Not so fast on the hiring front for Rivian! The electric vehicle company is trimming its workforce again, this time by 1%. This is the second round of layoffs for Rivian this year, but it’s a smaller cut compared to the first one.
The goal? To become more profitable. In a statement, Rivian said this decision was tough but necessary to make money by the end of the year. They’re also working on making sure their team is focused on the most important things right now.
This isn’t the first time Rivian has had to downsize this year. Back in February, after they released their financial results, they laid off 10% of their salaried employees. The CEO, RJ Scaringe, explained that the economic situation and uncertainties around the world played a role in that decision.
Deliveries Up, Production on Hold (Temporarily): Rivian delivered a surprising number of vehicles in the first quarter (over 13,500!), beating expectations. However, they also shut down their factory in Normal, Illinois, earlier this month for upgrades. The good news? These upgrades are supposed to significantly reduce the cost of making their R1S and R1T vehicles by the end of the year.
Losses Narrowing, But Still Not Profitable: Right now, Rivian loses money on every vehicle they produce. In the last quarter, that loss was around $43,000 per car. This is actually a little higher than the previous quarter, but it’s a much smaller loss than they were seeing a year ago. Rivian is hoping that after their factory upgrades are complete, they’ll actually start making a small profit by the end of this year.
Job Cuts and Lower Stock Price: This week, Rivian let go of some employees (1% of their workforce) in an effort to save money. This follows a similar move by Tesla, another electric vehicle company. Rivian’s stock price has also taken a hit this year, falling over 58% and down a whopping 93% from its all-time high.