Henrik Fisker had grim news for his staff when they logged on to a short all-hands meeting Wednesday morning. The electric carmaker was implementing yet another round of layoffs, he said.
Four employees who attended the meeting told Business Insider that the CEO and founder attempted to shift responsibility for the latest staff cuts, frustrating some staff who felt he was failing to take accountability for how the company had gotten to the brink of bankruptcy.
Henrik Fisker told employees he had not been directly involved in the decision to cut staff and instead said the choice to further reduce the company's workforce was made by chief restructuring officer John DiDonato, two employees who attended told BI.
DiDonato, the restructuring officer, is the managing director of Huron Consulting Group and was brought in to help Fisker in April. Fisker was required to install a chief restructuring officer last month after the company missed an interest payment to an unnamed institutional investor and noteholder. The agreement gave the CRO, who reports directly to the company's recently established transaction committee, "sole authority" over decision-making related to a potential sale of the company and "oversight of cash management," according to an April 16 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
"The general gist of the meeting was Henrik was saying 'These are not my layoffs,'" said one worker, who witnessed the meeting and later found out that their role had been eliminated.
Shortly after the meeting, dozens of workers found out they'd been impacted by the cut when they lost access to the company's internal systems, two workers who lost their jobs as part of the cuts told BI. The employees later received an email from human resources notifying them they'd been impacted by the cuts, they said.
At least one Fisker employee took to the company's internal Microsoft Teams channel to criticize Henrik Fisker's comments, according to a screenshot viewed by Business Insider.
"You have not one time taken responsibility for what's going on at Fisker," the employee wrote in the Teams chat, according to the screenshot. "I am here for 8 months and not once did you acknowledge mistakes by our leadership. It's always others."
In another comment viewed by BI, a different employee wrote: "We love you Henrick!!!!! Keep fighting!"
The recent layoffs represent the latest in a series of cuts at Fisker, including a round last week.
The significant staff reductions are designed to eventually bring the workforce down to a group of about 100 employees, one former Fisker employee with knowledge of the issue said.
It's not clear how many employees remain. A spokesperson for Fisker declined to comment. DiDonato, the CRO, did not immediately respond to requests for comment ahead of publication.
Fisker has repeatedly warned over the past few months that the company may go out of business within the year. On April 29, the company sent notices to staffers, in compliance with the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, that they may be laid off in two months if the company can't find a buyer or additional funding.
Do you work for Fisker or have a tip? Reach out to the reporter via a non-work email at gkay@insider.com
