We learned last month that despite Fisker beginning production on its Ocean SUV, the startup automaker lost nearly half a billion dollars last year and desperately needed a bailout. Nissan was reportedly in negotiations to give Fisker $400 million, but that apparently fell through, so it looked like bankruptcy was the only option. Don’t you worry, though, Fisker is totally back, baby! In fact, Business Insider reports that a total of four automakers are currently competing to buy the struggling startup.
Founder Henrik Fisker reportedly shared this information with employees at an all-hands meeting on Thursday. Fisker didn’t name the automakers that are interested, but he did tell the staff, “We still have some time to get other offers on Fisker. We do have four car companies that have signed NDAs. However, they obviously need time to get to some diligence.”
How long it will take for those companies to do their due diligence is unclear, but considering we already know Fisker lost millions of dollars in customer payments, we’re not exactly confident that it has its books in order. If this is actually going to happen, there’s a good chance it’s going to take a while.
Apparently, there’s already been an offer, which Fisker reportedly rejected because they didn’t show up at the table with enough money. If there’s plenty of interest from other automakers, we kind of understand holding out for more, but at the same time, Fisker reportedly told staff earlier in the week that it could file for bankruptcy in the next 30 days if it didn’t find more cash. As of April 16, the company’s filings claimed it only had $54 million on hand and “believes that its available liquidity will not be sufficient to meet its current obligations.”
So maybe taking the low offer would have been the smart thing to do, but hopefully, for the sake of the employees, one of the four companies that is currently in negotiations with Fisker will make a better offer and then fix everything that’s wrong with the Ocean.