Rivian Stock Tanks on Missed Earnings Expectations, Shareholders Lawsuits

Samson Amore

Samson Amore is a reporter for dot.LA. He holds a degree in journalism from Emerson College. Send tips or pitches to samsonamore@dot.la and find him on Twitter @Samsonamore.

Rivian Stock Tanks on Missed Earnings Expectations, Shareholders Lawsuits
Courtesy of Rivian

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Rivian saw its stock slump as much as 13% in after-hours trading Thursday after the company announced it had missed earnings expectations—by a lot.

The Amazon-backed, Irvine-based electric automaker suffered a $2.5 billion net loss in the fourth quarter of 2021—roughly seven times the $353 million it lost in the same quarter of 2020. The company lost a total of $4.7 billion in the 2021 fiscal year on annual revenues of just $55 million.


Once positioned to rival Tesla in the electric vehicle market, Rivian now plans to produce only half of its initial 50,000-car production target for 2022. The company said it has “experienced several headwinds and other factors impacting our production ramp,” including a planned 10-day shutdown to “fine-tune” its production lines and “significant supply chain limitations,” it said in a letter to shareholders. As well as the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Rivian also blamed winter weather conditions at its Midwest factories for contributing to production delays.

Rivian’s costs skyrocketed in 2021 as it poured $3.8 billion into its operating activities over the course of the year, up from $1 billion in 2020. To compensate, Rivian said it would raise prices as much as 20% on its forthcoming electric pickup trucks and electric SUVs.

Facing a fierce backlash from customers in the wake of the move (as well as subsequent lawsuits from shareholders), CEO R.J. Scaringe apologized last week and said Rivian would maintain its original prices for customers who pre-ordered cars before March 1. Scaringe attributed the price hikes to rising production costs. “I have made a lot of mistakes since starting Rivian more than 12 years ago, but this one has been the most painful,” he said. “I am truly sorry and committed to rebuilding your trust.”

On Rivian’s earnings call on Thursday, Scaringe said the company’s “goal is to deliver as many vehicles as we possibly can this year.” He added that “were it not for supply chain constraints, we’d be confident we could deliver 50,000 vehicles this year.” The CEO noted that Rivian is experiencing challenges in acquiring nickel needed for batteries as well as semiconductors, wire harnesses and circuit boards.

Rivian said it had produced 1,410 vehicles in 2022 so far, for a grand total of 2,425 electric cars manufactured to date. As of March 8, Rivian said it had received 83,000 pre-orders for its vehicles.

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LA Tech Week Day 5: Social Highlights
Evan Xie

L.A. Tech Week has brought venture capitalists, founders and entrepreneurs from around the world to the California coast. With so many tech nerds in one place, it's easy to laugh, joke and reminisce about the future of tech in SoCal.

Here's what people are saying about the fifth day of L.A. Tech Week on social:

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LA Tech Week: Six LA-Based Greentech Startups to Know

Samson Amore

Samson Amore is a reporter for dot.LA. He holds a degree in journalism from Emerson College. Send tips or pitches to samsonamore@dot.la and find him on Twitter @Samsonamore.

LA Tech Week: Six LA-Based Greentech Startups to Know
Samson Amore

At Lowercarbon Capital’s LA Tech Week event Thursday, the synergy between the region’s aerospace industry and greentech startups was clear.

The event sponsored by Lowercarbon, Climate Draft (and the defunct Silicon Valley Bank’s Climate Technology & Sustainability team) brought together a handful of local startups in Hawthorne not far from LAX, and many of the companies shared DNA with arguably the region’s most famous tech resident: SpaceX.

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https://twitter.com/samsonamore
samsonamore@dot.la

LA Tech ‘Moves’: LeaseLock, Visgenx, PlayVS and Pressed Juicery Gains New CEOs

Decerry Donato

Decerry Donato is a reporter at dot.LA. Prior to that, she was an editorial fellow at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.

LA Tech ‘Moves’: LeaseLock, Visgenx, PlayVS and Pressed Juicery Gains New CEOs
LA Tech ‘Moves’:

“Moves,” our roundup of job changes in L.A. tech, is presented by Interchange.LA, dot.LA's recruiting and career platform connecting Southern California's most exciting companies with top tech talent. Create a free Interchange.LA profile here—and if you're looking for ways to supercharge your recruiting efforts, find out more about Interchange.LA's white-glove recruiting service by emailing Sharmineh O’Farrill Lewis (sharmineh@dot.la). Please send job changes and personnel moves to moves@dot.la.

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LeaseLock, a lease insurance and financial technology provider for the rental housing industry named Janine Steiner Jovanovic as chief executive officer. Prior to this role, Steiner Jovanovic served as the former EVP of Asset Optimization at RealPage.

Esports platform PlayVS hired EverFi co-founder and seasoned business leader Jon Chapman as the company’s chief executive officer.

Biotechnology company Visgenx appointed William Pedranti, J.D. as chief executive officer. Before joining, Mr. Pedranti was a partner with PENG Life Science Ventures.

Pressed Juicery, the leading cold-pressed juice and functional wellness brand welcomed Justin Nedelman as chief executive officer. His prior roles include chief real estate officer of FAT Brands Inc. and co-founder of Eureka! Restaurant Group.

Michael G. Vicari joined liquid biopsy company Nucleix as chief commercial officer. Vicari served as senior vice president of Sales at GRAIL, Inc.

Full-service performance marketing agency Allied Global Marketing promoted Erin Corbett to executive vice president of global partnership and marketing. Prior to joining Allied, Corbett's experience included senior marketing roles at Disney, Warner Bros. Studios, Harrah's Entertainment and Imagi Animation Studios.

Nuvve, a vehicle-to-grid technology company tapped student transportation and automotive sales and marketing executive David Bercik to lead the K-12 student transportation division.

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