Author 丨 Cui Liwen
Responsible editor 丨 Xu Jinkai
Edit 丨 Chic
"Often once the scars of untrustworthiness exist, even if they have gradually healed, they are still at risk of being ruthlessly uncovered at any time."
Not long ago, in the article "Hunting Jia Yueting", he used such a sentence to point out the biggest dilemma he faced. From the moment of popularity, to the rapid collapse, to the departure from the United States, to the disappearance, to the comeback. Jia Yueting's experience is enough to make a movie with full attention.
With the passage of time, what has changed is the environment in which the entire new energy market is located, and what has not changed is that FF still carries Jia Yueting's "car-making dream". And when most people once again cast doubts and voices of contempt on what this orator did, I always want to defend him, try to show the complete truth, and prove the purity of the so-called "original intention".
However, just after the Spring Festival holiday, as FF's "American scam" continued to be ruthlessly exposed. In the face of the naked truth, everything seems to return to the familiar bridge: whenever hope is rekindled, it will be hit in the head.
Old mistakes, committed again
"FF will never be able to sell a car. So far, it's nothing more than a barrel of money raised from American investors and then poured money into a debt black hole created by its founder, Jia Yueting, China's best-known securities fraudster. ”
"This short report is completely cold and hot, nonsense, and it is not the first time that the agency has been punched in the face."
In October last year, J Capital Research, an American short-selling agency, released a 28-page short-selling report, questioning FF's R&D investment, production capacity, capital operation performance and the founders themselves.
Subsequently, Jia Yueting responded to the circle of friends for the first time. Under the tit-for-tat confrontation, the two sides seemed to have reached the point of sword fighting.
Just a few days ago, in response to this matter, the FF Independent Directors Special Committee announced that the investigation had been officially completed after more than three months. As a result, there are certain inconsistencies in the company's investor statements and certain weaknesses in the company's control and culture.
More simply, the "inconsistency" refers directly to the falsification of the number of orders for the first product, FF91. FF officials have announced that the number of new car orders has reached 14,000 units. After the investigation, it was found that only a few hundred users actually chose to pay, which was seriously reduced.
Such a result also directly proves that after many ticket jumps, the FF91, which is scheduled to be officially mass-produced and delivered in July this year, has not subverted the ultra-luxury car market like Jia Yueting's "shouting", and has been warmly sought after by end consumers. On the contrary, the latter's attitude is becoming more and more cold.
Returning to the most realistic product level, when FF 91 debuted many years ago, it was admitted that it was a product that was eye-catching enough and perfectly integrated with the sense of technology and luxury, but at the moment, there was no "leading" to speak of, whether it was at the level of three electricity, intelligent level and even brand tone and other multi-dimensional, completely reduced to a latecomer.
As for the "certain weaknesses" mentioned in the survey results, it points to Jia Yueting's current role in the entire FF. As we all know, as early as 2019, Jia Yueting resigned as CEO, transferred to CPUO (Chief Product & User Experience Officer), appointed Bi Fukang as global CEO, and openly recruited the position of global chairman.
After understanding, it was learned that CPUO is a newly established position in the company, mainly responsible for the overall implementation of the Internet ecosystem strategy, leading artificial intelligence, product definition, user acquisition, user experience and user operation and other related work.
After serving as the global CEO of FF, Bi Fukang was mainly responsible for leading the core team to achieve strategic goals, as well as the landing of technology and products, managing the operation of the team, and focusing on promoting the financing activities that were underway at that time.
Between the two sides, according to their respective areas of expertise, there seems to be a reasonable division of labor. But after the investigation, it was found that the deviation was very large. Since FF's backdoor listing in July last year, its officials have concealed or deliberately downplayed Jia Yueting's role in the company.
The real situation is that in recent years, Jia Yueting is still the actual ruler of the entire FF. Even from the news dug up by foreign media, the identity of Wang Jiawei, vice president of FF's global capital market, is Jia Yueting's nephew. In other words, the so-called "own people" are still being installed within the company.
