Rivian starts the week with yet another bad news

Shares of Rivian Automotive Inc (NASDAQ: RIVN) opened nearly 20% down on Monday after a CNBC report said Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) trimmed its stake in the EV start-up by 8 million shares.

The stock lockup period ended on Sunday

Rivian’s IPO on November 10^th announced a lockup period of six months during which investors, including Ford, were disabled from selling their stake in the Irvine-headquartered company. That period ended on Sunday.  

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Right after, Ford executed the said transaction this morning through Goldman Sachs. The legacy automaker is yet to make an official comment on the report.

According to CNBC’s David Faber, who broke the news, JPMorgan is also expected to sell between 13 million and 15 million Rivian shares for a yet-to-be-known seller. Ford is down 2.5% in the stock market today.

Rivian resulted in a significant hit to Ford in Q1

The move was likely driven from a $3.10 billion loss in the fiscal first quarter that Ford CEO Jim Farley largely attributed to the company’s 12% stake in Rivian Automotive Inc.

In March, the EV company said challenges, including supply constraints, were significantly hitting its output. Rivian now forecasts 25,000 vehicles produced in 2022 versus twice that much it had forecast late last year when it listed on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange.

Rivian is scheduled to report its quarterly results on the coming Wednesday. Shares of the EV maker are now down roughly 70% from their IPO price of $78.