We often talk about the political blog âThe Conservative Treehouse.â Itâs very good.
Sundance is the creator and writer, and he does great work over there.
His âpredictionsâ and âtakesâ on politics are among some of the best out there and heâs right most of the time.
So, when I saw this article he shared about an electric car manufacturer laying people off, I took notice.
The company is called âRivianâ and according to the internet, Amazon owns about 17.7% of Rivian, while Ford owns 11.4%.
This is what Wikipedia says about them:
Rivian Automotive, Inc. is an American electric vehicle automaker and automotive technology company founded in 2009. Rivian is building an electric sport utility vehicle (SUV) and pickup truck on a âskateboardâ platform that can support future vehicles or be adopted by other companies. An electric delivery van is also being built as part of a partnership with Amazon.[7] Rivian started deliveries of its R1T pickup truck in late 2021. As of March 2022, the delivery van and R1S SUV were still in development.[8] The company plans to build an exclusive charging network in the United States and Canada by the end of 2023.[9]
Rivian is based in Irvine, California, with its manufacturing plant in Normal, Illinois, and other facilities in Palo Alto, California; Carson, California; Plymouth, Michigan; Vancouver, British Columbia; Wittmann, Arizona; and Woking, England.[2][10] Additionally, Rivian has plans to build another US$5 billion factory in Georgia.[11]
The company raised over US$13.5 billion in financing following its IPO in November 2021, which also saw investor recognition that it could become a major competitor to Tesla.[12][13][14]
And now, it turns out that theyâre going to be laying off workers.
About 5 percent of their workforce, overall, according to experts.
As Sundance points out, this is one big clue that Joeâs recession is looming.
The Conservative Treehouse reported that the larger âlayoffâ issue is going to be more prevalent as the economy contracts and consumer demand declines. There is almost no expanded investment going into any Main Street business that sells non-essential goods.
The economic contraction, the drop in consumer demand that indicates a recession, is very real and now very easy to spot.
Second, Rivian is backed by the financing of Ford and Amazon and operates in California, Michigan and Illinois (three deep blue states). Rivian is also the supplier for Amazon electric delivery vehicles having previously announced (in 2019) a deal to purchase 100,000 vehicles from Rivian. Additionally, Rivian has lost 69% of its market value this year.
LA TIMES â Rivian Automotive Inc. is planning hundreds of layoffs to trim its workforce in areas where the electric-vehicle maker has grown too quickly, according to people familiar with the matter. [âŚ] The Irvine company, which has more than 14,000 employees, could target an overall reduction of around 5%, the people said. The layoffs are still in the planning stage, and nothing has been decided.
[âŚ] The manufacturer is poised to join companies across corporate America pruning their operations amid growing worries about an economic downturn. Tesla is cutting 10% of its salaried workforce, while protecting manufacturing jobs, after Chief Executive Elon Musk said he sees a recession as inevitable. (read more)
Bloomberg is also reporting that Rivianâs shares were down about 7% in mid-afternoon trading following the news.
Rivian has added thousands of new employees over the last year as it began production of its own electric trucks and SUVs as well as a delivery van for Amazon.
Rivianâs shares surged amid intense investor interest shortly after it went public late last year, but have since fallen over 80% as the company has struggled to ramp up production, supposedly over global supply chain disruptions.
I guess Joeâs big âgreen pushâ is really in the weeds, isnât it?