George Soros buys $2 billion stake in Amazon-backed electric truck startup Rivian

We covered Rivian back in November last year after the Amazon-backed electric truck startup lost nearly all its IPO gains following the announcement that it’s no longer working with Ford Motor to develop electric vehicles together.

At the time, Rivian saw almost all the massive IPO gains evaporate and its shares plunged by more than 13% to $108.50, which was $2 above the level of $106.75 where the stock began trading in its debut on the public market on Nov. 10.

Since our last report, shares of Irvine, California-based Rivian have been in free-fall after the company announced last December it expected production to fall “a few hundred vehicles short” of its 2021 target of 1,200 due to supply chain constraints. Rivian has lost about 75% from its peak market value of $146.7 billion. As of the time of writing, Rivian now has a market cap of $52.98 billion.

Sensing the opportunities that Rivian has more potential to grow and perhaps the stock is undervalued, Billionaire investor George Soros bought nearly 20 million shares of electric truck startup Rivian Automotive Inc. in the quarter ended Dec. 31, according to a report from Reuters, citing Friday’s securities filings with SEC.

According to the filings, Soros bought a total of 19,835,761 shares, worth about $2 billion at the time, making Soros Fund Management among the most prominent investors in a company that has yet to produce a consumer vehicle.

Meanwhile, Amazon, which owns 20% of Rivian, said it plans to use Rivian vehicles in its delivery fleet, having ordered 100,000 to be handed over by 2030. Amazon expects to have 10,000 Rivian vehicles delivering Amazon packages as early as next year.

Rivian was founded in 2009 by Robert J. Scaringe. It’s is the world’s first electric adventure vehicle. The company is developing vehicles, technology, and services that inspire people to get out and explore the world. Rivian is an automotive technology company that develops products and services to advance the shift to sustainable mobility.

Below is a screenshot of the Rivian market cap as of February 11, 2022.