https://www.theverge.com/2019/3/24/18279785/faraday-future-the9-china-car-investment-deal Faraday Future strikes deal to make cars in China with mobile gaming company Mar 24, 2019 Sean O'Kane
China’s The9 Limited says it might contribute up to $600 million to help Faraday Future ship a new car in China in 2020 [image / Phil Esposito / The Verge https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/63291370/faraday_ff91_sized.0.jpg ] Troubled electric car startup Faraday Future has received another surprise lifeline in the form of a new 50/50 joint venture partnership with Chinese online video game company The9, the EV company announced Sunday. The9 says it’s willing to contribute up to $600 million to the overseas joint venture, and Faraday Future has promised to use that money to make a new car in China (and for the Chinese market) by 2020 called the V9. The new car will be based on the FF91, the ultra-luxury electric SUV that Faraday Future debuted at CES 2017, and the one that it’s spent the last few years struggling to get into production. The9 and Faraday Future claim they will be able to make 300,000 cars per year, though they have not shared where they would be built. "Faraday Future will use the money to develop a new car based on the one it’s tried to make for four years" Faraday Future says the new joint venture will also help the startup try to get the FF91 into production in 2019 in the US. The9 says in its own release that it will make an initial deposit of $5 million, which Faraday Future says it will use to “overcome its short-term cash flow difficulties and support its ongoing equity financing efforts.” The9 said in a filing with the SEC that the $600 million will go to the joint venture — not to Faraday Future’s US operations — in three $200 million installments all tied to milestones. The first will come within two months, as long as joint venture has been properly set up in Hong Kong. Faraday Future then has four and a half months to provide evidence that it’s secured land and local funding for a factory in China to unlock the second $200 million deposit. After that, Faraday Future has three months to provide the joint venture with the concept design of the V9, which will unlock the final $200 million installment. The news comes just a few days after The Verge reported that Faraday Future had sold its Los Angeles headquarters in a bid to generate short-term cash, and a few weeks after the startup had to tell employees on unpaid leave that they wouldn’t be able to come back just yet ... The9 is publicly traded on the Nasdaq stock exchange, and has a market cap of about $100 million. It’s “one of the earliest enterprises building virtual community in China,” according to a 2018 press release. The9 got its start when it launched an online community called “Ninth City” way back in 1999, where people use virtual currency to “conduct online social and exchange activities such as playing games, reading, music, etc.” It also once held the exclusive license to operate World of Warcraft in China, though it lost that asset in 2009. Known more as a game development company, The9 has also recently moved into blockchain technology. Founded in 2014, Faraday Future originally made waves as a secretive startup that hoovered up a ton of talent from the likes of Apple, Tesla, and most every traditional automaker. The startup found itself on the brink of financial insolvency at the end of 2017 in large part because of the high cost of designing and manufacturing a car from scratch, but also the financial mismanagement of founder and CEO Jia Yueting. Jia took over control of the company in 2017 after self-exiling himself to the US in order to escape the collapse of his other company, LeEco, in China. Jia and LeEco (and the myriad related companies spawned in and around it) are still on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars in China, which has resulted in him being placed on a national debtor blacklist. "The9 used to have the exclusive rights to operate World of Warcraft in China" Faraday Future was rescued at the end of 2017 by Chinese real estate conglomerate Evergrande, which pledged $2 billion to the startup. But the relationship between Evergrande and Faraday Future eventually soured in 2018. Faraday Future spent the first installment of that investment ahead of schedule, and when Jia asked for an advance on the remaining money, the two sides got locked in a heated battle for control over the EV startup that ultimately led to hundreds of layoffs, the departure of numerous executives and Jia’s only remaining co-founder, and a delay of the FF91. Evergrande and Faraday Future eventually agreed to restructure the deal at the end of 2018, allowing the EV startup to seek new funding in order to get its car into production. But Faraday Future struggled over the last few months to lock down a deal, and in the meantime hundreds of employees remained on unpaid leave, while others left to start jobs at competing companies. Faraday Future now faces the difficult task of trying to hire talent to fill those positions, many of which are crucial roles. For instance, the company recently lost many of the people in charge of the development of the company’s electric drivetrain to rival EV startup Rivian. [© theverge.com] https://www.bizjournals.com/losangeles/news/2019/03/25/faraday-future-gets-600-million-lifeline.html Faraday Future gets $600 million lifeline from Chinese gaming company 2019-03-25 Struggling electric vehicle maker Faraday Future has secured a new line of funding from an unlikely source: The9 Limited, a Chinese internet company best known as an online game operator. The two ... https://media.bizj.us/view/img/10956296/faradayfutureff91-2*1200xx1600-900-0-0.jpg [dated] Faraday Future> where it was& said it was going ... (v) http://www.thedrive.com/tech/24372/faraday-future-resorts-to-layoffs-salary-cuts-to-stay-alive Faraday Future Resorts to Layoffs, Salary Cuts to Stay Alive 1022 Electric-car startup