‘Cruise’ driverless robot taxis are seen in a parking lot in San Francisco, California, United States on October 24, 2023.
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On Thursday, Cruz abruptly ended a program that allowed employees and alumni to sell company stock back to its corporate parent, General Motors. Both current and former employees were informed in a company-wide email sent around 9 a.m. Pacific time.
As part of their total compensation, Cruise employees will receive some cash pay and another portion in the form of company stock. Each quarter, stockholders had the option to sell shares back to GM.
The so-called “recurring liquidity opportunity” or RLO, was implemented in the wake of the departure of Cruz’s previous CEO. Former cruise employees have told forbes They understand the purpose was to boost company morale in 2022 and demonstrate to the company’s workforce that GM supported Cruz so much that it was willing to become a regular private buyer of stock.
“It’s leaving many of us in limbo for the expected equity capital,” said a former Cruise employee who said he owned a significant stake in Cruise stock. forbes, “Right now, my shares are worthless.”
“Active employees are facing the worst situation,” he said. “It’s putting a tax burden on them that they can’t pay because they can’t sell their equity.”
Cruz confirmed that the RLO has ended, but declined to answer questions about what it means for employees.
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“GM and Cruise are working together on what a competitive compensation package will look like at Cruise going forward,” Cruise spokesman Aaron McClear emailed. forbes,
Cruise’s RLO program has been discontinued amid the ongoing crisis in the company. On October 2, a Cruise car struck and dragged a San Francisco pedestrian who had previously been hit by another car. The incident led to the California DMV revoking Cruise’s operating permit in his home state and largest market, stating that his vehicles were “not safe for the public to operate” and posed “an unreasonable risk to the public.” We do. A few days later, the company voluntarily grounded its entire fleet nationwide, halting deployments in Arizona and Texas. According to audio leaked earlier this month forbes At an all-hands meeting, CEO Kyle Vogt confirmed that layoffs were to occur.
Cruise’s board of directors held a regularly scheduled meeting last Monday at the company’s San Francisco headquarters. Following that meeting, the company issued a series of announcements indicating it would “take further steps to enhance security and transparency”, including appointing a new executive and opening its own external investigation into the circumstances of the October 2 incident. Includes expanding.
In an emailed statement sent by GM spokesman Faryl Ury, the company said it is “confident.”[s] “Firmly in Cruz’s mission.”
They wrote, “Safety must be our top priority, and we fully support the actions Cruise leadership is taking to ensure it is putting safety first and working closely with government partners, regulators, and the broader “Building trust and credibility with the community.” “Our commitment to Cruises remains steadfast with the goal of commercialization.”
