Milton stepped down as executive chairman effective immediately and was replaced by Stephen Girsky, the former General Motors Co. vice chairman who oversaw Nikola’s stock listing and helped broker a partnership with GM. Nikola’s shares — already reeling from claims leveled by short seller Hindenburg Research that US regulators are investigating — fell as much as 27.65 per cent as of 9:45 pm (IST).
“Nikola is truly in my blood and always will be, and the focus should be on the company and its world-changing mission, not me,” Milton said in a statement. “So I made the difficult decision to approach the board and step aside.”
The resignation marks a remarkable fall from grace for Milton, a 39-year-old college dropout whose fortune soared when he took Nikola public through a reverse merger in June. He agreed to relinquish stock units that were worth about $166 million as of Friday’s close and also gave up his board seat at Nikola, which has yet to generate any meaningful revenue. The worsening stock rout also is a blow to GM, which took an 11 per cent equity stake in Nikola earlier this month.
 "Trevor Milton")