Battered Electric Vehicle Maker Rivian Hit by Major Blow in Battle to Rival Tesla

It was only a few years ago that Rivian  (RIVN) – Get Free Report was making history.

The electric vehicle upstart made its spectacular Nasdaq debut on Nov. 10, 2021, opening at $106.75 per share after being priced at $78.

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Rivian shares closed that day at $100.73, marking a nearly 30% jump from its offering price and making the company the second most valuable U.S. automaker after Tesla  (TSLA) – Get Free Report.

But there were tough roads ahead for Rivian, which was backed at the time by Amazon  (AMZN) – Get Free Report and Ford  (F) – Get Free Report.

The company had difficulty ramping up production burned a lot of cash in the process. 

Removed from Important Listing

As a result, Rivian could not afford to lower its prices to compete with Tesla, because its production costs remain huge and its profit margins are already very narrow.

The carmaker, which manufactures the R1S SUV, the R1T pickup truck and the EDV van at its Normal, Ill., plant, had to halve its initial production target last year to 25,000. 

In the end, Rivian did not quite manage to meet this objective, ultimately producing 24,337 vehicles.

Ford sold its stake last year and Rivian’s market cap, which reached $150 billion in mid-November 2021 was $14.23 billion on June 14. 

And the stock was selling for $15.16 a share at last check.

Now the company suffered another blow. Rivian will removed from the Nasdaq-100 index prior to the market open on June 20 and replaced by Onsemi, which designs manufactures, and supplies semiconductor products and solutions.

The Scottsdale, Arizona-based company, which has a market cap of nearly $40 billion, said in a statement that its inclusion on the Nasdaq 100 comes “after two consecutive years of record results, tripling the company’s market cap over the last 30 months.”

Comments from the Twitterati 

“Our addition to the prestigious Nasdaq-100 Index is a testament to the successful execution of our strategy over the last two years, during which our employees around the world have unlocked tremendous value for onsemi shareholders through their unwavering dedication and innovation,” Hassane El-Khoury, Onsemi’s president and CEO, said.

The Nasdaq-100 consists of the largest and best-performing nonfinancial companies based on market capitalization. It’s heavily allocated toward technology, consumer goods and healthcare industries.

Reaction to Rivian’s removal from the Nasdaq 100 on social media was varied. 

“Removed from Nasdaq-100 not nearly as bad as being removed from Nasdaq itself. Not good but not terrible.,” one person tweeted.

“The biggest pump and dump in the history of IPOs,” another commenter said.

“I don’t see them succeeding without an Amazon bail out,” one tweet read.

And one commenter said “They had potential but they’ve been sleeping for the last year or so.”

A Rivian spokesperson said the company is not commenting. 

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