Lordstown Motors jumps as the struggling EV maker is reportedly nearing a deal to sell Ohio factory to Foxconn

Lordstown Motors.

Photo Illustration by Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Lordstown Motors is planning to sell its Ohio factory to Foxconn, Bloomberg reported.
The companies would work in parallel at the plant, according to the report.
The deal could be announced as soon as this week.
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Lordstown Motors stock jumped 7% early Thursday as a new report revealed the struggling electric-car maker is planning to sell its Ohio factory to Foxconn, which is expanding into EV manufacturing.

The deal between the two companies could be announced as soon as this week, though financial terms weren't clear yet, sources told Bloomberg.

The pact would allow Foxconn and Lordstown Motors – which originally purchased the highly politicized plant from General Motors in 2019 – to work in parallel at the factory that once housed 10,000 GM workers, Bloomberg reported.

Former President Donald Trump cheered Lordstown's purchase of the shuttered GM plant at the time of the deal and even showed off the electric pickup truck at the White House.

Meanwhile, Foxconn has been pushing into manufacturing electric vehicles in the US. In May, the top assembler of Apple iPhones reached a deal to produce EVs for startup Fisker.

Lordstown Motors declined to comment, and a representative from Foxconn did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

Lordstown, founded in 2018, went public last October in a blank-check merger that valued the company at $1.6 billion. Retail investors pouring into SPACs and electric-vehicle makers have been hyping up the company. But the company has lost about three-quarters of its market value so far this year as its faced several hurdles.

The short-selling firm Hindenburg Research released a report claiming the company misled investors on demand for its electic pickup truck, the Endurance, prompting an inquiry from the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The CEO and CFO then resigned in June, on the same day the company's internal investigation revealed it "made periodic disclosures regarding pre-orders which were, in certain respects, inaccurate."

That same month, Lordstown warned investors of a shortage of cash on hand to start commercial production of its electric pickup. The company originally planned to begin mass producing the Endurance this fall, but now is aiming to start deliveries of its pickup truck next year.

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