Former Lordstown Motors CEO Unloads Another $1.5M in Stock

LORDSTOWN, Ohio – The founder and former CEO of Lordstown Motors Corp. has sold off another $1.5 million worth of company stock, according to a regulatory filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

According to the filing, Stephen S. Burns sold off 4,363,647 shares in seven transactions between May 5 and May 16, ranging in price from 32 cents per share to 36 cents per share. 

Two weeks ago, Lordstown Motors reported in a filing that Burns had sold off more than $2.4 million worth of Lordstown stock between March 8 and May 2.

Burns has cashed in more than $62.5 million in Lordstown stock since November 2021, records show.

Burns still owns 5.2% of the company’s stock, with 12,457,306 shares, SEC documents say.

Two years ago, Burns was the largest single shareholder of Lordstown Motors, holding approximately 30% of Class A Common stock, according to records.

Shares of Lordstown Motors, which trade on Nasdaq under the ticker RIDE, have lost 87% of their value over the past 52 weeks. RIDE stock closed Thursday at 30 cents per share and was down 1% in pre-market trading Friday. 

Burns, who founded the company in 2019, resigned in June 2021 after an internal investigation found that Lordstown Motors executives misled the public and exaggerated the number of preorders for the Endurance, the all-electric pickup that is in limited production at Foxconn’s plant here.

A new leadership team was appointed, and the company developed an entirely new business strategy.

Lordstown Motors sold its plant, the former General Motors Assembly factory, for $230 million in May 2022 to Foxconn, which is contracted to build the Endurance.

However, a dispute over future investments from Foxconn into Lordstown Motors has cast serious doubt in Lordstown Motors’ future. The company said in a recent regulatory filing that it would consider bankruptcy should Foxconn withhold future investments or another investor fails to step up to partner with the company.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.