Written by Cláudio Afonso | LinkedIn | X
After a third round of furloughs and a factory shutdown at EV startup Canoo, the Oklahoma State Department of Commerce warned it is taking steps to safeguard taxpayers and will pursue clawing back public funds if necessary.
The Department of Commerce, which facilitated some of the state’s promised incentives for Canoo, stated to local outlet News4 that only $1 million has been paid to the company so far.
“After finding out about Canoo’s decision to furlough employees and idle its Oklahoma City factory, we are taking steps to protect taxpayers, and if necessary, will explore avenues to claw back public dollars,” the Oklahoma State Department of Commerce told Canoo.
A former senior employee told News4 that Canoo never produced any vehicles in Oklahoma, claiming the company only operated the machines during demonstrations for media or investors.
“They hired too many, too quick, and paid too much,” the former employee said. “Everybody was a boss, and everybody wanted to be everybody’s boss… everybody had a director title, so nobody’s doing anything.”
In a new SEC filing, Canoo said earlier this week it is “in advanced discussions with various capital sources.” As of the end of September, the company had cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash of $16 million.
Speaking to EV, an internal source revealed on Thursday that employees of Aquila’s AFV Management Advisors are paid through Canoo’s payroll system while adding that these have not been affected by the recent three waves of furloughs.
Canoo said on Wednesday that it had furloughed another 82 employees, just one week after confirming the second temporary staff reduction.
In a statement, the company led by Tony Aquila said the latest furlough affects “both salaried and hourly” workers adding that it is “idling its factories in Oklahoma while it works to finalize securing the capital necessary to move forward with its operations.”
Last Friday, Canoo confirmed in a SEC filing that it had furloughed “an additional 10 employees” bringing the total number to “50 non-essential employees over the last 90 days.” With the new round, the number climbs to 132 workers.
While Canoo did not disclose which teams were affected in last week’s furlough (or their duration), affected employees told EV that the furlough period is twelve weeks, or roughly three months — the same as in the previous round announced in early November.
Written by Cláudio Afonso | LinkedIn | X
