SALT LAKE CITY — Dropping out of Utah Valley University after one semester didn’t keep Trevor Milton from pursuing his entrepreneurial dreams and, indeed, he would go on to earn billionaire status after launching a successful high-tech startup just five years ago.
But the 38-year-old walked away from that business, electric truck innovator Nikola Motor Co., on Sunday amid allegations of misleading investors and reports of inquiries underway by both the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and U.S. Department of Justice.
Earlier this month, an investment firm that specializes in market short-selling that would stand to gain from a drop in Nikola stock prices published a report alleging instances of Milton making false statements about Nikola’s technological innovations in what it called “an intricate fraud.”
Milton and Nikola representatives have disputed the allegations made by Hindenburg Research, including in a Sept. 14 statement that characterized Hindenburg’s claims as an attempt at “market manipulation” timed in accordance with a $2 billion deal with General Motors that gave the Detroit automobile giant an 11% stake in Nikola.
“Nikola believes that the Hindenburg report, and the opportunistic timing of its publication shortly after announcement of Nikola’s partnership with General Motors Co. and the resulting positive share price reaction, was designed to provide a false impression to investors and to negatively manipulate the market in order to financially benefit short sellers, including Hindenburg itself,” the company said in a statement.
Nikola stock was trading near $80 a share in June with a market capitalization exceeding $30 billion. At the close of regular trading on Tuesday, that stock was down to less than $29 a share with a market value south of $10.5 billion.
A Deseret News request to speak with Milton was declined by a Nikola spokeswoman Tuesday who instead referenced a Sept. 20 statement released by the company.
“Nikola is truly in my blood and always will be, and the focus should be on the company and its world-changing mission, not me,” Milton said in the statement. “So I made the difficult decision to approach the board and volunteer to step aside as executive chairman.
“Founding Nikola and growing it into a company that will change transportation for the better and help protect our world’s climate has been an incredible honor.”
While Nikola operated out of Utah in its early days, the company has since moved its headquarters to Arizona.
In a 2016 interview with the Deseret News, Milton said he spent much of his adolescence in southern Utah thinking about ways to build things like locomotives and heavy equipment vehicles. And as a teenager, he liked taking things apart to figure out how they worked.
“I’m a hands-on learner,” said Milton. “I’ve had to learn everything by touching and tearing things apart and learning (about) them.”
He attended one semester of college at UVU and realized his passion for entrepreneurism was much stronger than his desire for a formal education.
“(I have) a very hyper-driven personality,” Milton said.
The 2016 interview took place at a Salt Lake City unveiling event that featured a Nikola prototype semitruck that the company described as equipped with a fully electric drivetrain powered by high-density lithium batteries with energy supplied by a hydrogen fuel cell that gives the truck an estimated range of 800 to 1,200 miles.
Unlike electric vehicles from, say Tesla, which are powered by on-board battery arrays that need to be plugged in and recharged, hydrogen powered vehicles use a combination of electricity-producing fuel cells in combination with batteries, to create zero-emission power. The byproduct of the hydrogen reaction in the fuel cells is water.
Milton unveiled plans in early 2018 to move the company headquarters from Salt Lake to Phoenix, Arizona and announced the goal of growing the company’s employee ranks from 2,000 at the time to some 20,000. The Arizona Commerce Authority announced at the time the state had extended over $40 million in potential tax breaks tied to future hirings to help lure Nikola to Arizona.
Milton made headlines late last year when he paid $32.5 million for a sprawling estate in Oakley, Utah. The Riverbend Ranch features a 16,800-square-foot mansion perched next to the Weber River on a 2,670 acre parcel.
Milton told the Wall Street Journal in November 2019 that the purchase set him apart from other members of his age group.
“I feel like my generation is asset light, wants smaller everything and is moving to cities, which is the opposite of what I wanted in life,” Milton said. “I enjoy the country, space, privacy and wildlife rather than skylights. ... I wanted to create a sanctuary where I could live off the land.”
He also noted the purchase was the first of more to come in Utah.
“I plan on picking up multiple other properties like this one in order to preserve Utah and offer a sanctuary for my family, friends and others to enjoy,” Milton said.
While Nikola has manufactured prototype vehicles, like one used in a promotional delivery of Budweiser beer in 2019, the company has not yet delivered a production semitruck vehicle, though reports indicate it is planning to do so in limited fashion next year.
Following Milton’s resignation, Stephen Girsky, former vice chairman of General Motors Co. and a member of Nikola’s board, was appointed chairman of Nikola Motor Co.’s board of directors.