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Faraday Future is doling out big raises and bonuses to its CEO as well its founder, despite having delivered just 13 cars in its 10-year history, and recently laying off or furloughing the majority of its workforce.
The company announced in a regulatory filing Wednesday that CEO Matthias Aydt’s salary is getting bumped from $400,000 up to $700,000. He will also receive a “one-time recognition bonus” of $500,000, an “annual discretionary target bonus” of $700,000, and two annual stock grants worth more than $4 million.
Founder Jia Yueting’s $450,000 salary is increasing to $680,000. He is also receiving a $500,000 recognition bonus, and an annual discretionary target bonus of $816,000, as well as two annual stock grants worth more than $4 million.
This all comes at a time when the company has been scrounging for money. It finished the second quarter of 2022 with just $793,000 of unrestricted cash. Earlier this week, it announced $22.5 million in new financing commitments in the form of convertible notes and warrants.
Faraday Future has barely sold any EVs to date, and has been accused of faking some of the sales it did in a pair of whistleblower lawsuits. (Faraday Future has disputed these claims, but also admitted in regulatory filings that a third employee has come forward.) Meanwhile, the company laid off or furloughed hundreds of employees, and the ones who do remain are on drastically reduced salaries. It was nearly evicted from its Los Angeles headquarters in February 2024. The company was able to reach an agreement with the property owner.
Faraday Future also continues to be under active investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission, which sent the company two more subpoenas in the first half of this year.
There are some conditions to the raises and bonuses. In the immediate future, Aydt and Jia will actually be paid at a pro-rated base salary of $550,000 and $612,000, respectively, and they have to agree to spend at least $340,000 of that money on buying company shares. They will only receive the rest of their raises if, and when, the company restores the full salaries of all other employees. (Both Aydt and Jia had been working at reduced salaries as well.)
The one-time bonuses will be paid out in chunks, with each of them receiving 25% of the money on September 30, another 25% on October 31, and the remainder on the earlier of September 30, 2025 or the completion of a funding round greater than $30 million.
The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
