Rivian Automotive, the electric vehicle maker backed by Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Ford (NYSE:F), priced its initial public offering (IPO) that is taking place today at $78 U.S. a share, giving the company a valuation of $66.5 billion U.S.
Rivian said it expects the IPO to bring in $11.9 billion U.S. The stock will trade on the Nasdaq exchange under ticker symbol "RIVN."
Last week, Rivian increased the expected price range to between $72 U.S. and $74 U.S. from a previous range of $57 U.S. to $62 U.S. At its $78 U.S. offer price, Rivian is already worth almost as much as Ford ($79 billion U.S.) and General Motors (NYSE:GM) ($85 billion U.S.). And that’s before the company has even started generating significant revenue.
Rivian said in its prospectus that it will lose up to $1.28 billion U.S. in the third quarter, while revenue will range from zero to $1 million U.S. It’s the latest electric vehicle company to attract hefty investor capital at a stratospheric price.
Investors are continuously trying to hop on the next Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA). Elon Musk’s company topped $1 trillion U.S. in market value last month and is now the fifth most-valuable U.S. company.
Rivian said in its IPO prospectus that it has a backlog of 55,400 pre-orders for its R1T and R1S electric vehicles. The R1T is a truck that starts at $67,500 U.S., and the R1S is an SUV starting at $70,000 U.S.
The company said it expects to fill those orders by the end of 2023. Additionally, Amazon has ordered 100,000 vehicles to be delivered by Rivian by 2030, and the companies plan to have 10,000 new Rivian-Amazon delivery vehicles on the road as early as next year.
Amazon, which invested more than $1.3 billion U.S. into Rivian, owned 22.4% of the company’s Class A shares prior to the IPO. That stake is worth about $12.5 billion U.S. at the offer price. Ford owned 14.4% of Class A stock before the offering, a stake now valued at $8 billion U.S.
Rivian says its factory in Illinois has the capacity to produce up to 150,000 vehicles per year. The company had over 6,000 employees as of the end of June.
Related Stories
