Billionaire investor, philanthropist, and noted QAnon/GOP boogeyman George Soros bought a $2 billion stake in electric truck startup Rivian in the quarter ended Dec. 31, securities filings showed Friday — a move which could give RIVN hodlers hope on a stock that’s down more than 40% year to date.
How That’s Going
Image provided by Rivian.
Soros’ Soros Fund Management, LLC investment vehicle purchased 19,835,761 shares of Rivian stock sometime in Q4 of 2021, at a reported price $2 billion (US). And, while a cursory reading of that headline might give the truest of RIVN believers hope, a little digging shows that the Soros Fund’s bet hasn’t exactly paid off — at least, not yet.
Precisely how much it hasn’t paid off yet is changing quickly, however. With delays stacking up on delays, the Irvine, California-based Rivian said in December it expected production to fall “a few hundred vehicles short” of its 2021 target of 1,200 due to supply chain constraints and the debacle surrounding Rivian’s battery-making partnership with Samsung having “sent its share pricing into a tailspin,” according to Daniel Zlatev at Notebook Check.
Rivian stock has gone from an all-time high of $179.46 on November 16 to just $58.85 at market close Friday, putting the stock down 43% since the new year. For his part, Soros seems to have effectively turned his $2 billion into “just” $1.17 billion, which either supports or refutes whatever conspiracy theory the QAnon people are selling this week.
How Others Players Are Doing
F-150 Lightning. Image courtesy Ford.
Ford Motor Co. recorded an $8.2 billion gain on its investment in Rivian last quarter, owning 12% of the startup electric truck maker. Following Rivian’s $100 billion valuation at the stock’s all-time high, Ford has also backpedaled when it comes to closer manufacturing ties with Rivian, effectively saying the blue oval will “go it alone” when it comes to electric Lincoln-badged trucks and SUVs, effectively positioning the legacy car brand more as a Rivian rival than a Rivian resource.
“Financial performance is obviously critical,” said Ford CEO Jim Farley. “We’re also proud that customers see how Ford is taking EVs mainstream, and have already ordered or reserved more than 275,000 all-electric Mustang Mach-E SUVs, F-150 Lightning pickups and E-Transit commercial vehicles — and we’re breaking constraints to deliver every one of them as fast as we can.”
Meanwhile, Forbes is reporting that Ford executives says the company doesn’t intend to sell its stake in Rivian when the lockup period ends this May. It’s believed that this show of confidence is also helping keep the stock reasonably high, although how long that lasts remains to be seen.
As for the rest of us, it’s hard to say. Despite years of missed deadlines and broken promises, Tesla’s stock is valued at several times the next largest legacy car brand, so who knows? Maybe Rivian will be able to spread some similar stock-market magic George Soros’ way and become a truly successful automaker. What do you guys think? Is success in the cards for Rivian, or is Elon’s true genius in making success seem easier than its? Scroll on down to the comments section and let us know!
Sources: Reuters, Notebook Check, Forbes.
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