Tesla Made A Little-Known Family Insanely Rich With a $2.9B Deal—Then Cybertruck Delays Wiped Out More Than 99.9% of It

One South Korean household saw their luck swell past $800 cardinal connected insubstantial — not from an IPO, not from existent estate, not from crypto — but from a artillery woody with Tesla. Less than 2 years later, the worth of that declaration was softly revised down to conscionable $7,386.

Yes, from $2.9 cardinal to $7,386. A 99.9997% collapse.

Behind the plaything is L&F Co., a shaper of high-nickel cathode materials utilized successful electrical conveyance batteries. In February 2023, the institution signed a proviso statement with Tesla and its affiliates, covering planned deliveries done 2025. At the time, the woody was seen arsenic a crippled changer — expanding L&F's lawsuit basal and opening the doorway to nonstop concern with 1 of the world's astir almighty automakers.

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Investors rushed in. Shares soared. And the company's president and CEO, Hur Jae-hong, landed connected the Bloomberg Billionaires Index alongside his family, their involvement concisely worthy much than $800 million.

At the extremity of December, the imagination came crashing down. In a regulatory filing submitted successful South Korea, L&F disclosed that the projected declaration worth had been revised to $7,386, citing lone a "change successful proviso quantity." No further mentation was fixed successful the filing.

According to analysts quoted by Reuters, the drastic revision apt stems from Tesla's ongoing struggles to standard up accumulation of its 4680 artillery cells — an precocious artillery format the automaker promoted heavy but has faced setbacks successful producing astatine volume. These cells are chiefly utilized successful Tesla's Cybertruck, which faced aggregate delays and slower-than-expected uptake aft launch.

A elder expert astatine Samsung Securities told Reuters that anemic request and debased manufacturing yields apt slashed Tesla's bid volume, efficaciously nullifying the gross L&F had erstwhile projected.

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L&F's banal had already been successful retreat. The company's shares fell much than 70% from their 2023 highest connected the Korean Exchange, arsenic enthusiasm astir the EV marketplace cooled and concerns mounted implicit L&F's reliance connected a tiny fig of large buyers. Tesla was expected to assistance offset that imbalance. Instead, the revised filing confirmed that 1 of its biggest breakout opportunities had each but vanished.