Electric vehicles are in focus today with Rivian Automotive set to list on the Nasdaq and Tesla shares sinking after Elon Musk proposed selling 10% of his stake.
Enthusiasm for electric vehicles has been rising over the past couple of years. Elon Musk’s Tesla Inc. is the world’s most-valuable auto maker, and its market cap recently crossed $1 trillion.
But Tesla Inc shares posted their worst daily fall in 14 months on Tuesday.
Nearly $200 billion in market capitalisation was wiped from Tesla as Musk's potential sales of his $17 billion stake triggered concerns about the stock's valuation.
Musk asked his Twitter followers over the weekend if he should sell 10% of his stake in the company as Washington proposes to hike taxes for the super-wealthy. Nearly 58% said they would support such a sale.
Musk could time the proposed sale to coincide with a federal tax bill of nearly $11 billion that would be triggered by exercising a chunk of his Tesla stock options, worth $26.6 billion as of Monday's close, according to The Star Media Group.
Rivian Automotive Inc. is planning to go public Wednesday, the latest electric-vehicle maker to tap into investors’ interest for the growing market.
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Rivian Automotive priced its IPO at $78 a share, valuing the company at more than $77 billion, in a sign of strong demand.
Rivian is backed by Amazon.com Inc. and Ford Motor Co. and says it will launch three models by the end of this year from its Illionois factory, which it plans to expand. It says it is also looking for another location for a new factory.
The company will sell cars directly to consumers, like Tesla, bypassing the traditional dealer network. It says it wants to build a network of fast-chargers in the US for drivers to use.
