Immediately prior to the Closing, the 150,817 shares of Legacy Nikola series seed preferred stock, 403,992 shares of Legacy Nikola Common Stock and the option to purchase 4,651,920 shares of Legacy Nikola Common Stock held by Mark A. Russell, were automatically converted into the right to receive 1,054,691 shares of Common Stock and the option to purchase 8,843,299 shares of Common Stock. The option to purchase 8,843,299 shares of Common Stock held by Mark A. Russell is fully vested and immediately exercisable.
Item 4. | Purpose of Transaction. |
The information contained above in Item 1 and Item 3 of this Schedule 13D is incorporated herein by reference. The Reporting Persons acquired the securities of the Issuer pursuant to the Business Combination Agreement relate to items described in subparagraphs (a) through (j) of Item 4 of Schedule 13D.
Mark A. Russell, is the manager of T&M and serves as a member of the Board, and, in such capacity, may have influence over the corporate activities of the Issuer, including activities which may relate to items described in subparagraphs (a) through (j) of Item 4 of Schedule 13D. Subject to the Issuer’s Insider Trading Policy, Mr. Russell may from time to time buy or sell securities of the Issuer.
Except as described in this Schedule 13D, the Reporting Persons do not have any present plans or proposals that relate to or would result in any of the actions described in subparagraphs (a) through (j) of Item 4 of Schedule 13D, although, subject to the agreements described herein, the Reporting Persons, at any time and from time to time, may review, reconsider and change their position and/or change their purpose and/or develop such plans and may seek to influence management of the Issuer or the Board with respect to the business and affairs of the Issuer and may from time to time consider pursuing or proposing such matters with advisors, the Issuer or other persons.
Item 5. | Interest in Securities of the Issuer. |
The information contained in Item 3 of this Schedule 13D is incorporated by reference herein.
(a), (b) The responses of the Reporting Persons with respect to Rows 7 through 13 of the respective cover pages of the individual Reporting Persons to this Schedule 13D are incorporated herein by reference.
The Reporting Persons’ aggregate percentage of beneficial ownership is approximately 8.71% of the outstanding shares of the Common Stock. Calculations of the percentage of the shares of Common Stock beneficially owned in this Schedule 13D assume 512,485,485 shares of Common Stock outstanding as of December 21, 2022, based on information included in the Issuer’s Prospectus Supplement filed pursuant to Rule 424(b)(5) on December 30, 2022.
T&M beneficially owns 39,876,497 shares of the Issuer’s Common Stock, representing approximately 7.78% of the Issuer’s outstanding Common Stock as of December 30, 2022. T&M is owned by Mark A. Russell and Trevor R. Milton. Mr. Russell is the manager of T&M, and has sole dispositive power over the shares held by T&M. Accordingly, Mr. Russell may be deemed to beneficially own the 39,876,497 shares of the Issuer’s Common Stock directly held by T&M. Mr. Milton has shared voting power over the shares held by T&M as a result of a proxy granted to Mr. Milton by T&M to vote all of its shares of Common Stock, which expires on June 3, 2023. As a result of his shared voting power over the shares of Common Stock directly held by T&M, Mr. Milton may also be deemed to beneficially own the 39,876,497 shares of Common Stock held by T&M. As a result, Mr. Milton may be deemed to be the beneficial owner of 39,876,497 shares of Common Stock held by T&M, representing approximately 7.78% of the outstanding shares of Common Stock.
Mark A. Russell owns an additional 1,959,917 shares of Common Stock and options to purchase 3,052,185 shares of Common Stock (which are fully vested and immediately exercisable). As a result, Mr. Russell may be deemed to beneficially own an aggregate of 44,888,599 shares of Common Stock, consisting of 39,876,497 shares of Common Stock held by T&M, 1,959,917 shares of Common Stock held in his name and options to purchase 3,052,185 shares of Common Stock held in his name, representing an aggregate of approximately 8.71% of the Issuer’s outstanding Common Stock.