Faraday Future is laying off employees and cutting the salaries of other staffers while it continues to ... https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=newssearch&cd=22&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiI68n1za3eAhUL0KwKHVacDa84FBCpAggpKAAwAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theverge.com%2F2018%2F10%2F29%2F18038914%2Ffaraday-future-peter-savagian-layoffs&usg=AOvVaw0Wrush0raGrogyXxkajlCe Faraday Future loses EV pioneer amid layoffs 1030The Verge-8 hours ago Peter Savagian, a former chief engineer of General Motors' famous (and ill-fated) EV1 electric car, has left his job as senior vice president at Faraday Future, two ... https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=newssearch&cd=33&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjp8d-a_dXeAhUEc60KHf2HDEA4HhCpAggsKAAwAg&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theverge.com%2F2018%2F11%2F14%2F18094524%2Ffaraday-future-employees-sue-investor-startup-destroy-conspiracy-layoffs&usg=AOvVaw2BrRvVxGO2ze5uSBganePk Faraday Future employees sue investor over 'conspiracy' to destroy ... 15The Verge-11 hours ago Faraday Future employees sue investor over 'conspiracy' to destroy the EV startup ... The battle between ailing electric car startup Faraday Future and its main ... https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=newssearch&cd=30&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjeh9_zueHeAhVJOKwKHYYhBw04FBCpAghBKAAwCQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Ftechnode.com%2F2018%2F11%2F15%2Ffaraday-future-zombie-company%2F&usg=AOvVaw3ezxb7Yhfbaek8n97upkkm Faraday Future: How a “Tesla-killer” became a zombie company TechNode-Nov 14, 2018 The electric vehicle's startup may have begun with high hopes for futuristic concept ... Jia, who ranked 37th on Forbes' 2016 Rich List, saw his personal fortune ... https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=newssearch&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjhlcvwwoffAhUR7awKHecUDbcQqQIIJygAMAA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.businessinsider.com%2Ffaraday-future-putting-more-employees-unpaid-leave-report-2018-12&usg=AOvVaw21nvkkzgJkf4fl1vwq4_7k Faraday Future is reportedly putting at least 250 employees on unpaid ... Business Insider-3 hours ago The electric vehicle startup Faraday Future has put at least 250 employees on ... and the first pre-production version of the FF91 caught fire hours after it was ... https://www.latimes.com/business/autos/la-fi-hy-faraday-20181214-story.html Faraday Future founder faces asset freeze as electric car startup flounders 14Faraday Future continues its downward spiral. A federal judge Thursday temporarily froze founder Jia Yueting’s 33% stake in t... https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=newssearch&cd=22&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiCkdm6pszfAhVNOKwKHfpOBOw4FBCpAggpKAAwAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theverge.com%2F2018%2F12%2F31%2F18162827%2Ffaraday-future-evergrande-settlement-restructuring-china-ev-investor&usg=AOvVaw28qxpxMlrIUmctyJ5wRSXw Faraday Future gets a lifeline as it settles months-long battle with ... The Verge-16 hours ago The war between electric car startup Faraday Future and its main investor, Chinese real estate conglomerate Evergrande, appears to be over. Evergrande ... https://www.theverge.com/2019/2/26/18236223/faraday-future-furlough-employees-delay-money-trouble Faraday Future says hundreds of furloughed employees won’t return to work next week 2019/2/26 EV startup Faraday Future has told employees on “furlough ... Founded in 2014, Faraday Future has spent years designing an electric luxury SUV called the FF91, which is supposed to be faster than most ... https://www.theverge.com/2019/2/28/18243015/faraday-future-money-lawsuits-employees Lawsuits are piling up against Faraday Future as it struggles to find money 28 three of them have jumped ship to a rival. Silva Hiti, a veteran of General Motors who worked on the company’s first production electric car, the EV1, left Faraday Future for EV startup Rivia... https://technode.com/2019/03/21/faraday-future-sells-los-angeles-hq/ Briefing: Faraday Future sells Los Angeles headquarters to stay afloat Mar 21, 2019 Faraday Future just sold its headquarters to help keep the company alive – The Verge What happened: Embattled electric car startup Faraday Future has sold its headquarters in Los Angeles in an attempt ... https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1122228_faraday-future-posts-for-sale-signs-as-evergrande-backer-announces-first-ev Faraday Future posts "For Sale" signs, as Evergrande backer announces first EV Mar 22, 2019 Faraday Future posts "For Sale" signs, as Evergrande backer announces first EV ... NEVS already builds electric cars in China based on the last version of the ... https://images.hgmsites.net/med/faraday-future-ff91-prototype_100664385_m.jpg http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/template/NamlServlet.jtp?macro=search_page&node=413529&query=%22Faraday+Future%22&sort=date Search evdl archive "Faraday Future" + https://www.theverge.com/2019/3/25/18279906/new-ev-startup-canoo-will-only-sell-cars-on-a-subscription-basis New EV startup Canoo will only sell cars on a subscription basis Mar 25, 2019 Electric vehicle startup EVelozcity, which was founded in late 2017 by three former BMW executives (and ex-Faraday Future employees), has a new name and a ... https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/aIpDHSrOZtWm9b-UIij2LKShhfo=/0x0:3600x3000/920x613/filters:focal(1512x1212:2088x1788):format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/63293387/Lifestyle.0.jpg For EVLN EV-newswire posts use: http://evdl.org/archive/ {brucedp.neocities.org} -- Sent from: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/ _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org Please discuss EV drag racing at NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
