Rivian Shares Fall For First Time Since Blockbuster IPO

Topline

Shares of Rivian tumbled nearly 20% on Wednesday in its first decline since the electric vehicle-maker went public last week at a whopping $90 billion valuation.

Despite the stock’s decline, Rivian is still worth more than legacy auto makers General Motors and … [+] Ford.

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Key Facts

Rivian’s stock was down more than 15% to around $146 a share in late morning trading.

Shares fell for the first time since a week ago, when Rivian went public in what was the biggest U.S. IPO since Facebook.

Before Wednesday, the stock had risen by as much as 120% from the starting IPO price of $78 per share, spurred on by strong interest from investors hoping that Rivian can become the next Tesla.

Despite Wednesday’s drop, the electric vehicle-maker has a market capitalization of around $120 billion—more than auto industry giants General Motors ($92 billion) and Ford ($78 billion).

Rivian’s lofty valuation is a testament to the massive investor interest in electric vehicles—but the company has virtually no revenue yet.

Key Background:

Rivian is the first company to release a fully electric pickup truck, the R1T, and plans to launch its R1S electric SUV in December. The company is also expanding into commercial vehicles: Amazon, which has a 20% stake in Rivian, is its biggest customer and has placed an order for 100,000 electric delivery vans. Rivian said in filings that it expects to lose as much as $1.28 billion this quarter, though it does have a backlog of over 50,000 orders for its R1T and R1S vehicles, both of which sell for a starting price of around $70,000.

Big Number: $2.6 Billion

That’s how much Rivian founder RJ Scaringe is worth after the stock’s decline on Wednesday, down from a net worth of $3 billion a day earlier, according to Forbes’ estimates.

Tangent:

Tesla’s billionaire CEO, Elon Musk, said on Twitter last week that Rivian’s “true test” would be achieving high production and break-even cash flow. He also pointed out, “there have been hundreds of automotive startups, both electric and combustion, but Tesla is [the]