Amazon invested in electrical car maker Rivian in 2019 as a part of a plan to go inexperienced. Throughout the first quarter, it noticed nothing however pink.
In its earnings report on Thursday, Amazon took a $7.6 billion loss on its stake in Rivian. Shares of the EV producer plummeted by greater than 50% within the first three months of 2022, reversing course from the fourth quarter, when the corporate held its inventory market debut and noticed its worth skyrocket.
Whereas Amazon has huge ambitions for Rivian, signing an settlement for the manufacturing of 100,000 supply autos by 2030, present market situations are tough. Rivian stated final month that the corporate expects to provide simply 25,000 electrical vans and SUVs this 12 months, half of the quantity forecast to traders final 12 months as a part of its IPO roadshow.
Like most producers, Rivian is battling by provide chain constraints and inside manufacturing snags. However Rivian was valued at $86 billion after its IPO pop, making the inventory notably weak to a significant pullback.
The Nasdaq Composite dropped 9.1% within the first quarter, its worst interval because the first quarter of 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic was starting. The riskiest bets took the largest hits as traders rotated into property thought of safer in a interval of rising inflation and rates of interest.
Rivian’s drop has continued into the second quarter, with the inventory plummetting one other 36%. It is now greater than 80% off its excessive from November.
On Wednesday, Ford took a $5.4 billion loss on its 12% stake in Rivian. Amazon has a roughly 18% stake, in response to FactSet, investing a complete of greater than $1.3 billion into the corporate.
Amazon’s markdown is especially massive, nevertheless it’s not the one tech firm that is taking a beating on its fairness investments.
Earlier this week, Alphabet recorded a $1.07 billion loss on its investments “given market volatility.” Alphabet’s funding arms have backed firms together with UiPath, Freshworks, Lyft and Duolingo, which have all gotten caught up available in the market swoon.
Microsoft stated this week that its first–quarter revenue took a $174 million hit partly on account of “mark-to-market losses on our fairness portfolio.” And final week Snap stated it had a $92 million unrealized loss “on funding that grew to become public in H2 2021.”
WATCH: Rivian’s CEO assured the corporate can produce 25,000 autos this 12 months