Faraday suppliers nurture faint hopes for turnaround

Several suppliers are bracing for Faraday Future to go belly up.

“We’re aware that they may go out of business, but we hope for their success,” said one account executive at a current Faraday supplier, who did not want to be named because the company is still seeking a past-due payment and is seeking to continue doing business with Faraday.

Electric autonomous vehicle manufacturer Faraday Future was supposed to produce vehicles at Apex Industrial Park in North Las Vegas in 2018, but the company signaled Monday that production may or may not end up happening, at least in Nevada, amid a web of financial troubles.

For many suppliers, especially those with past-due payments, the question now is: How much more business should be done with Faraday as companies know they may not recoup those costs?

For the California-based software analysis services company, it’s a question of endurance.

“It’s a large amount of business potentially on the table,” the account executive said. “It’s a relatively small investment on our part to keep them afloat. At the same time, there comes a point — and that point is probably pretty soon — where it doesn’t make sense anymore.”

The executive added that his company is “in the same situation that I think most suppliers are: with some very old unpaid invoices. We’re trying to be as patient as possible to get them up and running again.”

Sam Abuelsamid, a senior analyst for the market research firm Navigant, said it’s reasonable to assume that there are still several suppliers working with Faraday who have past-due payments.

That would not bode well if Faraday were to go bankrupt.

“Suppliers would be fairly low

FARADAY

according to Seth Palansky, a spokesman for the tournament.

It helps keep the hotel humming during the slow summer period for convention business.

“We are keeping the hotel rooms, the restaurants and shows filled,” said Palansky.

Rio boosts its room rates during the peak tournament period from July 6 through Tuesday. Sunday’s promo rate of $329 falls to $49 just one week later, while Monday’s $212 rate drops to $40, according to a marketing email by the hotel-casino’s owner, Caesars Entertainment Corp.

The WSOP is also keeping cash ATM operators busy. Rio has added three ATMS near the convention floor where the WSOP is being held to ensure players can extract some of the $72 million in tournament entry fee. But it’s not just cash players need.

Cashbot, a bitcoin trading operation, is offering to convert WSOP players’ cash winnings to the cryptocurrency for a 7.9 percent fee. Losers needing more cash can sell their bitcoin to Cashbot for a 5.9 percent fee.

“Poker players can run into liquidity issues while traveling,” said Alex Pryor, a WSOP player who founded Cashbot last month.

Pryor said clients have mainly been converting sums more than $10,000. Peter Klamka, owner of Bitcoin Direct LLC, said monthly turnover at his bitcoin ATM near the hotel rises to about $50,000 from $20,000 during the WSOP.

WSOP organizers have to invest millions to keep the event running smoothly, from updating equipment and furniture to expanding mobile coverage.

Organizers order more than a thousand new chairs each year and have Las Vegas-based The Layout Co. put a fresh layer of felt on all 500 poker tables. They order 104,000 packs of poker cards from Brazil-based Copag. The packs retail for $16 and up.

From protein shakes to massages

Poker players have been turning to healthier foods and supplements to maintain stamina over 12 hours of play time, said Palansky. Sales of pan pizzas declined so much over the years that Rio stopped offering them. Demand for fruit and organic foods has risen.

“This is not a Friday night of fun,” said Palansky. “Poker players want more healthy options.”

The change in players’ eating habits has helped give rise to All American Dave, a food truck providing meals such as grass-fed beef burgers, wild Alaskan salmon, vegetables and organic fruit protein shakes specifically for the WSOP.

Owner David Swanson says he sells about 600 to 700 meals a day at around $25 each. He expects to pull in as much as $750,000 during the WSOP.

Players want to take care of their bodies as much as their minds while hunkered down in their chairs. Professional Massage Inc., a Las Vegas-based company offering massage services at casinos and malls, has more than 400 therapists working the WSOP to meet demand for body rubs. Professional Massage charges $2 per minute.

Some players can request massages as long as two hours, especially if they are winning, said Professional Massage Vice President Tori Sadiki. They may also request the same therapist the following day if they won.

“Sometimes players are very superstitious,” she said.

Toilets, Uber and Airbnb

While supplements and massages can help players relieve their stress, only they can relieve themselves. Unfortunately, they all tend to do it at the same time, during the 15- to 20-minute break in play that occurs every two hours.

More than 90 percent of the players are men. That potentially turns a trip to the men’s restroom into an agonizing wait.

The WSOP has ordered two trailers with 22 portable toilets from Posh Enterprises to relieve the problem. A trailer of toilets costs about $5,000 a week, according to Posh.

“The first couple of breaks is really the main crush,” said Palansky of the bathroom dash.

Professional Massage, which normally has about 200 full-time therapists, hires temporary workers from outside the state to fill demand during the WSOP. Palansky said the event faces a similar issue with dealers. It will hire out-of-state workers to fill some of the 2,100 temporary jobs.

Some of those temporary therapists and dealers will find long-term housing through Airbnb and use ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft to get around town.

Contact Todd Prince at 702-3830386 or tprince@reviewjournal.com. Follow @toddprincetv on Twitter.