Henrik Fisker reduces his salary to $1 to keep Fisker Inc.’s bankruptcy case active

Fisker Inc. co-founders Henrik Fisker and Geeta Gupta-Fisker have decided to reduce their salaries to $1 to help fund the company’s bankruptcy proceedings. This move aims to support the legal process and facilitate the sale of the startup’s remaining inventory. The decision was disclosed by restructuring officer John DiDonato in a recent filing, following a July 3 hearing where U.S. Trustee lawyer Lisa Richenderfer questioned whether the Fiskers were still on the payroll.

During the hearing, DiDonato struggled to provide details on the Fiskers’ current salaries but mentioned that their pay was being modified and potentially deferred. The company’s legal team had been seeking court approval for an expedited sale of Fisker’s EVs designed for North America to fund the Chapter 11 case.

The exact salaries of the Fiskers as the company faced bankruptcy remain unclear. In a regulatory filing last year, Fisker Inc. stated that Henrik and Geeta Gupta-Fisker were paid a minimum-wage salary of $62,400 each in 2022, along with cash bonuses of $710,000 each.

In addition to the salary cuts, DiDonato’s filing noted that Fisker would defer certain severance payments, employee healthcare benefits, and vehicle sale incentive bonuses. The company’s workforce has significantly decreased from around 1,300 employees in September 2023 to about 130.