What needs to be known is that FF's financing has been blocked many times before, and the biggest problem that investors are worried about is that Jia Yueting, who has lost his credibility, will continue to firmly grasp the power after the restart of FF. Unexpectedly, this is indeed the case.
As for the order volume fraud, during the period when he was in charge of LeTV, Jia Yueting's usual means were false publicity and exaggerated marketing. Therefore, in April 2021, Due to ten consecutive years of financial fraud and non-public issuance fraud, LeTV and Jia Yueting were fined 240 million yuan by the CSRC respectively.
And this time to FF, obviously, his old problem, again.
There is only one chance left
"Do you think Jia Yueting still has a chance?" Do you think FF can still be achieved? ”
To be fair, with the announcement of the results of the investigation, the naked truth has been fully revealed, and the above two issues have become the most concerned by everyone at this stage. However, the arguments currently in hand alone are not enough to give a fairly accurate answer. As a bystander, what is certain is that there is really not much time left for Jia Yueting and FF to squander.
However, it is worth noting that the Independent Directors Special Committee said after the investigation that other allegations faced by FF, including the relevant reports of the previous short-selling agency J Capital Research, have not been directly proved by the review evidence. That is to say, the direction of the plot still leaves hope and room.
At the same time, the Independent Directors Special Committee issued a rectification measure, namely the appointment of Susan Swenson as the executive chairman of the board, and Jia Yueting and Bi Fukang will report directly to Susan Swenson. At the same time, both will have their annual base salary cut by 25 percent. Wang Jiawei, vice president of FF's global capital markets, was immediately suspended.
Obviously, a sudden change is taking place within FF. Jia Yueting's power has been stripped down and turned into a nailed fact. And what the special committee of independent directors did was to keep the company running. After all, judging only from the feedback given by the capital markets, the situation is still becoming less optimistic.
As of the close of trading on February 7, EST, its share price closed at $4.080 per share, a decline of 5.56%, and its total market value was $1.323 billion, a decline of more than 70% compared with the $4.5 billion it had once listed.
The reason behind it is very simple. "Because there are a small number of front-runners as a model, investors' examination standards for new car companies are becoming more and more stringent, and no one is a fool, so for those roles who still have speculative psychology to enter, the fig leaf is easily removed completely, and the environment has changed."
Thus turning its attention to the domestic new energy market, from January last year, Geely Holdings disclosed to the outside world and signed a framework cooperation agreement with FF; to March FF officially announced that chen Xuefeng, the former Chery Jaguar Land Rover "young marshal", officially joined as the CEO of FF China; to July, it was rumored that Zhuhai state-owned assets participated in the FF listing, injecting 2 billion yuan; and then to september FF Futurism Day, revealing that the cooperation between the two sides with Geely Holdings has made substantial progress and realized the first stage of technical cooperation.
The pace of FF's return to China seems to have not stopped for a moment, but the bigger problem has also been exposed: this ill-fated new force to build a car, the first product FF91 is located in the United States mass production work, is still hindered, the prospects are unknown, and how much energy to take care of another sector that requires huge manpower, material resources and financial resources? Will you lose sight of one or the other?
Perhaps, by the end of this year, the answer will be revealed. Judging from Bi Fukang's answer, "all kinds of resources at the FF Hanford plant have been put in place, and there are clear nodes in the progress of plant construction and equipment installation, all of which are to achieve our goals." "Not surprisingly, the delivery node of FF91 is still in July.
At that time, who is lying, what is the purpose of FF's comeback, the answer will be revealed. At this moment, all we can do is observe calmly and wait patiently.
At the end of the article, I still want to say that looking back at the bits and pieces that Jia Yueting has experienced over the past few decades, it can be affirmed that he is an entrepreneur with a keen sense of smell, but he is by no means a manager who can keep the country.
Patterns, personalities, and abilities limit the growth of the companies they control. Therefore, in the face of the difficulties and challenges that are visible to the naked eye on the road ahead, the future of FF is not clear.
And the chance, really only once left...