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Rivian IPO could happen next week, with valuation topping $50 billion

Rivian is making its electric trucks, vans, and SUVs in Normal, where it employs over 3,000 people.
Emily Bollinger
/
WGLT
Rivian is making its electric trucks, vans, and SUVs in Normal, where it employs over 3,000 people.

The electric automaker Rivian could be valued at over $50 billion when it goes public, which could happen as soon as next week, according to new filings from the company.

In a new SEC filing, Rivian said it’s estimating the initial public offering (IPO) price will be between $57 and $62 per share, for up to 155 million shares. That could raise $8-9 billion for Rivian, which is making its electric trucks, vans, and SUVs in Normal, where it employs 3,330 people.

That would set Rivian’s market valuation at around $53-54 billion, CNBC and Reuters reported.

Though Rivian has only produced a few hundred vehicles, the IPO would make Rivian—on paper—one of the most valuable auto companies in the world. Ford’s market cap (the market value of a publicly traded company's outstanding shares) is around $71 billion, and GM’s is $80 billion. EV leader Tesla’s market cap now tops $1 trillion.

CNBC and The Wall Street Journal report the IPO could happen as soon as next week. Rivian will trade on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol RIVN.

Production update

Rivian began production of its R1T electric truck in mid-September. As of Oct. 31, Rivian has produced 180 R1Ts, according to its latest SEC filing.

“Nearly all of these vehicles were delivered to Rivian employees, and we expect to ramp deliveries to third-party customers as we increase our production rate. We plan to launch and commence customer deliveries for the R1S, a three-row seven-passenger sports utility vehicle (“SUV”) in December 2021 following the completion of ongoing vehicle validation and all required testing. By the end of 2021, we intend to produce approximately 1,200 R1Ts and 25 R1Ss and deliver approximately 1,000 R1Ts and 15 R1Ss,” the company said.

The company also continues to get new pre-orders. As of Oct. 1, Rivian had 48,390 pre-orders for the truck and SUV. As of Oct. 31, that grew to 55,400 pre-orders.

“Based on our current production forecast, we expect to fill our preorder backlog of approximately 55,400 by the end of 2023,” Rivian said in the SEC filing.

Amazon stake

Rivian is backed by big investors like Amazon, Ford, and funds managed by T. Rowe Price.

In a new SEC filing, Amazon disclosed just how much of an ownership stake it has in Rivian: 20%.

Amazon has ordered 100,000 electric delivery vans from Rivian, with plans to deliver them all to Amazon by 2025. Rivian previously said pre-production on the Amazon vans (called RPVs) would begin in November. Rivian aims to deliver 100 of them to Amazon by the end of 2021, with some test models already in the field.

A significant portion of Rivian’s initial revenue will come from Amazon.

Ryan Denham is the digital content director for WGLT.
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