Ford Motor Co. said it unloaded more shares of Rivian Automotive Inc., further putting pressure on the electric-truck maker’s battered stock price.
Ford sold 7 million Rivian shares at a price of $26.88, the company said in a regulatory filing late Friday. This was followed by an 8-million-share sale in the week at roughly the same price.
According to data from FactSet, Ford owns approximately 86.9 million shares, or 9.7%, of Rivian.
Rivian’s stock price tumbled earlier in the week following news that Ford shares were unloading. After the startup pitched in with its earlier low production forecast for 2022, he hit back later in the week, saying it expected to ease supply problems.
This year, Rivian shares have fallen sharply as the company pressures itself to roll out its first model amid supply-chain constraints. Shares closed at $26.70, down 74% as of Friday.
Ford first invested in Rivian in early 2019, part of a strategic partnership that included plans to co-develop an electric vehicle. That project was eventually shelved and the companies now compete head-on in the fledgling market for electric pickup trucks.
Rivian’s share price rise and fall has had a whipsaw effect on Ford’s bottom line. Ford reported $8.3 billion in paper gains last year after Rivian shares rose after its November IPO. But the stock selloff in recent months was a drag on Ford’s first quarter, wiping $5.4 billion off its bottom line and turning the company into a quarterly loss.
Ford began production of the battery-powered F-150 Lightning pickup truck last month. Rivian began production of the R1T pickup at its factory in Normal, Ill., late last year, and is building an SUV, R1s and a commercial delivery van for Amazon.com Inc., which is also a major Rivian shareholder.
Rivian is one of several EV startups whose valuation soared last year, as investors sought exposure to an expected boom in electric-vehicle sales globally. But many young companies have struggled to ramp up production, fueled by supply-chain problems and the complexities of auto manufacturing.
This story has been published without modification to the text from a wire agency feed