Written by Cláudio Afonso | LinkedIn | X
Nikola filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Delaware on Wednesday, stating it expects to cease operations by the end of March and sell its intellectual property.
The company’s founder and former CEO, Trevor Milton, reacted a few hours later attacking (again) both the chief executive Stephen Girsky and the chief legal officer Britton Worthen.
Since returning to social media in the first days of 2025, Milton had accused Nikola‘s leaders of mismanagement claiming they should be held accountable.
“I have tried unsuccessfully to replace the board of directors at Nikola over the last 2 years, leading all the way up to their bankruptcy filing,” Milton wrote on LinkedIn this Wednesday,
“I tried to save the shareholders from incompetence and brand destruction led by Steve Girsky and Britton Worthen,” he added.
The former CEO said Nikolas chief “surrounded himself by those protecting him and his multi million dollar salaries while the employees suffered.” Milton went on to add that Girsky “authorized nearly 100 million dollars to be spent on attorneys to attack me rather than executing a brilliant business plan that had every chance to be successful.”
Nikola’s Retain Bonus
In the bankruptcy filing, the company said its Board of Directors “adopted a retention bonus program to incentivize certain employees to remain employed” until the closing of the bankructy process.
Under the program, the EV maker said “certain employees […] whose role and services are vital to the near-term operations” and/or “whose role or skills are important from an intellectual property, technical or operational standpoint” are eligible to receive a bonus.
The bonus amount will be “equal to between 10% and 50% of such eligible employee’s current annual base compensation,” the company explained before guaranteeing that no bonus will surpass $500,000.
“Now, In their chapter 11 filings Steve Girsky decided to pay himself a retention bonus along with other executives that have already sucked millions out of the company while telling employees they are now fired.”
“This is what happens when you frame a founder and destroy a brand. For all future founders, don’t let anyone in Nikola current management anywhere near your company,” he stated. “What a sad day for everyone. Expected, but sad.”
In the chapter 11 filing, Nikola‘s CEO stated that the company “faced various market and macroeconomic factors that have impacted our ability to operate,” as it happened with “other companies in the EV industry.”
Last October, the company’s chief financial officer Tom Okray stated that the company had a cash runway of “five to six months,” with a monthly burn rate of $30 million to $40 million.
