Faraday Future, the electric vehicle company founded by Jia Yueting, announced on Thursday that a number of company executives have voluntarily signed salary cuts and stock purchase agreement plans, including founder Jia Yueting, new CEO Matthias Aydt, and current CEO Chen Xuefeng. Just a day ago, Faraday Future said that after spending nearly a year, the company had regained Nasdaq's minimum listing price requirement of $1.
Due to the long-term sluggish share price, Faraday Future is in danger of delisting. In order to regain Nasdaq's listing requirements, Faraday Future has obtained two 180-day grace periods from Nasdaq to ensure that the stock price stands at $1, and has conducted a reverse stock split to this end.
Faraday Future said its executives agreed to use half of their salaries to buy company stock within three months. The shares will be locked for at least 180 days from the date of issuance. Regarding the salary cut and stock purchase plan, Faraday Future said: "After reviewing the company's stock price performance, management believes that Faraday Future's stock price is undervalued by the market, so executives hope to demonstrate their commitment and confidence in the company by signing these agreements."
Earlier this month, Faraday Future issued a statement claiming that the company’s stock price had been manipulated. "Faraday Future has recently observed a series of suspicious activities that the company believes indicate a coordinated effort to undermine the company's valuation through the spread of misinformation and manipulation of market sentiment," Faraday Future said. The company also said it would take legal action if illegal activity involving its shares is discovered.
In addition to Jia Yueting and new CEO Adette, Faraday Future’s current CEO Chen Xuefeng, interim chief financial officer Jonathan Maroko, chief accounting officer Yun Han and others also signed the agreement. Faraday Future announced earlier on Thursday that Edt will succeed Chen Xuefeng as global CEO from September 29 this year, and the latter will continue to serve as CEO of China.
As of Thursday's close, Faraday Future's stock price fell 6.2%. After Faraday Future announced a plan to cut wages and buy shares, the company's stock price rose 5.45% to $3.86 in after-hours trading. So far this year, Faraday Future’s share price has fallen by 84%.