George Soros bets big on Rivian by investing US$2 billion in the electric truck maker

The Soros Fund Management, an investment vehicle of the billionaire George Soros, has acquired a US$2 billion stake in Rivian, the electric pickup startup whose IPO was the largest one since Facebook. That's how much the Soros Fund paid for 19,835,761 shares in Rivian Automotive, reveals a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission made public on Friday. The Soros Fund Management bought the shares this past quarter after the initial public offering, when Rivian still had a valuation that rivaled some legacy auto makers despite only delivering a handful of electric vehicles to customers. 

The George Soros investment in Rivian is now worth just about US$1.17 billion at Rivian Automotive's Friday close. The Rivian R1T electric pickup truck production delays and the mishaps around its battery-making partnership with Samsung sent its share pricing into a tailspin recently. It went from an all-time high of US$179.46 on November 16, to the current US$58.85 Rivian stock price which is now down 43% just this year alone. Rivian raised US$12 billion during its IPO, though, the largest such offering last year, so it is well capitalized to push through its R1T and R1S production ramp-up despite the delays and setbacks.

Some early investors in Rivian like Ford and Amazon announced banner quarterly results thanks to their seed money, but the George Soros Fund won't be reporting such gains any time soon, as it came a bit late in the game, after the record IPO was a done deal. Ford invested US$800 million and got US$8.2 billion out of Rivian, while Amazon reported a pre-tax gain of about US$11.3 billion on its early jump for a 20% ownership in the electric truck maker before the IPO. These are all paper gains and losses, though, so before the George Soros Fund sells, its US$2 billion investment in Q4 now makes it one of the largest stakeholders in the future of Rivian.

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