Ford Dumps Most of Its Rivian Stock as EV Maker Struggles
Rivian stock has plummeted almost 70% since February 2022, with Ford reporting a write-down of $7.3 billion for the same year.
Ford has sold the majority of its shares in Rivian according to the latest regulatory filings. After early plans to platform share EVs and share EV technologies, Ford has instead slowly divested away from Rivian since May 2022. Now Ford holds only 1.15% of Rivian.
Rivian stocks have been plummeting since its significant Initial Public Offering in November 2021, with a high of $179.47 per share. It is now at $18.85. Ford was invested in Rivian since before the IPO with a $500 million investment in 2019, planning to share the Rivian skateboard platform for its own EVs before cancelling those plans in November 2021.
Ford reported a write-down of $7.3 billion a week before the automaker sold stocks in Rivian. This directly affects Ford’s balance sheet, and the sales of stocks is meant to offset the damage the lost value of the stock caused. And this isn’t the first time Ford has used this tactic, according to TechCrunch. In April 2022, Ford reported a $5.4 billion mark-to-market loss on its total investment in Rivian. In May, the automaker sold 15 million shares of Rivian in two separate transactions, bringing its total ownership of Rivian to less than 10%.
This sale of stock is so significant that Ford has brought down its total holding in Rivian down to the aforementioned 1.15%. And Ford isn’t the only major investor to report big losses on Rivian stock. Amazon has reported several losses from Rivian, where they have invested heavily in EV delivery vans tailor-made for the company. Last week, Amazon reported a $2.3 billion valuation loss in Rivian.
While Rivian is delivering products that are impressive, the stock market valuation is not following the same trend. Rivian still faces challenges ahead if it’s going to stick around for the long term.
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