Tesla rival Lucid set to go public in US$24b deal
LUXURY electric vehicle maker Lucid Motors on Monday agreed to go public by merging with blank-check firm Churchill Capital IV Corp in a deal that valued the combined company at a proforma equity value of US$24 billion.
Lucid, run by an ex-Tesla engineer, is the latest firm to tap the initial public offering market, with investors rushing into the EV sector, spurred by the rise of Tesla Inc and with emissions regulations toughening in Europe and elsewhere.
The deal, with a transaction equity value of US$11.75 billion, includes US$2.1 billion in cash from CCIV and a private investment in public equity investment of 2.5 billion from investors.
Other main players in the sector went public through mergers with so-called special purpose acquisition companies last year. While some deals such as Fisker have delivered well, others such as Nikola have given up short-term gains.
Reuters was first to report last week that Wall Street dealmaker Michael Klein had launched a financing effort to back the Lucid deal.
The publicly traded shares of CCIV fell nearly a third to US$40.35 in volatile extended trading, giving the merged company a market capitalization of about US$64 billion. By comparison, General Motors Co is worth about US$76 billion.
Lucid said it is on track to start production and deliveries in North America in the second half of this year with Lucid Air, its first luxury sedan. It had previously said it planned to start its deliveries in spring of 2021.
Lucid, which plans to build vehicles at its factory in Arizona, aims to deliver 20,000 vehicles in 2022.
With a starting price of US$77,400, the sedan is slated to be the first to achieve a 500-mile (805-kilometer) driving range.
After Lucid priced its sedan, Tesla chief Elon Musk announced a price cut to its flagship Model S sedan. “The gauntlet has been thrown down!” he tweeted.
IN a community center in a deprived London suburb — surrounded by old computers and tangled leads — volunteers take their screwdrivers to the piles of donated equipment.
Their aim? To throw a learning lifeline to the many kids unable to access online lessons during the UK’s latest coronavirus lockdown. Many children in London have struggled to continue their schooling during the pandemic due to a lack of computers or tablets. Since the lockdown introduced in January, the CatBytes group in Lewisham in southeast London has seen demand from local schools constantly outstrip supply.
“The demand from Lewisham is way in excess of what we can deliver,” said CatBytes founder Damian Griffiths.
Schools in England closed in early January as the new variant of coronavirus caused cases to surge. Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced Monday that children in England will return to class and people will be able to meet a friend outside for coffee in two weeks’ time.
Throughout the pandemic, “food insecurity has been the main issue discussed but I think digital (scarcity) is really rising up the ranks,” Griffiths said.
“While children often access the internet on phones, I was surprised at how many don’t have any laptops at home.”
Lewisham is nothing exceptional: The number of children in poverty there is slightly below the average for the capital. CatBytes usually runs workshops for adults, but during the pandemic, it has switched to helping children and has “a lot more volunteers,” Griffiths said.
Marz, who is repairing a donated computer, works as a videographer. Volunteers sort through the laptops, prioritizing ones that can be easily fixed while others are put to one side.
“These we can fix during our little downtimes,” Marz said.
The communications regulator Ofcom estimates that between 1.1 and 1.8 million children in the UK — or 9 percent — do not have access to a computer, laptop or tablet at home.
“They don’t have something appropriate for doing schoolwork or homework,” Griffiths said. “And now, with online learning, online schooling, every child needs a laptop.”
The Department for Education has delivered more than 1 million laptops and tablets to the most disadvantaged children across the country, as part of a US$554 million investment to support schools. Stacey McIntosh, the pastoral manager and safeguarding lead at nearby Rushey Green Primary School, drops in to pick up five laptops for the pupils. While the school received 74 laptops and tablets from the government, as well as some wireless routers, that is not enough.
“There are still children without computers,” she said. “The school has been providing children without devices with printed-out lesson packs but they “have been missing out on key learning from their teacher.”
Her school has received over 30 laptops from CatBytes since January and she says this is important for children socially, too. “During lockdown, the children have lost their friendships, their teachers who they are close to,” McIntosh said. “Being able to give them the opportunity to get online to see their friends virtually in those little squares, well, it’s significant.”
Vital as the computers are, some children face a struggle because their families cannot afford Internet access.
“The main problem is no one knows how to fix is the data problem,” Griffiths said. “With a laptop, you can refurbish it but data is an ongoing cost.”
Ofcom says that 7 percent of households can only access the Internet through a mobile device such as a dongle or USB. A number of data providers, including Vodafone, BT Mobile and O2, are now offering free mobile data increases. Schools and local authorities in England can request this on behalf of children who do not have fixed broadband at home, cannot afford additional mobile data and are experiencing disruption to education.
But Griffiths cautions that users still have to pay at least a small amount, and “that’s probably a problem that would need to be solved at a higher level.”
Being able to give them the opportunity to get online to see their friends virtually in those little squares, well, it’s significant.
Stacey McIntosh
Pastoral manager and safeguarding lead at Rushey Green Primary School
FACEBOOK said yesterday it will lift its ban on Australians sharing news on its platform after it struck a deal with Australia’s government on legislation that would make digital giants pay for journalism.
Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Facebook confirmed that they have agreed on amendments to proposed legislation to require the social network and Google to pay for Australian news they feature.
Facebook’s cooperation is a major victory in Australian efforts to make the two tech giants pay for the journalism that they use.
The company had blocked Australian users from accessing and sharing news last week after the House of Representatives passed the draft law late on Wednesday.
The amended version of the proposed legislation would give digital platforms one month’s notice before they are formally designated under the code. That would give those involved more time to broker agreements before they are forced to enter the binding arbitration arrangements required by the proposed law.
Initially, the Facebook news blockade cut access to government pandemic, public health and emergency services, sparking public outrage.
A statement yesterday by Campbell Brown, Facebook’s vice president for news partnerships, said the deal allows the company to choose which publishers it will support, including small and local ones.
“We’re restoring news on Facebook in Australia in the coming days. Going forward, the government has clarified we will retain the ability to decide if news appears on Facebook so that we won’t automatically be subject to a forced negotiation,” Brown said.
Frydenberg described the agreed upon amendments as “clarifications” of the government’s intent. He said his negotiations with Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg were “difficult.”
“Facebook and Google have not hidden the fact that they know that the eyes of the world are on Australia and that is why they have sought to get a code here that is workable,” Frydenberg said, referring to the proposed News Media Bargaining Code.
The code was designed to curb the bargaining dominance of Facebook and Google in their negotiations with news providers by requiring a negotiation safety net through an arbitration panel.
The digital giants would not be able to abuse their overwhelming negotiating positions by making take-it-or-leave-it offers to news businesses. In case of a standoff, the panel would make a binding decision.