Rivian was worth more than Ford on its first day of trading, after delivering only a handful of trucks. The electric truck maker went public in November 2021, at the peak of a market hungry for anything that ran on batteries. It had a pickup, an SUV, and an order from Amazon for 100,000 electric delivery vans. Investors paid for the future, and they paid a great deal.

Twelve Years in the Garage

RJ Scaringe founded the company in 2009, soon after earning a doctorate at MIT. He spent years reworking the plan before Rivian settled on electric trucks for outdoor adventure. The company built a flat battery platform it called a skateboard, which could carry different bodies on top. It bought a former Mitsubishi plant in Normal, Illinois. Amazon and Ford invested, and in 2019 Amazon ordered 100,000 vans. The R1T pickup reached its first customers in September 2021.

The Biggest Debut in Years

Rivian priced its shares at $78 in November 2021, well above its first range of $57 to $62. The offering raised about $11.9 billion, the largest American IPO since Facebook. The stock opened at $106.75 and closed the first day at $100.73. That fever did not last. Supply problems and slow production pulled the shares far below the offer price. In 2024 Volkswagen agreed to invest up to $5 billion in a joint venture. Rivian still trades on Nasdaq.

Cover: Big River, from the Rancherie, Mendocino, California, Carleton Watkins. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for a wild river in the redwoods (Rivian, named for a river).