Rivian’s Stock Slide Deepens as Operating Chief Steps Down

[kanundrum]

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[WheeledLife]

Investors are not happy with the news. Supposedly not a surprise but seems very untimely for the top operations executive to leave in the midst of a struggle to ramp up production of reliable vehicles.

 

[aAlpine]

He just wanted his own R1T delivered and then was out the door ?

 

[LeoH]

That's not good. I am sure the real story will not come up, but it is very had to believe he left now to retire, he could've waited another year or two to get them big bonuses.

 

[moosehead]

Feels like Rivian has now hit the end point of the fluffing stage, and is squarely in the reality phase of needing to deliver on its big promise. I'm rooting for the company and want to buy their vehicle(s).

But IMO the show me phase has now eclipsed the pre-IPO, tightly controlled industry reviews, NDA, can-do-no-wrong phase.

They still have a second mover advantage, demand tailwinds, great beta test vehicles showing huge promise, and tons of cash with which to execute.

One would think a COO search would yield tremendous candidates. Not quite sure reading the article if there is a search?

 

[sierraskier]

Guy started at in March 2020 as the COO, but this was a planned retirement?? COME ON

I am sure there is more to the story, there could be any number of reasons for an early departure but planned retirement is not one of them. Wrong fit, personal/family issues, health, etc... But if that was the case just say it. And the Chief Operating Officer role must be super important at Rivian if it can just be absorbed by the rest of the team. I wonder what the comp package looked like for a COO they didn't need. No matter how you slice it, this is another major communications fail. It seems like they literally cannot communicate anything correctly.

 

[Craigins]

Maybe part of the discrimination lawsuit?

The blog post only mentions the CGO but maybe the COO fell on the sword for the arbitration.

 

[bd5400]

I wonder if this is fallout from the discrimination lawsuit. I believe only the Chief Growth Officer was specifically called out, but it's entirely possible that a COO would have a hand in a lot of the decisions that Ms. Schwab was complaining about.

To be clear, I have absolutely no basis for this thought other than the timing would make sense and it would explain an unplanned departure that is being presented as planned (perhaps it was "planned" after the lawsuit was filed).

 

[moosehead]

Feels like the only thing "planned" here, is if the newly hired COO in the first innings of a start up automobile production phase were intending to depart early/forced out early for any reason is to announce such after the IPO.

Cause, well, that might impact the IPO.

 

[Guy]

It is said this is planned, if so then they should have said something at the quarter three analyst meeting in mid December. They screwed up the communication.

On the positive the production number is better than expected for that Q3 meeting when is sounded like less than 1000 would be made against the original 1200 target.

I have no idea what a Chief Growth Officer doesn’t separately from operations so those roles could be combined.

 

[RideAlong]

I also notice that the same jobs have been advertised for months on their career site - literally thousands of jobs remain unfilled for some reason.

 

[Ladiver]

Guy started at in March 2020 as the COO, but this was a planned retirement?? COME ON

I am sure there is more to the story, there could be any number of reasons for an early departure but planned retirement is not one of them. Wrong fit, personal/family issues, health, etc... But if that was the case just say it. And the Chief Operating Officer role must be super important at Rivian if it can just be absorbed by the rest of the team. I wonder what the comp package looked like for a COO they didn't need. No matter how you slice it, this is another major communications fail. It seems like they literally cannot communicate anything correctly.

Couldn't fit in with the "Bro Culture"

 

[kanundrum]

Would it be too much to ask for a link to the article?

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...k-slide-deepens-as-operating-chief-steps-down

 

[ironpig]

He spent 20 years at Harley and 5 years at Royal Enfield. Gas motorcycles and electric trucks are different and have different challenges. There are many reasons why he may have left or been pushed out. But none of them are big indicators of a company in trouble.

 

[lostpacket]

Looking at his linked in, it looks like he had a massive amount of motorcycle experience, but no car or truck experience.

I am like the last person qualified to judge as my manufacturing experience consists of occasionally googling a 3d printer I may someday want to buy.

But, I can't help but wonder, any chance he was the wrong person for the job?

Edit: jinx @ironpig I should hit refresh before I post

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