Ford and Amazon May Be Selling Rivian (RIVN) Stock. Here’s Why.

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Shares of Rivian (NASDAQ:RIVN) stock are down more than 15% today due to its initial public offering (IPO) lockup expiration for early shareholders. Today marks 180 days after Rivian’s IPO; 180 days is the typical period after which early investors and insiders can sell their shares. Roughly 800 million shares of RIVN stock will be affected by the lockup expiration. However, this doesn’t mean all 800 million shares will be sold.

Rivian (RIVN) car manufacturing plant. Rivian develops vehicles, products and services related to sustainable transportation.
Source: James Yarbrough / Shutterstock.com

Last Friday, Rivian closed below $30 for the first time since its IPO. Over the weekend, CNBC also reported that Ford (NYSE:F) planned on selling 8 million shares. These shares are being sold through Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) and are priced at $26.90 per share.

Before the sale, the legacy automaker owned 102 million shares, or 12% of all shares. During its earnings last month, Ford reported a $3.1 billion net loss attributable to its Rivian investment.

Ford and Amazon May Be Selling RIVN Stock

On top of the Ford sale, Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) may also be selling some of its Rivian stake as well, although this has not been confirmed. Reportedly, JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) is selling 13 million to 15 million shares priced at $26.90 as well. As a result, investors are speculating the seller may be Amazon; the e-commerce giant owns about 158 million shares, or 18%. During earnings, Amazon disclosed a $7.6 billion net loss attributable to its Rivian stake.

Just after its IPO, Rivian’s valuation peaked at over $100 billion, making it more valuable than Ford for a short period of time. However, it has all been downhill since then. Today, the electric vehicle (EV) company carries a market capitalization of about $21 billion. In recent months, rising interest rates and supply-chain disruptions have caused investors to focus more on valuation than future potential.

Other early investors of Rivian include Philippe Laffont’s Coatue Management and Dan Loeb’s Third Point. Both hedge funds invested privately into the EV company before its IPO. However, it is still unknown if these two funds sold their shares following the lockup expiration. As of the fourth quarter, Coatue had a $3.65 billion stake and Third Point had a $419 million stake.

On the date of publication, Eddie Pan did not hold (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.


Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, https://investorplace.com/2022/05/ford-and-amazon-may-be-selling-rivian-rivn-stock-heres-why/.

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