- Lucid stock skyrocketed on Friday on speculation that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund would buy out the remaining stake.
- Saudi Arabia’s PIF currently owns 65% of Lucid, and has not confirmed if it’ll buy the remaining shares.
- Shares were halted 12 times on the Recent York Stock Exchange Friday afternoon because of increased volatility.
Lucid stock skyrocketed on Friday on speculation that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund may buy out the remaining stake of the electrical vehicle maker.
Shares jumped as much as 98% to $17.81 intraday but later pared gains to shut up 43% at $12.87.
Speculation on the potential buyout arose from the web site Betaville, in line with Yahoo Finance. Trades on the stock began to ramp up within the afternoon, leading the Recent York Stock Exchange to halt trading twelve times because of increased volatility.
Saudi Arabia’s PIF first invested $1.3 billion in Lucid in 2018, and it now owns around 65% of the shares today. The fund also bought 41 million shares of Tesla around that point, but has since sold off the stake within the rival EV maker.
The fund has not publicly confirmed if it’ll buy the remaining shares of Lucid.
Previously, Lucid’s stock price slid 76% from its all-time-high of $55.21 in late 2021, mirroring the decline in other tech and EV stocks because of rising inflation and aggressive rate hikes from the Fed.
The corporate can also be expected to face increased competition this 12 months after Tesla slashed prices on several of its models, which is putting pressure on other EV firms to lower prices.