George Soros Buys Rivian Shares, Turns This Electric Truck Startup A Tesla Competitor

JAKARTA - Billionaire investor George Soros has reportedly bought nearly 20 million shares of electric truck startup, Rivian Automotive Inc, in the fourth quarter of last year, which ended December 31. This confirmation was announced on Friday, February 11.

The 19,835,761 shares, valued at around US$2 billion (Rp 28 trillion) at the time, made Soros Fund Management among the most prominent investors in a company that had not yet produced a consumer vehicle.

Rivian, which is 20% owned by Amazon.com Inc, is expected to provide the e-commerce company with more than 100,000 electric trucks in the next few years.

Irvine, California-based Rivian said last December that it expected production to fall "a few hundred vehicles less" from its 2021 target of 1,200 due to supply chain constraints.

This highlights the possible challenges of scaling up production to face the long-time EV leader, Tesla Inc.

Shares of Rivian reportedly fell 9% last Friday and are down 43% for the year. The share price is down 67% from a high of $179.46 hit on November 16, less than a week after raising $12 billion in the stock's biggest debut of 2021.