company’s three co-founders, Nick Sampson, has left the firm and sent an e-mail saying the company is almost broke.
In an e-mail attained by The Verge, Sampson said Faraday Future is “effectively insolvent in both its financial and personnel assets” and will, at best, “limp along for the foreseeable future.” Sampson went on to say he was leaving the company effective immediately as he cannot continue knowing the devastating impact that Faraday Future’s problems are having on its employees, suppliers and the automotive industry as a whole.
Faraday Future spokesperson John Schilling confirmed Sampson’s departure and it’s just the latest blow to the company. One day earlier, Faraday Future’s senior vice president of technology and product development, Peter Savagian, left the troubled automaker.
If losing two key executives wasn’t bad enough, The Verge also obtained an e-mail from Faraday Future CEO Jia Yueting which informed employees that anyone who started working for the company after May 1st would be placed on an unpaid furlough. White collar workers who joined the company prior to that date, will have the option to stay with the automaker but their salary will be cut to $50,000 (£39,045 / €44,162) annually. Blue collar works will have it even worse as these hourly employees will only receive minimum wage and that’s only if they have been with Faraday Future for more than six months.
NBC News reports the furloughs are slated to begin in November and they follow a series of layoffs and salary cuts which occurred earlier this month.
The company’s latest financial problem is a result of a dispute with China’s Evergrande Health Industry Group. Once seen as a savior, Faraday Future now contends the firm is withholding promised funds in an attempt to gain control of the company and its intellectual property.
Faraday Future received a glimmer of hope last week as the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre concluded that Evergrande can no longer prevent Faraday Future from seeking funding from other firms. Faraday spokesman Jacob Brown told NBC News the company is now looking to raise “$500 (£ 90 / €441) million, which will jump start everything and, hopefully, get everything started back up again.”
