The fortunes of Jia Yueting appear to have made a dramatic turnaround. Recently, electric vehicle startup Faraday Future (FF) released its financial results for the second quarter of 2026, revealing a staggering surge in revenue. Revenue for the quarter reached $836,000, a 15-fold increase from the $54,000 reported in the same period last year, representing a year-on-year leap of over 1400% and setting a new company record.
Yes, the numbers are eye-catching: revenue surged 1400%, and the stock price soared up to 35% during intraday trading. The most notable shift is that Jia Yueting has pivoted away from building cars entirely. The company has turned to robotics. According to the reports, the bulk of this revenue is now attributed to its robot business. Online chatter is filled with speculation that the entrepreneur is on the verge of a breakthrough. However, upon closer inspection of the financial details, the picture becomes less impressive.
A 1400% increase sounds monumental, but the actual figures tell a different story. Last year's second-quarter revenue was $54,000, and this year's is $83,600. While the multiplier is impressive, the absolute increase is just $78,000 over three months. $83,600 is roughly equivalent to over 6 million yuan, which is less than the price of a decent apartment in a prime Beijing location. Turning to profits, the gross profit for the first half of the year was a negative $22.08 million. In simple terms, the robots FF is promoting are being sold at a loss, with each unit sold generating less revenue than it costs to produce, generating only buzz without profit.
The financial report also notes that debt has decreased by $100 million compared to last year. While this sounds positive, with cash reserves dwindling and the company relying on financing to stay afloat, the origin of this debt reduction is questionable. It is highly likely that the reduction came from converting debt into equity, diluting the holdings of existing shareholders, rather than from actual earnings. As for the robots Jia Yueting boasts about, the company sold 69 units in five months, which he claims is a record, surpassing the total for March and April combined. Originally, the annual target was 2,000 units, but after five months of operations, the company has delivered less than one-twentieth of that goal. Some analysts have pointed out that the robot appears to be a rebranded version of a design from Zhiyuan Robotics, essentially a purchased product with a new logo slapped on it.
After nine years, the pattern remains the same: tell a story, raise new funds, burn through the capital, and then invent a new story. When the LeEco story collapsed, he switched to car-making. When the car-making story faded, he moved to live-streaming commerce. Now that e-commerce is faltering, he has jumped to robotics. Each time, he claims to be "choking for the dream," but in reality, he is choking investors and shareholders. Whether it is a shell game or a genuine pivot, the fact that he finds buyers each time is a testament to his persuasive skills.
To lighten the mood, here is a parody: The crowd gathered around the screen, shouting, "Mr. Accountant Jia, your robot is obviously a knock-off of someone else's!" Jia Yueting's face flushed red on the live stream, veins bulging on his forehead, as he argued, "Knock-off? That's not stealing... It's customization! In the AI industry, we call it integration!" Then came the jargon: "EAI 5x4 architecture," "terminal plus ecological skill pack," and "choking for the dream," which sent a wave of laughter across the chat, filling the studio with the sound of mocking amusement.