GM is selling its stake in embattled EV startup Lordstown Motors

The electric vehicle startup Lordstown is being sold by General GM. The company's initial equity value was $75 million, but GM owned less than 5 percent. The Detroit Free Press reported the news.

The sale took place during the fourth quarter of 2021. The sale was confirmed by James Cain, a spokesman for GM.

The stock sale is the beginning of the end for GM. GM's announcement that it would be closing down its Lordstown factory is what started the company. The decision to sell the plant to a struggling electric truck startup was made after Donald Trump criticized GM over the decision.

Steve Burns, the founder and former CEO of Workhorse, started a new company called Lordstown motors with the plan to build electric pickup trucks. GM invested $75 million in the company, $25 million of which was cash, and another $50 million in the form of plant assets and operating costs.

The factory has put about $240 million into getting ready to build the electric pickup truck, the Endurance. It went public last summer after merging with a special acquisition company.

The CEO was forced out after he lied. Production goals were slashed. The company revealed that it only has enough money to last through mid-2022.

Lordstown announced last September that it would sell the former GM factory to Foxconn for $230 million. The company said it would loan out space from Foxconn while it searched for contract manufacturers to help with the production of the Endurance.

The executives of Lordstown told investors this week that they were looking to raise $250 million to build 500 electric trucks. The factory deal with Foxconn was not as far along as they had thought.