Questions Worth Asking

Question 1: Can Tiny Lordstown Motors Out-haul Tesla? 

About a year ago, small e-truck maker Workhorse Group (WKHS) started popping up in conversations about “depot-based logistics” -- or what supply chain geeks call the local delivery truck business. Workhorse showed early promise with a prototype electric work van. And, it had just completed a clever purchase of General Motors’ storied, but tired Lordstown, Ohio, manufacturing plant. 

Last week, Workhorse brought its electric van pitch public by merging with a shell company called DiamondPeak Holdings Corp (DPHC, $12.37). Workhorse will soon be listed on the NASDAQ as no less than “Lordstown Motors,” complete with a zippy new ticker: (RIDE)

Lordstown Motors argues that electric delivery vehicles are not rocket science. In fact, such trucks have been in active service since the reign of Queen Victoria. Therefore, making a great delivery van won’t be a cult of personality or technology, as Silicon Valley-backed efforts like Tesla or Google’s Waymo argue. Selling electric electric trucks will be like selling any other truck: Customers will buy good design, low cost, and high performance. 

That’s an argument that Lordstown Motors, and other midwestern next-generation truck makers like Arrival and Rivian, can’t help but win.

Question 2: Will Effective Social Distancing Slow Pandemic Drug Research?

No vaccine can be made without infected patients. So it is with the illnesses caused by the novel coronavirus. Researchers are saying that effective and widespread social distancing has reduced the number of active cases, to the point where there’s a shortage of test subjects. 

Given the thousands of global research efforts, coronavirus test patients could soon be dear indeed. 

Question 3: Can There Be Room for Only So Many Web Middlemen?

Pandemic restructuring was supposed to be a grand slam for the virtual world. E-commerce would trump traditional bricks and mortar retail. Live streamed concerts would win over in-person events. And virtual corporate human resources would triumph over old school, face-to-face job recruiting. 

So why would Microsoft -- hardly the world’s most cost-conscious enterprise -- flatly fire about 1,000 otherwise desirable high-tech employees at online recruiter LinkedIn? The giant claims the layoffs were due to client companies hiring less. But that’s nonsense. The business of hiring is a broad, two-way boulevard populated by both prospective employers and employees. Both groups pay up to get, or be, hired. Traditionally, economic restructuring drove a spike in recruiting revenues. Pandemic restructuring should be a boon for the job hunting biz.

What is Microsoft actually doing in its current layoffs? Remember, LinkedIn founder, and long-time Silicon Valley insider, Reid Hoffman, sits on Microsoft’s board. Maybe this is an experienced manager finding a way to quietly cut losses. Other tech companies are following Microsoft’s layoff lead: Rideshare giant Uber pushed out 3,700; eBiotech firm Genentech laid off 474. Tech starts Yelp, Groupon, and Zenefits also slashed jobs. 

Microsoft may be telling the world that the Web services business can only get so big and only needs so many people.