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One of NIO's co-founders has taken a new job elsewhere.
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Shares of Chinese electric-vehicle maker NIO (NIO +0.03%) were trading lower on Friday, after one of the company's co-founders was named CEO of Foxconn's new electric-vehicle business.
As of 10:30 a.m. EST, NIO's American depositary shares were trading down about 5.2% from Thursday's closing price.
Taiwan-based Hon Hai Precision Industry (HNHPF +0.00%), better known as Apple manufacturing partner Foxconn Technologies, made news earlier this week when it announced a new joint venture with Chinese automaker Geely Auto (GELYF 0.02%) to provide electric-vehicle contract-manufacturing services and related technologies to new and established automakers.
What might be moving NIO's stock today is that the joint venture has named Jack Cheng, NIO's co-founder, as its new CEO, according to a report from Chinese auto-news outlet Gasgoo.
Former Ford Motor Company executive Cheng joined NIO in 2015 and, together with co-founder (and current NIO CEO) William Bin Li, hired key executives and helped set the company on its current path, though he left in mid-2019.
In truth, this news isn't a big deal for NIO, as Cheng had already left the company. It's unlikely to affect the long-term bull case for the company in any significant way. But after NIO's spectacular bull run over the last several months, it doesn't take much news to induce auto investors to do a bit of profit-taking.