Plug in, power up
Green wheels at Fisker
Good morning, battery buffs. This is your Stock Market Rundown for December 8th, 2023. Thanks for riding along with me. Let’s get in gear:
TODAY’S TOP STORY: POWERING THE ELECTRIC DREAM
Billionaire Henrik Fisker is a storied name in automotive design. He redefined the BMW roadster that became James Bond’s ride in GoldenEye, and served as a designer for Aston Martin and Tesla. Now, he’s returning to the roads with new vehicles of his own design—but there could be hazards ahead.
In 2007, Fisker founded an eponymous car company making luxury plug-in hybrid sport sedans. Driven by its sexy flagship, the Karma, Fisker Automotive had 45 dealerships at its peak. Leonardo DiCaprio even owned a Karma—perfect for ferrying his latest underwear-model girlfriend around town. But, beset by problems with its battery supplier, Fisker went bankrupt in 2014.
Henrik retained the trademarks, which made it easy to reboot Fisker a few years later—he even reused the same logo. Since starting over, he’s raised millions and listed on the NYSE.
Now he’s launched deliveries of the Fisker Ocean, an electric SUV with a range of up to 360 miles on a single charge. Car and Driver praised its “zippy acceleration and balanced handling.” Not bad for an SUV, which I usually associate with kids watching Wiggles on their iPad and spilling Cheerios on the floor mats.
The Ocean’s eco-friendliness goes beyond the electric powertrain: the seats are made from recycled ocean plastics. As one reviewer quipped, “you can almost hear the baby sea turtles thanking you.”
It’ll soon be joined in the lineup by the Fisker Ronin, a $385,000 electric supercar scheduled to go into production in 2025. (If this is your dream car, put your deposit down today—Fisker is only making 999 of them)
Getting manufacturing to scale has been tough: the stock hit an all-time low as Fisker slashed its initial production targets for 2023 due to a cash crunch. You’ve definitely gotta be an early adopter to take a risk on a car company teetering on the edge of solvency. That said, if buyers worldwide enjoy Fisker’s vehicles, Tesla could suddenly have some serious competition for the title of “coolest EV company.” Look out, Elon.
SO WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON?
High-profile venture capital firm Tiger Global was revealed to have marked down its stake in Bored Ape Yacht Club by more than half. Some investors really thought the NFT craze was going to transform the art world, but they turned out to be the digital version of Beanie Babies.
Pfizer had to stop trials of its weight loss pill because more than half of the patients puked so much they had to drop out. Not really surprising that it makes you lose weight if every meal is topped off by yakking like you just took a fifth tequila shot.
A judge blocked Montana’s would-be ban on TikTok, stating it’s unconstitutional. It’s not the American way for the government to decide what content people can view online, even if that content is somebody doing the Toosie Slide while spreading conspiracy theories about chemtrails.
Layoffs at Vox and Conde Nast hit hundreds of workers, capping off the worst year ever for job losses in the media industry. Career tip for anybody currently in journalism school: switch to dentistry.
And we're done for the week, respected peers; let's gather again first thing Monday morning for more nonsense. Yours in capitalism, The Axe
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