Rivian along with many other EV manufactures have been facing a tough entrance into the market. Rivian went public in 2021, and the stock has been steadily falling since, and has lost over 75% of its original opening value. After three years of increasing earnings reports, the company was expected to finally become profitable in 2024. Even with the help of two large purchase contracts from both AT&T and Amazon, Rivian fell short of its expected production marks, manufacturing 57,000 EV’s as opposed to Wall Street’s prediction of 80,000. Out of an abundance of caution from what the CEO of Rivian calls “geopolitical uncertainties and pressures” the company laid off 10% of its salaried employees.
After the layoff news broke it shook the EV sector with most EVs dropping multiple points within the first hour of the market opening. On February 22, the date of the announcement, Rivian fell from 15.39 down to 11.45. The following day, February 23, it opened at 11.30 and closed at 10.07. Fellow EV stock Lucid Group (LCID) also fell with the news on February 22 opening at 3.70 and closing at 3.04.
Rivian is following a general trend within the American market with multiple other industry leaders having had similar or larger layoffs in 2023, as economic headwinds increase. These concerns include rampant inflation and rising interest rates from the federal reserve. However, the company remains optimistic about the future, as the CEO released this statement with an earnings report last month.
RJ Scaringe, founder and CEO of Rivian, said the following in the earnings report:
“We firmly believe in the full electrification of the automotive industry, but recognize in the short-term, the challenging macro-economic conditions. We are aggressively focused on driving cost efficiency throughout the business, achieving positive margins and building our go-to-market function to support our long-term growth.”
Rivian is a company that is here to stay and has no plans of slowing down in the long term, no matter how the short term looks for them. The EV sector has been experiencing lots of volatility in recent years, especially during and after COVID. In 2023 Amazon bought 16% of Rivian and joined the long list of rivian investors. I think Rivian is a company with a long time horizon and a strong backing of smart investors.
The Watcher News 
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