Lucid spikes 98% on speculation Saudi investment fund may buy out remaining stake

Lucid Air
Lucid Motors

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 will buy the remaining shares.
Shares were halted 12 times on the New York Stock Exchange Friday afternoon due to increased volatility.

Lucid stock skyrocketed on Friday on speculation that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund may buy out the remaining stake of the electric vehicle maker.

Shares jumped as much as 98% to $17.81 intraday but later pared gains to close up 43% at $12.87.

Speculation on the potential buyout arose from the website Betaville, according to Yahoo Finance. Trades on the stock began to ramp up in the afternoon, leading the New York Stock Exchange to halt trading twelve times due to 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 time, but has since sold off the stake in the rival EV maker.

The fund has not publicly confirmed if it will 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 due to rising inflation and aggressive rate hikes from the Fed.

The company is also expected to face increased competition this year after Tesla slashed prices on several of its models, which is putting pressure on other EV firms to lower prices.