Nikola
EV/hydrogen trucksUSA
New to Unitard
π Dead / Bankrupt
PeakΒ $30 BillionToday
~-99%
from peak
- π¦Became a unicornJun 2020
- πPeak valuation$30 Billion β20
- πBecame a UnitardFeb 2025
- πΈLast valuationWiped out
π₯ Raised & burned
$760M
Total raised
$196K/day
Burned Β· 10.6y alive
Funding: Tracxn/Crunchbase
Current status
Chapter 11 (Feb 2025); liquidation effective Dec 2025
The rise & fall
8 moments Β· 2014β2025The key moments, with employee sentiment along the way.
2014
2014
Founded by Trevor Milton
A promise of hydrogen-electric semis, named β like a certain rival β after Tesla.
Wikipedia
Jun 2020
Jun 2020
SPAC debut β briefly worth more than Ford$30B
Lists via VectoIQ and rockets to ~$30B without meaningful revenue.
CNBC
Sep 2020
Sep 2020
The Hindenburg report
Short-sellers allege the flagship truck video showed it rolling downhill; Milton resigns within two weeks.
Hindenburg/CNBC
Oct 2022
Oct 2022
Milton convicted of fraud
A jury finds he lied to investors about the technology.
DOJ SDNY
2023β24
From the inside Β· Glassdoor reviews, 2023β24
Employees called the ending years early: Glassdoor reviews flagged money running out as far back as February 2023, and described hiring sprees followed by unannounced mass layoffs, revolving-door CEOs, and pressure to publish performance claims engineers said weren't fully vetted.
Feb 2025
Feb 2025
Chapter 11 β joins the Unitard Club π
Files for bankruptcy after burning through billions; liquidation follows by December.
Court filing
Mar 2025
Mar 2025
Milton pardoned
CNBC
$29.7Bof peak value erased Β· 11 years
π¬ entries paraphrase anonymous, unverified reviews posted publicly on Glassdoor β; dated facts carry their source.
How it happened
Nikola, an electric and hydrogen truck startup, briefly surpassed Ford's market value at a ~$30B peak after its June 2020 SPAC listing. A short-seller report and fraud allegations against founder Trevor Milton β convicted in 2022, later pardoned in 2025 β undercut its claims. Nikola filed for Chapter 11 in February 2025 and moved into liquidation effective December 2025.
Source: CNBC; Milton convicted 2022, pardoned Mar 2025; Ch.11 Feb 2025
Where they went
- Trevor Miltonfounder & former CEO/chairman (peak)Chief Executive Officer at SyberJet Aircraft
Current roles as self-reported on LinkedIn, retrieved 2026-08-19. See our methodology.
