Filing: Ford sells 8 million Rivian shares

Ford Motor Co. sold 8 million shares of electric vehicle startup Rivian Automotive Inc.'s stock, according to a regulatory filing Tuesday.

Ford sold the shares Monday for $214 million at $26.80 a share, according to the filing.

"As you saw in our regulatory filing, we sold 8 million shares, representing just under 8% of our investment in Rivian," Ford spokesman Ian Thibodeau said in a statement. "We think it’s prudent at this point to monetize a small portion of the investment."

The filing confirms reporting by CNBC ahead of the end Sunday of the insider lockup for Rivian's stock after its November initial public offering.

The IPO was the largest of 2021, raising roughly $12 billion for a company viewed as a leading contender to take on EV market leader Tesla Inc.

But the Irvine, Calif.-based startup has since hit a number of stumbling blocks, including supply-chain issues and other production challenges, rising costs that have prompted it to raise prices and a loss of confidence from Wall Street.

Year-to-date, Rivian's stock is down nearly 80%. And shares tumbled Monday following the CNBC report about Ford unloading shares and as early investors had their first chance to sell shares.

Ford has been, and remains, a major investor in Rivian. It invested $1.2 billion in the startup, which has three products it's producing at its plant in Normal, Illinois: the R1T pickup truck, the R1S SUV and electric delivery vans for Amazon.com Inc., which is another major investor.

Ford and Rivian previously had planned to develop an electric vehicle together, but scrapped that plan. 

For the first quarter, Ford reported a $3.1 billion net income loss that it attributed to a $5.4 billion loss on its investment in Rivian. Ford's stake was valued at $5.1 billion at the end of March, the Dearborn automaker reported, down from $10.6 billion at the end of 2021.

jgrzelewski@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @JGrzelewski